Heading Out promises to be the ultimate fantasy world for someone who has always wished to hit the road with their car and see where it takes them as they live life by their own rules. FandomWire had an up close and personal with Szymon Adamus, Business Development Manager at Serious Sim.
The Polish Development Team, Serious Sim, had previously created Radio Commander which allowed users to immerse themselves in a narrative-driven storyline where they operated as Radio Commander marshalling his troops for America in the fight against Vietnam.
Szymon Adams opened up about the team’s experience something so different in Heading Out and talked about believing that AAA games tend to focus more on budget than the creative aspect.
Szymon Adamus Almost Seems Thankful That Heading Out Did Not Have an AAA Budget
Games with AAA budgets tend to make all the headlines in the industry. But 2024 has seen that shift as Palworld and Helldivers 2 smashed all AAA competitions to secure their position as the most-played games of the year.
Releasing on May 7th, 2024, Heading Out is a monochromatic take on the timeless tropes of “searching for freedom, searching for your place on the road, running away from problems“. in the words of Szymon Adamus.
When we asked him about the genre leap from RTS to the narrative racing game, considering the size of the team, he answered emphatically,
It was scary and it was hard because like almost everything that is creative-based, Heading Out originally began life as something much simpler before it evolved into what we have today. It is almost always the case. Working with our publisher Saber gave us a lot of great feedback and great ideas. The development cycle took 3 years, so we had a good amount of time in-house to implement new ideas and it just continued to grow.
This is undoubtedly a giant leap for us. Radio Commander was something that felt like it was on out level at the time. Very soon after we started work on Heading Out, we realized that we had to level up in order to create something bigger. It still isn’t a AAA game, the heart of the game and its construction has an indie feel to it and technically I guess this is a AA title.
Personally, I feel that focusing too much on the budget of a game and allowing that to drive the development is stupid anyway. Although Heading Out isn’t as big as some AAA game, it was still a big jump for us, but I’m glad that we took the step to make it bigger.
He further went on to explain that the game draws inspiration from shoestring-budget movies like Drive and timeless classics like Vanishing Point or Easy Rider.
Hit the Road To Find Your Place
Heading out is an opportunity for players to take to the roads to find their place in the world. Every action has consequences as players will be forced to make hard choices as their legend grows. Players will get to meet unique and colorful characters based on the choices they make in the game.
In the words of Szymon Adamus, the game is technically an AA title. But notwithstanding the budget, the unique approach to the game along with the tropes they play on make it an interesting play for every gamer.
What do you think of Heading Out? Do you agree with Szymon Adamus’s views on AAA titles? Let us know in the comments.
