Had a chance to get into the SKATE community days a few weeks back and wrote an article is up on xbox.com.  Check it out and due to space issues I had to cut the article in 1/2, so check out below for the unabridged edition:

 

 

EA’s SKATE Community Day – July 10, 2007

Imagine gathering skateboard and gaming enthusiasts in the same room and having them spellbound for hours on end.  Just a few weeks ago EA Black Box invited ten of us from skating and gaming communities to be part of their “SKATE Community Days”.  We converged on Vancouver, British Columbia. from different places and from different backgrounds to finally get our hands on the game. EA’s aim with SKATE is a return to realistic skateboarding, while capturing it’s culture and community. It might seem an uphill task trying to take market share from Activision, the publishers of the highly successful “Tony Hawk” series, but there’s no doubting EA’s commitment to provide the fullest, most realistic skating game available. This is illustrated by the astounding number of professional skateboarders, companies and equipment represented throughout the game, as well as the huge virtual world and surprises you’ll find throughout it.

 

Entering the SKATE fortress

EA Black Box takes up a few floors of a skyscraper in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, where nearby passengers climb aboard cruise vessels and with an incredible view of the snowcapped mountains.  I took the elevator up to the 19^th floor, which is where we met to check-in.  Black Box is abuzz with constant activity where numerous games are in development and to ensure security we were asked to check our digital cameras and video equipment at the front desk. We were escorted down a winding staircase to a conference room and on the way I asked one of the skaters if he could grind the rail and I could see in his eyes that he’d love to try. We dropped our belongings next to our chairs and took some time to take care of some administrative details. Participant introductions were next, including describing what we knew about the game, which spanned following the game in online forums to seeing it played on the MTV show, “Rob & Big”.

 

SKATE history and why another skate game?

Next, we were introduced to the history of SKATE by Scott Blackwood, Executive Producer of the game. We learned that the game was first conceived about three years ago within the development team for EA’s successful snowboarding franchise, SSX.  The members of the team took to the streets incognito to videotape skaters and gamers talking about their worlds, as well as gathering focus groups of skaters and gamers in the 10-34 year old range to find out their thoughts on current skating games.  What they found was that people wanted a return to realistic skateboarding and the community, with less focus on crazy challenges that were unrelated to skateboarding.  They also wanted a game that made landing tricks more progressive and challenging, rather than just button-mashing combos. Armed with this information the EA team sought to bring a new perspective to a skateboarding game, including new camera angles that captured panoramic views of the skater in action.  For example, one angle captures the skater above the camera after doing an ollie off a set of stairs, then returns to a behind-the-skater view when they land.  Finally, the EA team wanted to focus first on the physics of the game, including the game controls and then build the environment around it, rather than the other way around.  This is where the idea of the “Flick-it” control scheme versus button combos was first born, which we’d learn more about later.

 

Mr. Blackwood stated that one of their biggest challenges was getting people to try something new, rather than focusing solely on what they’re used too. One attendee asked about how stats are reflected and we learned that the skater doesn’t “level-up”, rather the mastery is in the physical players hands. Therefore when people compete against each other there’s no difference between their character’s abilities, rather it’s the execution by the players themselves where the difference lies.  While the game’s designers admit it’s a risk, they believe the playing field should be level at the beginning for everyone and then the most skilled player will win, rather than the person who’s leveled their character up the highest.

 

The World according to SKATE

Time was spent giving us the background of SKATE where we found out the environment is an open skate world, with five locations open by default and an additional nine locked areas that require an invite from a sponsor to unlock.  The world is so big that reportedly it can take ten continuous minutes of skating to get from one side to the other, if you know exactly where you’re going and don’t get sidetracked or lost. There are “own-able spots” where you compete in challenges and when you complete it, you own the spot and can return to it anytime to skate it over and over again.

 

There are nine pros that you compete against in challenges and when you beat them they’re unlocked and they help you throughout the game, including sponsoring your skater.  There are an additional seven custom pros that can be unlocked through the game, bring the grand total to a whopping sixteen.  You can use any of the pros you’ve unlocked in online play.

 

The campaign’s storyline revolves around an unknown skater, you, along with a virtual videographer, exploring the vast world of San Vanelona in search of coverage. Note that the fictitious name is a combination of San Francisco, Vancouver and Barcelona, of whom the world was inspired by.  Imagine the hills of San Francisco, the downtown of Vancouver and the art & architecture of Barcelona and you get the idea.  Every completed challenge increases the “coverage meter” and helps your skater gain sponsors, access to skate stores & products and bigger challenges for wider coverage. Even “Thrasher” magazine, one of the preeminent skating magazines, is represented, as players try to get on the front cover. Virtually all of the challenges are open and can be completed in any order, rather than having to do certain challenges to unlock the next level or area.  Of course, there are challenges that might need to be returned to, after certain moves are mastered, but the choice is up to the player, rather than the game.

 

Finally, music is a high point of many games and SKATE doesn’t disappoint.  There are 45 tracks included, but rather than running continuously, the music plays in “significant areas” and is usually a clue that there’s a challenge nearby to compete in.  For example, in the skatepark the sounds of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” was playing, but elsewhere can be found a wide-range of music, from Rick James to Slayer and everything in-between. You can also listen to your own music by plugging a Zune, iPod or other music player into your Xbox 360.

 

Building SKATE magic and “Flick-it” real good

Soon the floor was turned over to Chris “Cuz” Parry, whom Scott Blackwood introduced as “the guru of all things SKATE”.  Cuz took us on a tour of the studio, including the “Wall of Boards”, which included individual decks autographed by every pro in the game, including Rob Dyrdek (and Christopher “Big Black” Boykin), Chris Cole, Danny Way and others.  Everyone stood in awe pointing to their favorite decks, which Cuz said was the usual response elicited. We moved on, passing by teams working on coding, graphics, building environments, audio and play testing.  Cuz pointed out a couple of team members who were highly regarded and even legendary skaters in their own right. 

 

Returning to the conference room we were chomping at the bit to get our hands on the game, but it was critical for us to learn a little about the controls, so Jay Ballmer, one of the main producers, led us through a short demonstration of how Flickit works using the left and right sticks and basic moves we’ll need.  For example, use the left stick to turn, the right stick for performing flip tricks, the A button to push off, B button to brake.  To perform an ollie you press “A” a few times, then pull down and push up on the right stick.  The faster you pull down and push up, the higher your skater ollies.  Performing a nollie is the opposite, namely push up and pull down on the right-stick.  The use of the right-stick has been used in other EA games, such as “Fight Night Round 3”, but it also fits nicely within the world of SKATE. 

 

After a few minutes he said, the best way to learn the controls was to get into the game, which resulted in us surging forward like giddy children waiting for presents on Christmas morning.

 

Skating never hurt so good

When the game appeared on our screens we were in the skatepark area, where we were led through some short, online tutorials by a virtual young man, which is keeping with real-life where most people learn in a skatepark and usually from a kid.  After completing the moving about stage, I began my quest for my first ollie, which after a few attempts I was able to easily do.  Further tutorials involved doing a manual, riding solely on the board’s rear wheels, how to use the left & right triggers, along with the right-stick to perform board grabs and rail grinds.  The final challenge was to ollie up to a rail, grind and land it on the other side.  This took some time, since my ollie technique was slow and sometimes I unconsciously tried mashing the “A” button, which led to my virtual face being painfully introduced to the rail.  After some tips from the EA team it wasn’t too long until I was grinding with confidence.  Soon they called that lunch was ready, but nary a person moved from their flat-panel.  Everyone continued practicing manuals, nollies, jumps, kickflips, while falling without the thought of food.  It wasn’t long before the five-minute call came that the food would be taken and we jumped out of our seats long enough to pile sandwiches, noodles and brownies on our plates and stuffing a few cold drinks in our pockets to wash it down with, then raced back to work on our asphalt prowess.

Showing Off with skate.Reel

Soon they pried the controllers out of our hands, so that Brian Lindley could brief us on SKATE’s online gameplay and skate.Reel.  The former is under NDA, so unfortunately I can’t discuss it, except to say “wow, it’s fantastic!”  skate.Reel on the other hand combines video editing tools for creating cool videos of your skater in action with an online community for sharing these videos.  At any point in the game you can pause and choose “Replay” from the menu, which will display the past thirty seconds of action.  You can edit the clip with a variety of tools, including “edit clip”, “play/pause”, “rewind/forward”, “create marker”, “delete marker”, as well as “changing camera”, “speed change” and “effects”.  First, move the left stick to where you want the video to begin and press “create marker”.  Next, move to where you want the video to end and click create marker.  Now, you can set additional markers, up to 40 per clip, where you can choose the camera angle (five preset cameras capture the footage) for the section, change the speed of that section or add effects, such as filters and the like.  We saw a great demonstration of this from “Slacker”, one of EA’s SKATE gurus.   Skating like a virtual pro he ollied into a 360-kick-flip, landing into a manual, ollied across a gap landing in a nose manual and finishing with a 360 heel-flip, landing it perfectly.  He went back and edited the video by adding camera changes to each move, slowing the speed down halfway through the clip, then adding a filter to the end for an old-school look.  This was easily done and ready for upload to the SKATE community server for sharing with other community members.  It took about two minutes for the clip to be edited and sent on its merry way.  Users can save a photo of any part of the clip for later viewing or save the replay for later viewing on their console.

 

Users can access community clips via the game’s virtual TMobile Sidekick or via the community website.  Formed in a similar idea as YouTube, videos are organized in “top-rated”, “most viewed” and “most recent” views.  Videos are usually available for viewing a few minutes after being uploaded.  As mentioned previously, there are a lot of very cool online features, but discussion of them will have to wait for another day.

 

Going my Way, Danny?

Next, we were introduced to Danny Way’s skating compound, where there’s a mega-ramp built into the landscape, a fantastic pool, rock ramps, a stone loop and plenty of places to create awesome tricks and wipeouts alike.  If you’ve watched EXPN, then you’ve seen the mega-ramp, a nine-story high drop-in, and ramps to launch you over 50-70 foot gaps, only to face a 25-foot high quarter pipe where skaters are launched 30 feet above the lip.  The first time my skater went over the edge I panicked and accidentally ollied, which led to my skater’s face meeting the wood with a sickening thud.  Fortunately, Cuz showed us how to create a set-point by holding the left-bumper and pressing up on the D-pad.  You can return to this point anytime by pressing left-button and down on the D-pad.  I’d earlier set a point at the top of the ramp. My skater, being the trooper he was returned to the top of the ramp for another try.  Within a few attempts I was able to get down the ramp, but thinking I had to ollie up the ramp led to a few “Hall of Meat” screens.  I soon learned that the skater would easily “scale” the height by lining up straight and letting his speed send him airborne.  Once I got this down I waited until I zoomed up the half-pipe and did a few tricks.  While this is a game I found myself both scared and exhilarated at the whooshing wind and massive air my in-game skater was getting.

 

Pressure on skating biggest stage:

We had a chance to practice for about fifteen minutes before the final day’s contest was held, namely a trick contest, using the mega-ramp. We were divided into four groups, with three people per group.  Each group played a three-round trick tournament using the mega-ramp on the world’s biggest skating stage, where the highest combined score moved into the championship round.  To make the stress a little higher we played on the huge screen in front of the other participants, one group at a time.  I won my group and waited for the other groups to finish.  I was very concerned, since one of the participants, an awesome real-life skater, completed a back-flip-360 over the gap, a Christ-air at the apex of the half-pipe into a heelkick-360 landing it perfectly.  Soon it was time for the finals and all four of us competed at the same time.  I took an early lead with a conservative move and held the lead in the final round, despite panicking in the second and third rounds and flying off the side of the ramp and smashing into the television scaffolding, scoring no points.  The final competitor, Mike Funk of Podtacular fame, scored enough points in his final attempt to overtake me and win the contest.  His prize, an incredible limited-edition Plan B “Brian Wenning” deck with trucks and wheels, which was autographed by all of the EA SKATE team members present.

 

This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you in September

Throughout the day we had chances to win cool prizes, such as skateboard beanies and t-shirts, by competing in a variety of other mini-contests, such as “first to find a pool”, “most damage to your skater’s body (aka “Hall of Meat”), best trick/best clip and the fluke trick. The EA team hooked us up with a SKATE t-shirt and free EA game, but most of all they imbedded in each of us an insatiable desire to play the game when it’s released.  The EA Skate team was gracious enough to give a very cool skateboard deck, autographed by all of the pros in the game, to one of the skate community members to give away on their forum.   Of course, while it was time to say goodbye to the studio we met together one last time and enjoyed dinner at a fantastic restaurant called Moxies.  The entire table was abuzz with long, spirited conversations about the game, meeting one another and the day’s events.  When we said our final goodbyes we left with good memories and the knowledge that in a few short months we’d being tricking out together and with the rest of the world online in the world of SKATE.