What is up guys? We have some big news dropping today that we think you will be very stoked about. As you may have read in the title, Skater XL 1.0 will be launching on July 7 for digital release on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and to brick and mortar retailers on PS4 and Xbox One. Preorder for Xbox One and Playstation 4 discs is available at select retailers.

As we said in our previous post, all PC Early Access supporters will receive the 1.0 content update free of charge, so no need to worry. And if you don’t own it yet, now would be a good time to get in and save when 1.0 launches in just 63 days.

In addition to the news of the exact release date, we also released a new trailer showcasing the hundreds of ways that you can customize your character, in addition to playing with pros Evan Smith, Tiago Lemos, Brandon Westgate and Tom Asta.



We worked hard over the last 12 months to secure official partnerships with skateboarding’s best brands, and are stoked be able to bring real product from 27 different brands into the character customizer. The list of partner brands includes:

• New Balance – Numeric Shoes and Apparel
• Etnies – Footwear and Apparel
• DC Shoes – Footwear and Apparel
• Santa Cruz Skateboards – Decks
• Vans – Shoes
• Primitive – Decks and Apparel
• Element – Decks and Apparel
• Independent Truck Co. – Trucks and Apparel
• Venture – Trucks
• Thunder – Trucks
• Spitfire – Wheels
• Lakai – Footwear and Apparel
• ẻS – Footwear and Apparel
• Emerica – Footwear and Apparel
• Grimple Stix – Decks
• Sk8Mafia – Decks and Apparel
• SOVRN – Decks and Apparel
• Enjoi – Decks and Apparel
• Blind – Decks and Apparel
• Almost – Decks and Apparel
• Ricta – Wheels
• Mob Grip – Grip tape
• Bones – Wheels and Apparel
• Crupie – Wheels
• Grizzly – Grip tape and Apparel
• Dickies – Apparel
• Old Friends – Apparel
• Transworld Skateboarding – Apparel
• 411VM – Apparel
• The Nine Club – Skateboards and Apparel

In addition to revealing our brand partners, we have also shown new clothing items including crewneck sweatshirts, long sleeve button ups, shorts, denim pants, new hat styles, and shoe models. Not to mention that you can customize every part of your skateboard setup including deck, trucks, wheels, and griptape. We have also shown the number of different customizable characteristics including gender, skin tone, and hairstyle.









As always, we want to say thanks so much for your support of Early Access and helping Skater XL create the amazing community that it has become. We sincerely appreciate every piece of feedback, mod created, and hour played from each and every person that has contributed.

We have a few more announcements to make between now and July 7th that we think you’re going to like, so be on the lookout and be sure to subscribe to our email list at SkaterXL.com so you are sure not to miss anything. Be on the lookout for more updates in the coming of weeks!

Thanks and Happy Skateboarding!

What is up guys?! Before we get into today’s big Skater XL news, we want to take a moment to say that we hope everyone is staying healthy and hanging there with the current global pandemic situation. As easy as it is to get wrapped up in our world of digital kickflips, we know that the well being of the community and your family and friends is paramount, and we hope everyone is safe and taking the proper precautions to ride this thing out.

With that being said, today we are excited to make some BIG announcements about the future of Skater XL. We hope that you are just as stoked as we are on today’s news! You can check out the full release and new game trailer here on IGN!

Firstly - we have set the release of the full 1.0 version of the game for July of this year. Although this might seem like an eternity for those of you that have been patiently awaiting our launch, it is only a few short months away and it’ll be on your screens before you know it.

The full 1.0 game will be launching at an increased price point, but as early supporters of Skater XL, you can rest assured that owners of the Early Access game will receive the 1.0 game and all it’s content at no additional charge. We are extremely grateful for your taking a chance on an Early Access skateboarding game, and we are happy to confirm that you will be automatically updated and benefit from the new content when the game launches.

And not to worry, we will be continuing to update the Early Access game between now and July, so you will still be the first to test and give feedback on new features.

In addition to the 1.0 launch date, we have also announced coming playable pro characters! We couldn’t be more stoked to have skate icons Evan Smith, Tiago Lemos, Brandon Westgate, and Tom Asta as ambassadors on our journey. Each a legend in their own right, we are thrilled to bring them into skateboarding’s digital ecosystem, and are looking forward to the clips that the community will create. The pro characters will be available in addition to creating your own in the character customizer. More news on that soon….










And last but certainly not least is our unveiling of a map based on Downtown Los Angeles.
Downtown LA is so iconic to skating and it’s urban West Coast vibe was a no brainer to choose as of the main maps to launch with Skater XL.

This map is 15 times the size of the Early Access LA Courthouse map and is packed with 100’s of spots throughout it’s blocks of plazas, government buildings, and corridors.

With a focus on tweaking and optimizing for great gameplay, we spent considerable time capturing critical details to recreate its many legendary spots as well as taking some creative license to incorporate some of our favorites from around California and the West Coast.

Palm trees, blue skies, smooth concrete and classic spots, we think that DTLA has everything you could want in a street map and fits the vibe of what Skater XL is all about!
















And while we are all excited about getting 1.0 into the hands of the community, we consider it to be just the beginning for what Skater XL will become. As a living product, we have a roadmap to include content and feature updates for the foreseeable future, as the game, community, and skateboarding itself continue to grow and develop.

These announcements are a culmination of more than a year of focused development, and while we have been quiet at times, we have been working constantly on our commitment to bring the community the skateboarding game that has been missing from all of our lives. We couldn’t have done it without your feedback, suggestions, and support and we would not be here without you. We can’t wait for the future of Skater XL and of the skating genre, let’s gooo!!!

IMPORTANT: Update features referred to in this post are located in the “public beta” branch of the game. This is a separate stream of development for us to test and get feedback on early features before committing them to the main product.

You MUST opt in to play this version of the game by following the steps at the bottom of this post.

What is up guys! We hope everyone had a happy New Year and 2020 is off to a great start.
First and foremost, we want to thank the amazing community that has formed around Skater XL over the past year. We have genuinely enjoyed talking and interacting with everyone, and look forward to getting to know more community members in the coming years.

We are really excited to drop this game update with a few new features that the community has been requesting, and bring the gameplay to a more polished state. As we’ve said all along, it is our primary focus in Early Access to completely nail the gameplay, and these new feature additions are a furtherance of that goal and a big step towards complete gameplay and the 1.0 game launch.

We hope that you will try out the new features and contribute to the game's development by using the 'Survey' button to give us feedback about your experiences. Community feedback is a crucial component to making Skater XL the best skateboarding experience possible, and we appreciate your input and time completing the survey.



New Features:

Powerslides
One of your most requested additions, this allows you to control speed as well as create new combinations and add style to your tricks like never before.  True to Skater XL's philosophy powerslides have been implemented in a way that maximizes responsiveness and control to the player, with the possibilities being limited only by your level of skill and creativity.

We hope you agree that these are super fun and unlock an extra level of depth, control and creative possibility in the game.

To utilize powerslides: push either both sticks towards each other or both away from each other and hold it.

Letting go will realign you with the direction you are going. If you let go of a powerslide and the board is rotated more than halfway you will revert to the opposite stance.

You can also do powerslides on the nose and tail by pushing more up or down on the sticks when powersliding, and like in everything else, you can rotate the entire skater with the triggers during powerslides.







Reverts
In addition to standard 4 wheel powerslides, you can also use powerslides to add more style and variation to how your tricks are performed. You can now add reverts during manuals, land tricks and revert them around, do two-wheel powerslides and create combinations that have never before been possible.

Manuals reverting into fakie manuals and other manual / revert combinations are possible with some practice and a lot of precision. None of our private testing group have yet been able to pull one of these off, if anyone out there manages to please send us your NBD clips by DM to our Instagram @skater.xl or through email on the Contact Developer button in-game. We’d love to see the crazy combos players manage to get!

To execute reverts: Use the same above instructions to trigger a powerslide, just make sure the board is more than halfway rotated and quickly let go.














New animations
Completely new character animations are now included and bring new life to the gameplay, making everything look and feel much more fluid and natural. The process has included several motion capture sessions with pro skaters Walker Ryan and Alexis Ramirez, along with many hours spent hand-animating movements to mirror real skateboarding. We have worked tirelessly to improve the character movement, reduce overall stiffness and make the character have good style.

A big challenge along the way has been the fact that Skater XL's is the first ever skateboarding game to be entirely physics-based.  The player is in control of the board at all times and can spin, flip and tweak tricks any way they like, so unlike with skateboarding games of the past there is no single 'canned' character animation that could represent a given trick. 

We had to develop a novel real-time animation system which can move and respond to player input moment-to-moment.  This involved hand cleaning, slicing and editing countless fragments of mocap animation to specific requirements which are then stitched, blended and spliced together by the animation system in real-time to respond instantly to player input and give the character realistic looking movement.

The outcome of this system is a much more polished and realistic representation of skateboarding movement. We hope you'll agree that with this new animation system Skater XL looks and feels like a new game, one that is incredibly smooth, responsive and satisfying to play.

Backside Smith Grind Old:


Backside Smith Grind New:


Courthouse Line Old:


Courthouse Line New:


Sounds
We have remastered and updated the sound effects to the game to reflect rolling and grinding on different surfaces, executing powerslides, character foley, body impacts with the ground, and more. We have also implemented some clean, subtle sounds for the menu and UI which we think fit the feel of the game well.

Sound plays a key, but often underestimated, role in the overall emersion of the experience and it is important that we get it right.  We worked with our friends at Kpow Audio (L.A. Noire, Banner Saga, etc.) to create and implement effects to ensure that sound is feeling accurate and tasty across the range of riding surfaces, tricks, grinds and bails.

Replay Editor Camera Speed
The speeds with which the replay camera moves and rotates have been adjusted to more convenient speeds. Previously there were some very slow camera movements and there is now a lot more control for filming.

Replay Clip Length Editing
You can now trim the length of the replays with the left bumper plus left / right trigger to trim the beginning / end of the clip. This was a useful feature in Kiwi's previous public mod which was integrated into the game and we're happy to now have UI built to include it in the official game.

Grind physics and friction
You can now slide up a rail until stopping and then gravity will make you slide back down again without bailing. All grindables will now have some level of friction. Grindables in mod levels which have not been assigned a specific value by the artist will be assigned a default value adding realistic friction to all previous mod maps.

Autopump & Autorevert
Feedback from the last public beta was that that speed control using the previously implemented pumping mechanic did not provide as much extra control and depth to the gameplay as hoped and many players seem to still use hurried pushing to maintain speed when in ramps and bowls.

The loss of speed when not landing with perfect angle back into the bowl or popping some distance out from the coping to flat was something that caused frustration for beginner-intermediate players without adding much value for more experienced players.

We’ve implemented two small helpers which are currently active only in the bowl in the California Skatepark level. One is “autopump”, a system which will give you a calculated speed boost to counteract what is lost on impact with the ramp. The other is “autorevert” which will automatically revert and slide you around so you are facing the direction of movement when you land. 

Combined these two systems make it much easier to maintain speed when carving through bowls and ramps, bringing the focus of gameplay and use of the available gamepad input back to the bits that matter most.

We’d love to hear the broader communities thoughts on how this feels and if you think it’s a benefit. Please feel free to send us feedback through the beta survey or contact developer buttons in the game menu!

Minor Tweaks and Bug Fixes

• Interaction between character and board during bails now possible
  
• Reducing ‘sharpness’ filter on game camera for smoother details and edges
  
• Increasing sample rate & quality of motion blur in LA Courthouse
  
• Applied “de-light” to khaki pants to remove shadows from 3D scanning process
  
• Tweaked shadow “cascades” so shadows appear sharper in far distance distance
  
• Fix bail momentum stopping randomly
  
• Fix for several causes of glitchy respawns
  
• Character does not start rolling if spawning on slight slopes until first push
  
• Turning when stationary board now pivots on back trucks
  
• Character can be rotated in gear menu with L/R triggers
  
• More reliable grind exit direction, no more getting caught jumping back and forth trying to exit a grind
  
• Pin removed from replay editor
  
• Push speed increases smoothly with each push rather than in one sudden instant
  
• Improved brake friction
  
• Removed wheel sounds from menu
  
• Added collider to LA Courthouse stage roof - have at it!
  
• Performance improvements

Beta update feature integration
After reviewing all of the user feedback and making necessary fixes, we have now moved all features from public beta branch into default branch. As a result, all of the features from the September Beta branch update are now available in the default Early Access game. These features include: New character model, California Skatepark map, replay editor, teleporter/pin dropper, character customizer, map selector, grabs, and pumping mechanics. Full details on those features can be found HERE

To open the beta, follow these steps:

Right click ‘Skater XL’ and open Properties

Select the ‘beta - public beta builds’ branch.

Steam should start downloading this version of the game. Once it has finished, you will be able to try the update. The game name in your library should now show “Skater XL [beta]”.

If you’d like to switch back to the regular commercial release branch of the game in future simply come back to this screen and select “NONE - opt out of all betas” in the drop down.

We thank all of you for your continued support and genuine feedback.

(scroll down for a sneak peak at more buttery new animations)

What is up guys! Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the Early Access launch of Skater XL and we’d like to take a moment to look back and appreciate what’s happened in the world of skateboarding games over the last 12 months.

In one short year the outlook for the skating game genre has flipped a complete 180, from dwindling hope for a sequel to the beloved Skate franchise and an otherwise empty playing field to a flurry of activity.

Skater XL burst out from closed development on core gameplay into public Early Access, and over the duration of 2019 was followed by a renewed energy in the genre and announcements across PC, consoles and even mobile.

In our Steam Early Access we introduced a new level of control, board feel and satisfaction to skateboarding game mechanics which have not only rebooted realistic skateboarding gameplay, but taken it a giant leap forwards, further than even that of big-publisher franchises of the past.

The community and culture around skateboarding games has been revived, with an incredible 40k players joining the community owned and operated SXL modding Discord. The positive and creative culture that has grown around the game is truly unique and we are grateful to have been able to play a part in unlocking and contributing to this passion that is shared by so many skate game fans around the world.

The seemingly impossible has happened and the genre is truly on track not only to revival, but with the explosion of community, modding and content creation in the last 12 months, is set to become something bigger and better than it ever was.

Given that no big publishers have been involved and this is a movement driven entirely by independent development and a passionate community, this is truly amazing and cause to celebrate for anyone who is a fan.


Year in Review:

Here’s what’s happened since Skater XL launched on 19th Dec 2018

• Reached #1 upcoming game out of 2,207 on Steam pre-launch in under two weeks
  
• Amassed more than 2,700 Steam reviews with an avg. rating of Very Positive and recent rating of Overwhelmingly Positive (thank you!)
  
• Community made and operated modding Discord reached an incredible 40k members and growing
  
• Rise of numerous fakeskate teams, streamers and the revival of YZ Magazine (shout-outs at bottom of post), thousands of community videos and edits posted to IG and Youtube
  
• Growing base of users with a staggering 200+hr played, and several with 1k+
  
• Easy Day Studios development team more than doubled in size including welcoming modders Kiwi and Theo
  
• The core Easy Day team relocated from different parts of the US and World to Long Beach CA to be at the centre of the skate culture and industry

In regards to the game’s development itself, this year has seen the beta implementation of a new map, new character avatar, replay editor system, character customization and new gear options, grabs, a teleporting system, map selector, transition skating improvements and numerous bug and gameplay fixes. This might not seem like the biggest volume of content on paper but please trust that we have been working both hard and smart to build the best possible starting point for 1.0 and lay good foundations for the future of Skater XL.


A View Towards 1.0

At Easy Day we are looking at the road ahead and planning how we can best develop the product and work together with the SXL community and creators. As we move towards 1.0 we see this as including:


1 - Core

• Continue to polish the core of the game mechanic and animation system and unlock the sense of control, freedom and connection to the board that characterizes Skater XL through a wider range of tricks
  
• Improve animation assets and system to the point where every well executed movement in the game looks and feels smooth and authentic

We’ve always taken the approach that to unlock the true fun and rewarding feeling of physics based skateboarding, the initial and primary focus should be given to the core mechanics of gameplay. It’s this approach that has given Skater XL the unmistakable control and fluidity of gameplay that the community has come to know and love. We’ve made a ton of progress on both the gameplay and animation sides and content is moving through the stages of development to 1.0.


2 - Content

• Create amazing content to complete the game towards 1.0 and deliver value in ways that best complement or differ from content being made by the modding community

Our belief from the start has been that gameplay should be polished to a certain level first before moving focus to level design and content which fit perfectly with that gameplay. With that in mind, since early 2019 we felt the core mechanic of the game was shaping up enough that we could start focus on content and level design. It's been an interesting journey, we're super excited with what's been in development and look forward to sharing more soon.


3 - Community

• Enable and empower the community and content creators
  
• Increase ease of access and consumption of community and mod content

In addition to the official content and features that we’ve been grinding on, we’ve heard the community feedback about your desire to create and implement modded content in an easy and logical way. Though we’ve made improvements in the accessibility of modded maps in the latest beta update, we are taking steps to make it easier to access modded gear in future updates.


In an effort to keep you guys updated on some of the things we’ve been working on, we’ve dropped some gifs below of a few new animations that resulted from our motion capture with Walker Ryan, as well as subsequent mocap sessions. As you can see, the new animations really breathe life into the character and replicate real life body movements in a much more accurate way. Overhauling the original animations has been a time consuming process, but we hope you agree that the time spent is well worth it.

Old Hardflip


New Hardflip


Old Frontside Crooked Grind


New Frontside Crooked Grind


Old 360 Flip


New 360 Flip


Old Frontside Flip:


New Frontside Flip:


Old Frontside Noseslide


New Frontside Noseslide


Old Kickflip Nose Manual Nollie Tre


New Kickflip Nose Manual Nollie Tre


As our birthday arrives it’s another day in the office for us here. We have our heads down in development and we’re excited at the progress development is making every day. We've said it before and we'll say it again - we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on, and likewise we can’t wait to see what the community continues to build and create.

We can't help but wonder - if this is the response to skateboarding coming to Early Access on Steam, then what kind of madness will be unlocked when the full power of the game and community is unlocked in full release for PC and Consoles...

And while it would be impossible to thank everyone that has made an impact on the Skater XL community, we wanted to highlight a few notable contributors. Note that those highlighted are clickable links, for those new to Skater XL we highly recommend taking some time to have a look through some of the awesome content from these members:

Content Creators
Hoodlum Family
Demzilla
Mathias Rabat
Snail
Uncle Chippah
Rob White
LowLife Crew
Timekeeper Precision Wheels
Beans Brand
Big Daddy Beans
Binary Shoes
Fleep
Gnubzi
ThumbSquad
RoccityRoller
Eon Skateboards
Bizznacker
Jboondock
JJMartianLive
Fizzle McCoy
Nightspeeds
Something Rad
BodieFPS
5uds
Olay
902Rider
Jboogie
Battlegroundinho
33AnnA3rd
Derry_k
BobGnarly
Dubaazz
Berylz
OneYear Brand
Provosert
BlackDave
Minimus


Mod maker and Community Contributors - All mods can be found in the modding Discord HERE
Pactole
Luke
Hondune
Yaky
GHFear
Figzyy
Matsix
untz
iStreamOnline
Silentbaws
Enox
Jean-Olive
Fermenter
medium_burnt
Kiwi
Theo
Brian Wilde
Desmond McFalls
SquegeeDinoToy
PRIME
Babbo Elu
Ulimon
Pinco
Le Kaiju
BoolmasterJay
Goof
Letsplayalittlegame




Have a happy Skater XL birthday everyone. Let’s keep this thing rolling and see how far just how far we can take it in 2020.


🎂 The Easy Day team

IMPORTANT: Update features referred to in this post are located in the “public beta” branch of the game. This is a separate stream of development for us to test and get feedback on early features before committing them to the main product.

You MUST opt in to play this version of the game by following the steps at the bottom of this post.

**************

What’s up guys? As part of our progress toward 1.0 launch, today we have implemented an update to the Public Beta branch of the game, chock full of new features and content that we hope you will enjoy. This group of new content, features, mechanics and fixes are the result of our team’s hard work over the past several months.

A lot of things have been happening in the background simultaneously, and when they all start to take shape, it can have an extremely positive impact on the game. This major update is a significant step towards Skater XL’s vision of bringing a new level of control, style and freedom to the skateboarding genre.

In recent months, the one and only modder Theo has officially joined Easy Day and is assisting with map creation, and our boy Kiwi has also joined the team and has helped bring his widely used replay editor mod to the core product, as well as assisting in building the new gear selector, menus, and a bunch of other things.

It can be hard to find great coders and content creators who also have a background in and passion for skateboarding and we’re really stoked to have dedicated members of the community be able to officially join the team.

Though still in beta, the majority of features have been tested with our private beta group and we feel are almost ready for the official game. We’d love to get feedback on these new features from the broader community and have included two features to submit feedback in the new menu system (described further below).

Please take a look at the details of the update below and as always, we appreciate all the support and feedback that our community has given us along the way. We look forward to building on these features in future updates that will culminate in the 1.0 launch in the not so distant future.

Have a look at Nightspeeds taking it for a spin


New Character
As mentioned in previous updates, we have scanned a new character model that is now playable in the game. New animations have not yet been implemented, however. You’ll notice that the new character has improved textures and quality. We’re still working on those eyes though :)

Gear Selector + new clothing options
We have implemented the ability to change the character’s clothes, as well as adding some additional clothing options. This will not be the entirety of gear options, but we’re looking to test the functionality of the selector and quality of gear textures.

To access press the ‘Start’ button and select “Gear”. From there you will be able to select gear and see what it looks like on the character. This feature, like others in the menu system have been designed to be quick and easy to access, then get right back to gameplay.

We understand that many of you in the modding community have spent a lot of time designing gear and creating brands using the original character. And while these new gear textures will require new gear mods to be created, it is a necessary step in getting game closer to 1.0 launch.

We appreciate all the time, energy and effort that goes into creating custom gear mods, but hope that you’ll agree that the new character and gear options will make all your clips look much better in the future, and also provide a greater variety of options as we add more clothing types to this new model moving forward.




Southern California Skatepark Map
We've included a new map which allows you to skate a Southern California classic from your PC anywhere in the world - palm trees, warm sunset and all.

This map was originally created as a one-to-one exact replica of a real skatepark but through the development process we’ve come to learn that exact replicas of real spots do not provide for the best gameplay experience.

Beyond the core gameplay, level design is one of the next crucial elements to unlock fun in the game and something we have decided to take very seriously.

There’s no blueprint for how to design great spots and levels for skateboarding games, let alone the first one ever to be completely physics based and with real-time control of the board, so we have spent months doing deep dives into what truly unlocks the fun and creativity in ways that we believe will be far more satisfying than recreating exact replicas of existing spots.

This involves building, testing and re-testing, and in some cases scrapping ideas and starting over. Time consuming but incredibly important work. As a result the park in this beta update may not be included in the 1.0 game, or may be eventually modified, but we are interested to have our community play it and let us know what you think.

It is modeled after Encinitas Skatepark (“Poods Park”), and adds terrain that we hope will unlock some new elements of fun to the overall gameplay.

Stay tuned also in future for the results of our ongoing level design efforts, we’re excited to share some of what we’ve learned and are building as things move forward.




Map Selection
We’ve added a map selection menu that will allow you to quickly and easily switch between the Courthouse, Encinitas Skatepark, your installed Modded Maps, and future official maps. To switch between maps, press the ‘Start’ button and select ‘Maps’ in the menu.

Select the map you’d like to play and you’ll be dropped in. Your downloaded modded maps should also automatically appear in the ‘Custom Maps’ menu by tabbing sideways using LB / RB (Xbox) or L1 / R1 (PS4).

Grindable edges are assigned to objects in custom maps automatically upon loading using a similar approach to that in Hondunes original map importer mod. We’re using an improved technique so the way the player leans on sloped rails will be more correct and similar to that in official maps.

There is an instructions popup available to those who have not yet installed any custom maps, with an option to open the main community-run SXL modding server in Discord.



Grabs
We teased this feature a few months back and have refined the system to a point that we are happy to release it for your enjoyment. Like other elements of the game, the grabbing system includes Skater XL’s highly responsive independent stick control to tweak and style the grab any way you like, adding even more creative possibilities to the game.

Grabs can be done any time you are in the air, to use grabs press the shoulder (bumper) button to grab with the corresponding hand (Right or Left). You can tweak grabs by moving the sticks, just as you would for Shiftys or grinds.

Different grabs are executed by rotating your board before grabbing. For instance, a nose grab can be done by pointing your nose up by pulling down on the sticks and then grabbing with your left hand (if regular).

Tail grab would be pushing forward then grabbing with your right hand (regular stance). Stalefish and mutes can be achieved by doing a frontside shifty (sticks pointed away from each other) before grabbing either your left or right hand.





Pin Mover / Teleporter
You can now easily move around maps and choose your spawn point anywhere you like quickly and easily. Press Y (XBox) or Square (PS4) to activate.

The left stick will move you around the map, the right stick with rotate. Hold LT / RT (XBox) or L2 / R2 (PS4) to raise and lower the camera. Press Y (XBox) or Square (PS4) to drop your spawn point.

An off-board character mode where you can run around, jump and do tricks like Cavemans was experimented with, but we found it didn’t provide enough freedom to quickly move around the map and get straight back into the meaningful parts of the gameplay.

Off-board is a part of skateboarding and something we’re still considering for later inclusion, but perhaps with a deeper rethink of how it should be integrated into the skating experience.



Replay Editor
We have implemented a replay editor based on Kiwi’s original mod so that you can officially replay and capture clips of your skating. The loading time when first opening the editor has been greatly improved so the replay plays smoothly instantly.

To use the editor, press the ‘Start’ button and select ‘Replay. Upon opening the Replay Editor, a menu will appear showcasing the controls for how to operate it.

You will still need to use a screen capture program and external software to save and edit your clips if wanting to make video parts.

A few features such as clip length editing and visible depth of field indicator have not yet been included.




Quarterpipe ollie and landing improvements
We have included many further improvements to transition skating. We hope this will improve the experience in the many skatepark style mod maps based around transition and ramps and in future planned official maps. This is such a big part of skateboarding and we’re stoked to be bringing more and more of these elements to Skater XL.

New mechanics make it much easier than previously to jump off a steep surface like a quarter or bank and land back into that surface, although based on speed and approach you may still pop out of the bank / quarter if desired.

There are also improvements to character lean and spins plus to spinning flip tricks (FS / BS flips etc.) on angled surfaces and transitions.
Old


New


These and other gameplay changes in this update are all done with adaptations to Skater XL’s underlying system based on natural physics to allow for depth and variety in gameplay while giving the player the maximum amount of control.

Pumping
To manage speed while skating transition obstacles, we have added a pumping mechanic. To utilize this new feature press up on back foot stick or down on the front foot stick and then release the stick as you enter or exit the transition.

We’ve found in testing this helps greatly with speed control and flow around obstacles like the bowl in the Encinitas map. Let us know what you think!



Gameplay improvements
Cab flip and other combined flip + body rotation tricks have been improved.
Old


New


Player lean angle on banks and quarters has been improved and feels more natural.


Catch rotations have been made cleaner and with less foot penetration.

Beta Survey and Contact Developer buttons
We have included a survey that can be completed to give feedback on features currently in ‘beta’. There is also a contact developer button which can be used to email with any other feedback or bug reports.


To open the beta, follow these steps:

Right click ‘Skater XL’ and open Properties

Select the ‘beta - public beta builds’ branch.

Steam should start downloading this version of the game. Once it has finished, you will be able to try the update. The game name in your library should now show “Skater XL [beta]”.

If you’d like to switch back to the regular commercial release branch of the game in future simply come back to this screen and select “NONE - opt out of all betas” in the drop down.

Thanks again for your continued support and we are looking forward to getting your feedback on these new features! Happy skating! We'll catch you on the next update

What is up guys! Since the last update a few weeks ago, the development continues to push forward and we are making great progress toward a complete game.

For this update, we wanted to share the results of the character and gear scan session that took place a few months back. We worked with Human Engine in Los Angeles for our photogrammetry scan of a new character model as well as various changes of clothing and accessories.

The photogrammetry process involves taking shots of a person and clothing items on a rig of over 100 DSLR cameras which are then processed via several steps into 3 dimensional digital objects.

The 3D objects are then "skinned" to the underlying skeleton of the character, a process that involves telling all the points on the 3D object how to bend and move as the underlying bones of the character are animated. This makes sure his joints, fingers, clothes, etc. all retain a realistic shape and volume through his range of motion while skating.

The outcome, as you can see in the photos and videos, creates an incredibly lifelike character, with super realistic skin, hair and clothing textures that can bend and move around.





Note the hair in the model above is a placeholder stock asset.

The model and clothing items will create the building blocks for our character customizer, where you will be able to choose from several different clothing options and visual attributes to create a unique character to skate with. We also have more clothing items coming which will be ready in the coming weeks.

See below some clips of the character in motion. Note that this is not yet using the new animations captured in our recent motion capture session.

Thanks for your patience as we continue to tie all the pieces together on this and other parts of the game as we move towards full release. Thanks to all the players who chose to buy and support the game in Early Access so far and stay tuned for the next update soon!

Happy Go Skateboarding Day! Today we are proud to be partnering with The Sheckler Foundation to help further their mission of enriching the lives of children through skateboarding. We will be donating a portion of the proceeds from today’s Skater XL sales to the foundation, aligning with our shared commitment of giving back to the skateboarding community. We hope you'll join us and 'Be The Change'! Now get out and go skate!!!

What is up guys! Since our last general development update we’ve had our heads down working on a lot of streams of development simultaneously. We’re at a stage in the project where a lot of things are happening, but visible results won’t be forthcoming until several of these things start to reach completion and come together.

We wanted to keep the community up to date, and let you in on a behind the scenes look at our motion capture session with our friend and pro skater, Walker Ryan.

We traveled to Vancouver to Sawmill Studios, where Walker was strapped into the famous ‘golf ball suit’ and rifled off tricks with an ease that was impressive, especially when considering that there were motion sensors taped to his shoes and board. The sensors on the suit, when paired with motion sensing cameras, capture the animated motions that will give the tricks in the game a lifelike fluidity and smoothness.

There are a lot of steps to the process after the shoot, first the data is ‘cleaned’ by both computer algorithms and then by hand by a mocap artist to remove any jitters or errors. The animations are then mapped to our new character model’s “skeleton” so they can be applied to the character and make him move in-game.

Our animators then go through a detailed process of editing and altering the animations for the specific needs of the animation system we created for Skater XL.

As mentioned in the last update, this is the first skating game to ever have complete, fluid control of your board and feet that is driven by natural physics movement rather than canned animations, so we have to slice up and tweak hundreds of animations into precise bits and pieces that can be mixed, matched and adapted on the fly to follow what the player is doing in the moment. This creates the completed movements of flips, grinds, manuals, etc.

It’s fiddly work and there are months of editing for our two animators yet to complete and polish, but we’re confident will result in gameplay with unmatched realism once all the details are in place.

The results of the animation implementation will be covered in a future update, but for now check out these images and video from the shoot.

Thanks for all your support and we’ll see you on the next update!

https://youtu.be/KekZQfVyCd4

https://youtu.be/VJvEHjvLyBM

https://youtu.be/bDcua2HMKWA

Congratulations to David Lestrade for being selected by The Nine Club crew as the winner of our video part contest! David put together a creative mix of trick selection, camera work, and editing to take home the honors. He'll be receiving a huge prize pack from GoPro, DC Shoes, Glassy Eyewear, The Nine Club and some cold, hard cash!

Here is David's winning entry:

https://youtu.be/SEhvuQV6inM

Watch the announcement on The Nine Club Experience with special guest judge Mikemo Capaldi HERE

In addition to The Nine Club winner, we've also added a 'Fan Favorite' award and voting is now open to the community. We've narrowed it down to the Top 12, and voting is open through May 8th. Be sure to check them out and help your favorite win a box of skate gear.

Voting Link: https://woobox.com/sgh2dt

We also sincerely want to thank everyone that participated in this contest and took the time to create and submit parts. We know the amount of time and effort that goes into creating these videos, and we were impressed with each and every submission. We've created a playlist on Youtube with all the submissions for your viewing pleasure.

Submission Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5m2PIXm1k01b2WdrV1vfSasYRj_N1sMA

Thanks, also, to the amazing community of players, mod makers, and map builders. You all rule!

See you on the next update!