Interview: Skate

EA's Skate promises to be a proper real sim, the kind we're not used to. Atomic talks to developer EA Blackbox's Chris Parry.

Recently, we got the chance to have a chat with Chris Parry, Assistant Producer, from EA Black Box, the developers of the upcoming skateboarding game, imaginatively named, SKATE.

We had the opportunity to find out some of the driving motivations behind game features such as the Flick It controls and the community emphasising skate.Reel.

SKATE is, with no doubt, set to revolutionise the way gamers perceive skateboarding and how skaters perceive the representation of their livelihood within gaming.

With the introduction of a control system that more accurately reproduces the feel and technique behind real life skateboarding, rather then the button-bashing arcade “simulation” that we as gamers and skaters alike have been stuck with from the likes of the Tony Hawk franchise, SKATE is aimed to be a refreshing and welcomed challenger to an otherwise monopolised genre within gaming.

Backed by the powerhouse publisher EA and developed by Black Box, the same crew who have brought to you the Need for Speed titles. This David is set to take on the Goliath of the Activision published and Neversoft developed Tony Hawk series of titles which will soon be celebrating their 10th birthday.

With the scene set and both release dates quickly drawing upon us, the skateboarding game genre is set for a very turbulent and exciting period, ripe with competition.

Read on as we find out the ethos behind SKATE’s magical skate paradise that is San Vanelona, the impact and influence of the listed Pro Skaters during the game’s development, the game-play for the casual gamer and a host of other intriguing points. But don’t take it all from us, go ahead, read the interview and make up your own mind.


Atomic: What’s your position at EA Black Box and your influence on the SKATE project?

SKATE: Chris Parry, Assistant producer. As to influence, I’ve dabbled in a variety of things on the game from writing, to music to voice over work. How much influence that is, I guess that depends on how people think things turn out.

Atomic: Prior to working on SKATE, what other games were you involved with and how did you find these related to the experience of developing SKATE?

SKATE: I did some consulting on a skate project EA was contemplating back a few years ago. Other than that my only real work on videos games was trying to get gold in all the events in 720 Air and scoring the cover of Thrasher in the old PS1 Skate and Destroy game. Proud to say mission accomplished on both fronts.

Atomic: What’s your personal background with skateboarding and how did this influence the game’s development?

SKATE: Oh, man. Got my first board in 1977, that whole Farah jumping the sports car on a skate really must have boosted sales. Started skating for real when it sort of died in the early 80’s. Watched it hit Police Academy 4 levels of popularity, then take to the streets in the 90’s when the vert bubble burst. Since then I’ve been skating the parks and hills of Vancouver. I’ve also help organize and DJ skate contests (Slam City jam and The Bowl Series), write for some skate mags, and helped resurrect The Canadian Amateur Skateboard Association. I guess you could say I’m a skater.

In terms of influencing the development of the game, that’s tough to say. I was among a core group of people that helped get the game greenlit, and we all knew from the beginning that we wanted to make a fun and accessible yet challenging game that captured and respected the act of skateboarding. Man, this is a long answer. How about… I’m a skater stoked to share what I know?

Atomic: Tell us about skate.reel and the ability to share, rate and comment on the work of others online.

SKATE: We believe that skate.Reel represents the next-generation of online game communities, a community that is based on showing what you've done, not just telling. To support that bold statement, we've built into the game the ability for people to create and customize their own footage and photos, and upload that content online to EA's servers. Once your footage is up on skate.Reel, then anyone online can view it and rate it through the in-game interface, or at the skate.Reel website: www.skate.share.ea.com.

Perhaps the best thing about skate.Reel is the fact that the community itself extends beyond the console as the same photos and videos seen in-game are the same content you will find at the skate.Reel website. Players that register and link their online account to the skate.Reel site will also have access to additional web features like comments, tagging and the skate forums. With skate.Reel, like in real-life skateboarding, if you don't have the footage, it is fiction. :)

Atomic: What are you thoughts on the idea that the Flick It controls could exclude the casual gamer?

SKATE: There’s no reason Flickit should exclude the casual gamer anymore than Street Fighters controls excluded people or Tiger Woods swing mechanic did. There really are just four things to remember: left stick controls your body, right stick controls your board, the triggers are for grabs and two buttons represent your left and right feet for pushing. It’s pretty simple. Where the challenge lies is in mastering the controls so you can throw down tricks with style…and intent.

And, I’ll take the gloves off a here. People who have become used to another control scheme may think Flickit is hard at first. But throw a casual gamer at the latest iterations of any other skate game and tell me that there isn’t a myriad of complicated controls to memorize. We’ve seen kids pick up skate and kill it within minutes. They aren't afraid, and I’m pretty sure most gamers won’t be if they just open their minds to the possibilities.