Get your digital fix on all-things Sumo with the latest instalment of In the News.

As we head into the Autumn, we wanted to take a look back over an action-packed summer filled with new releases, sneak peeks and… snakes playing football?

CREATURE COMFORTS

Next month, Sumo Newcastle will be releasing its cosy creature catcher game, Critter Café, onto PC and Switch, and Gameplay Programmer Eleanor Gregory spoke to Game Rant about creating cosy and the critters you can find.

She talked about the duality of Sumo Newcastle working on Critter Café and DEATHSPRINT 66 at the same time, combining genres to create the ultimate cosy experience with plenty of interesting gameplay mechanics, and is even made to choose her favourite critter from the game’s roster of 35 (spoilers: it’s Mogbert, obviously).

Catch up on Eleanor’s interview on the Game Rant website.

LEGACY LAPS

We’ve learned a thing or two about racing games over the years. From our early days working with SEGA on OutRun 2 to our most recent release DEATHSPRINT 66, which has evolved the arcade racing genre to something more… upright.

Franchise Development Director at Sumo Sheffield, Steve Lycett, is no stranger when it comes to working on racing games, and recently wrote about the racing game hall of fame and identified some of the greatest and most groundbreaking features of racing games through the years.

So, get your final driving checks done and turn the radio on as you tune into Steve’s piece on GameDeveloper.com.

RACE TO THE DEATH

Sumo Newcastle’s Game Director Andy Willans headed to Gamescom earlier this year to give media a sneak preview of DEATHSPRINT 66.

Speaking to Game Rant, Andy discusses the game’s development journey, how Sumo Newcastle’s history of creating third-person action titles led them to building this dramatic, fast-paced and brutal arcade racer. As a fan of all things movies, Andy also shared some cinematic inspirations for the game, and how the fickle world of fame drives the story.

You can hear all this, and more, over on Game Rant.

VAMPIRE DIARIES

The team at The Chinese Room are hard at work bringing Seattle’s Vampire clans to life in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and their most recent development diary dives into branching dialogue and relationships.

Led by Senior Narrative Designer and Writer Sarah Longthorne, the blog describes the way that dialogue will work in the game, how characters will respond to your choices based on their personal preferences, and ways the team are keeping interactions fresh to avoid complacency in gameplay.

Read more on GameSpot.

HEAVY METAL

Ahead of the launch of Metal: Hellsinger VR in late September, Lab42’s Game Designer Benjamin Culff and Producer Ollie Cullen spoke to Upload VR about turning up the volume in the VR adaptation of this beloved rhythm FPS game.

In the interview, they talked about developing comfort settings in VR for fast-paced combat, retaining the core of the game when bringing it to 360 and putting the fires of hell – literally – in players’ hands.

You can read all about it over on Upload VR.

IT’S COMING HOME

Sheffield is home to many things: the Sumo Digital HQ and our first studio, Henderson’s Relish and one of the oldest football clubs in the world, Sheffield Wednesday.

Since the great Steel City is in our blood, we thought it only fitting that we work with one of its biggest teams on a new game for their esports programme, which is aiming to engage young fans in the world of gaming. The Sumo Digital Academy worked to create Snake Party – an evolution of our 2017 title, Snake Pass – to be played at home matches for the rest of the season.

Read more about how our two teams came together to score a winner on MCV/Develop.

BONNIE ACCENTS

When The Chinese Room’s Still Wakes the Deep released in June of this year, it was praised for its authentic performances and use of accents and dialects.

Someone who’s a particular fan of the game’s commitment to authenticity is Creative Director John McCormack. Hailing from Scotland himself, John ensured that all accents in the game felt as real as possible, and spoke to BBC Newsbeat about the importance of regional representation in games.

You can read about how hearing real voices makes the horror all the more terrifying over on the BBC.

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