Interview with Keith Webb on Crash Clash Racing
As you may know, Crash Tag Team Racing was originally going to be developed by Traveller's Tales Oxford Studios, before switching developers. Their version was called Crash Clash Racing, and it was cancelled early on in development, before the studio made any progress with their pitch.
In mid-2017, I reached out to Keith Webb, formal Crash Twinsanity developer and Traveller's Tales Oxford employee, to ask him a few questions about their cancelled racing title. To my surprise, he was willing to answer all my questions! It might not be too much, but at least we get a somewhat clearer image about how far the development went before the studio change occured.
In mid-2017, I reached out to Keith Webb, formal Crash Twinsanity developer and Traveller's Tales Oxford employee, to ask him a few questions about their cancelled racing title. To my surprise, he was willing to answer all my questions! It might not be too much, but at least we get a somewhat clearer image about how far the development went before the studio change occured.
Q: Hi Keith, I have had the impact that you are very open about your time at TT Oxford and the development of Crash games which you were involved in. [In an interview with Crash Mania], you said that you could dig up an N. Trance concept art, which I guess never happened. [...] Could you provide me any more information on the following subjects? I have asked Fake Nina on YouTube, but I'm afraid he is not going to reply any time soon.
A: Good to hear from you. I vaguely remember the N. Trance concept art, but unfortunately I could never find it again. I think it was likely lost when we backed up as much concept art as we could when TT Oxford closed down. Fake Nina would actually remember some more specifics about the Kart game, and I do recall some designs involved some new mechanics, but I'm afraid I can't remember much about that. It was only in early planning stages, a prototype was never made.
Q: Who were the main cast of characters, and how many playable characters were there? (Crash, Coco, Cortex, Evil Crash were all playable, right? And I bet there were at least four more characters). Were N. Trance and Evil Crash bosses, whom you could unlock by beating them (alike in CTR)?
A: Nina was also planned to be playable, and N.Trance would have likely been an adversary to the main players, as well as the other Doctors.
Q: Did you decide on a basic story /or setting of the game? If yes, then what was it like, and who was the main antagonist of the game?
A: I don't recall a storyline, as I think we thought we'd tackle the gameplay first and see how it fitted into the crash universe.
Q: Was the game meant to be a direct follow-up to the events of Crash Twinsanity?
A: It would likely have been connected to the Twinsanity-style storyline, but no firm plans were decided.
Q: Is there any concept art left (besides the well known one featuring Evil Crash)?
A: I recall the only other piece I did was the aforementioned N. Trance one (Fake Nina might have had some design sketches of gameplay mechanics. He tends not to use YouTube much so it may be a while until he responds).
Q: Were there any models, engine, etc.. made for the game? Was it intended to use the engine of Crash Twinsanity?
A: Not sure what engine it would have used, and I don't *think* any models were made, but it's possible someone made a start on one of the karts, but I can't be 100% sure.
Q: What kind of tracks were there, and did you manage to outline /or actually build up one and test it?
A: No, we did no prototyping of the tracks as it was such an early concept.
Q: Was the iconic power slide from CTR and CNK planned for the game, or were your plans more like the simplistic car driving in CTTR?
A: Fake Nina would know more about the mechanics, but it probably would have incorporated mechanics from both CTR and CNK.
Q: How far in development did the game go, before Radical picked up your work?
A: It was literally just in the concept stage, so some design document proposals, with the aforementioned artwork and the like. Radical likely started a fresh with their version rather than strictly basing it on ours.
Q: Thank you for your time, and your answers!
A: Hope all those help! :) Apologies it can't be much more in-depth, but I believe most info on it is already out there from what I can recall. Fake Nina would likely have a little more info, so hopefully he should respond to you soon on YouTube.
You can find further information about the unreleased game here.
A: Good to hear from you. I vaguely remember the N. Trance concept art, but unfortunately I could never find it again. I think it was likely lost when we backed up as much concept art as we could when TT Oxford closed down. Fake Nina would actually remember some more specifics about the Kart game, and I do recall some designs involved some new mechanics, but I'm afraid I can't remember much about that. It was only in early planning stages, a prototype was never made.
Q: Who were the main cast of characters, and how many playable characters were there? (Crash, Coco, Cortex, Evil Crash were all playable, right? And I bet there were at least four more characters). Were N. Trance and Evil Crash bosses, whom you could unlock by beating them (alike in CTR)?
A: Nina was also planned to be playable, and N.Trance would have likely been an adversary to the main players, as well as the other Doctors.
Q: Did you decide on a basic story /or setting of the game? If yes, then what was it like, and who was the main antagonist of the game?
A: I don't recall a storyline, as I think we thought we'd tackle the gameplay first and see how it fitted into the crash universe.
Q: Was the game meant to be a direct follow-up to the events of Crash Twinsanity?
A: It would likely have been connected to the Twinsanity-style storyline, but no firm plans were decided.
Q: Is there any concept art left (besides the well known one featuring Evil Crash)?
A: I recall the only other piece I did was the aforementioned N. Trance one (Fake Nina might have had some design sketches of gameplay mechanics. He tends not to use YouTube much so it may be a while until he responds).
Q: Were there any models, engine, etc.. made for the game? Was it intended to use the engine of Crash Twinsanity?
A: Not sure what engine it would have used, and I don't *think* any models were made, but it's possible someone made a start on one of the karts, but I can't be 100% sure.
Q: What kind of tracks were there, and did you manage to outline /or actually build up one and test it?
A: No, we did no prototyping of the tracks as it was such an early concept.
Q: Was the iconic power slide from CTR and CNK planned for the game, or were your plans more like the simplistic car driving in CTTR?
A: Fake Nina would know more about the mechanics, but it probably would have incorporated mechanics from both CTR and CNK.
Q: How far in development did the game go, before Radical picked up your work?
A: It was literally just in the concept stage, so some design document proposals, with the aforementioned artwork and the like. Radical likely started a fresh with their version rather than strictly basing it on ours.
Q: Thank you for your time, and your answers!
A: Hope all those help! :) Apologies it can't be much more in-depth, but I believe most info on it is already out there from what I can recall. Fake Nina would likely have a little more info, so hopefully he should respond to you soon on YouTube.
You can find further information about the unreleased game here.