Survios teams up with MGM once again to bring iconic characters from the Creed and Rocky franchise to new gaming platforms. Players can now go toe-to-toe with Adonis Creed, Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed, Ivan and Viktor Drago, Clubber Lang and more from their PC or console. Given that Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champion is the first of its kind we’ve seen in years, it piqued our interest. We chopped it up with Survios senior software engineer, Eugene Elkin to learn more about Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions.
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Since joining Survios in 2014, Elkin served as project lead and lead engineer on the studio’s award-winning VR title, Creed: Rise to Glory. Elkin was instrumental in creating the game’s revolutionary “phantom melee” mechanic technology. Elkin’s expertise in gaming and aerospace led to the creation of games on numerous platforms. He’s developed games for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive as well as Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 4 consoles.
What challenges did Elkin face developing Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions?
Elkin tells us that although it’s Survios’ first non-VR title, their team of developers didn’t face any new challenges. Just about all the developers who worked on Creed: Rise to Glory moved to the Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions project. Starting from a clean slate, “We were not restricted by the same difficulties that VR has." In VR, the player is the controller so it’s not always clear what the user intent is. For instance, “How does a player throw a punch? Can we tell the player the throw and uppercut? Can we throw the player 20 feet in the air without making them sick?” During the creation of the non-VR game, Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, these obstacles were non-existent. Everything was wide open. This allowed Elkin and his team to focus on creating the arcade boxing experience they imagined. “It was very smooth all the way through and I can’t even name the difficulties that were there.”
What is the inspiration behind Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions?
The inspiration for Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions came from old school, beat ’em up games like Ready 2 Rumble as well as Smash Bros. Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is all about bringing players instant fun and instant gratification. “We really wanted to go back to the old experiences of arcade boxing games. It’s just super intuitive, there are just a couple of buttons of attack and a grab and a dodge. For example, with the Switch, you can pop a controller off and give it to a sibling or a familiar member and settle beef shoulder to shoulder."
What sparked the development of Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions?
Elkin tells us that planning didn’t start until after the game, Creed: Rise to Glory was released. What sparked the game’s development is the age old adage of giving the people what they want. The game was built from the ground up in response to all the fans. “With the entire Rise to Glory franchise being VR focused, we saw countless social media posts from people who are not into VR or don’t have VR headsets who are fans of the Creed and Rocky franchise, asking if the game could be played in non-VR mode.” “That’s what got the wheels turning to create a more traditional boxing arcade-like experience.”
Any plans to add customization or DLCs?
Big Rumble: Creed Champions features 20 different characters from the Creed and Rocky film franchise. However, some gamers may want to customize their character’s boxing gear or perhaps upload their own photo to box with their favorite fictional movie character. At this time, customization and DLCs are not on the horizon. “The game is focused on experiencing the world and the story of the Creed and Rocky franchise. Currently, there are no plans for any customization, but I can’t really speak for any future DLC yet.”
What personal computer does Elkin use for game developing?
As a game developer, Elkin’s computer requires a personal computer that packs a punch. We’re talking heavy-hitting hardware for demanding applications, multitasking and graphics. The desktop Elkin uses for his day-to-day workload packs a 3.7-GHz 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900K CPU coupled with 64GB of RAM and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics. “We work mostly desktops, not laptops just because I need a ton of ports. I have six different dev kits of all variations and they’re all connected. With a laptop, it gets a little difficult to dev on.” Our discussion about PC hardware was a great segue into the system requirements for Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions. PC gamers will be glad to know that the game is playable on just about every system configuration. From the start of its development, Elkin and his team made certain that Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions was universally compatible. From a super heavy Alienware rig with the latest RTX 30 series graphics card to older-generation computers from 5-6 years ago — “The game plays smoothly on any hardware, from the Switch to the PlayStation and just about any PC.”
What mobile gadgets does Elkin use as his daily driver?
Like many of us who live a mobile lifestyle, Eugene is a brand loyalist who is immersed in Apple’s vast ecosystem. His daily driver of choice is an iPhone — an Apple Watch wearable is its companion device. Although most of his day-to-day computing occurs on his desktop, Elkin’s go-to secondary device is an iPad. He likes the freedom of having a tablet for managing emails and meetings when he doesn’t want to use the desktop. “Sometimes I don’t want to use the camera, I just want to grab the iPad and go on the balcony.”
