Skatesterre: Where Classic Arcade Skateboarding Meets a New Generation

I’m Dieter from Headup, and along with Goon Squad we created Skatesterre, an arcade skateboarding sport that takes you again to the golden period of the style. Right this moment, I’ll inform you about how the sport got here to be, why we selected to work with Sterre Meijer on this mission, and the place the journey from the preliminary thought to the now completed sport took us.

Skateboarding video games have advanced enormously for the reason that early days, however far more within the route of precise sports activities simulation than the unique arcade skateboarding really feel.  So after we began the event, bringing again the precise movement and really feel of the unique style flagship titles like Skate or Die, Dave Mirra, Grind Session and naturally the early THPS video games was our final objective. These are the video games we all know finest and really feel extraordinarily at residence with. They provide much less frustration than extra sensible simulation titles and have a “decide up and play” nature about them, that makes them far more accessible.

Gamers ought to rapidly really feel like a actual skate professional, ripping one of the best tips simply by way of the extremely intuitive management scheme whereas additionally simply feeling the enjoyment of driving their boards. Getting all these components in line was an unlimited problem, particularly contemplating that this was a true indie mission.

Our objective was to seize that core feeling whereas including trendy quality-of-life enhancements, leveraging Unreal Engine’s newest options, and introducing character customization by way of Sterre’s distinctive sense of favor.

Earlier than our lead developer joined the studio, he was already a passionate skateboarder, even constructing his personal miniramp in his backyard, and had been engaged on skateboarding sport prototypes in his free time. He and I shared a imaginative and prescient of making a nice sport pushed by that non-public ardour. From my perspective because the producer, and having adopted Sterre’s social media presence, I felt that she represented most of the constructive developments occurring in skateboarding at this time. It appeared like a nice match: we might assist the rising presence and empowerment of girls in skateboarding whereas creating the sort of arcade sports activities sport we had all the time envisioned.

I’ve been personally following many skaters on the social channels and was very impressed by Sterre and her journey in Skateboarding. So, I reached out to her, and we met within the Netherlands. She has been tremendous supportive from the beginning, and dealing along with her and her brother was a actual pleasure.

Sterre has this infectious power and authenticity that instantly felt proper for a skateboarding sport. She has her personal model, does issues her personal means, and genuinely loves skating. That spirit of freedom and self-expression is strictly what I really feel Skatesterre ought to be about.

The principle focus with Sterre was getting her seems and magnificence proper, in order that she felt authentically represented. At one level, we even scrapped a lot of the mannequin’s work to a sure level and had the entire mannequin redone. I hope you’ll really feel the love and time invested particularly in making this really feel genuine to her.

Sterre has all the time adopted her personal path quite than making an attempt to suit a specific picture of what a skateboarder ought to be. We needed the sport to replicate that angle: it’s playful, colourful, and a little unconventional, and it encourages gamers to experiment, discover their very own traces, and develop their very own model.

Whenever you begin seeing a stage differently- not as a assortment of ramps and rails, however as one steady line – and immediately pull off a large combo, Skatesterre actually clicks.

Capturing that feeling from the traditional arcade skate video games I grew up with, whereas giving it our personal character, is one thing we’re very happy with. In case you keep in mind only one factor about Skatesterre after booting it up for the very first time at this time, I might need it to be that it makes you wish to play another run. We wish Skatesterre to seize that straightforward pleasure of skating: experimenting, getting higher, discovering your individual model, and having a nice time doing it.

Skatesterre is obtainable on Xbox Collection X|S now.