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.

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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!

What’s up guys! In this update, we thought we’d give you a look at what we’ve been working on over the past month as we head toward release of the full game. While we are not releasing any new playable features, we would like to share some of the more interesting things we’ve been working on.


Photogrammetry scans

In preparation for implementing character customization, last week we scanned multiple clothing and accessory items at a studio in Los Angeles. This process involves taking shots of items on a rig of over 100 DSLR cameras which are then processed into 3 dimensional digital objects for use in the game which will fit and bend with the character as it animates.

Once completed you will be able to mix and match to create different looks for your character. Now that the data has been scanned there are a series of steps to process the photos of the objects and turn them into game ready assets.

Check out the scanning rig we used with our friends Human Engine in West LA:




Here’s an example of what one scan looks like after the first step of processing to turn 100 hi-res images into a surface in 3D space:




Motion Capture Preparation

We’re in the planning stages of another motion capture session, to further improve and refine the gameplay animations to be smoother and more realistic. This process involves setting up a grid of motion-sensing cameras and recording skaters performing tricks so that we can capture parts of the movements for use in the game.

We are again partnering with Sawmill Studios in Vancouver who captured our assets for Early Access.

See some pictures from our original shoot here:


Skaters wear suits covered with the famous mocap "ping pong balls" to track movement:


Our famous Early Access character suiting up:


A challenge with motion capturing skateboarding is that it requires quite a large area and flooring that has the right hardness and amount of grip to pull off clean flat-ground tricks.

Our friends up at Sawmill have scouted a suitable space in Eastside Vancouver and we're looking to lock in a shoot in the coming weeks.

Once we have captured the animations we need we will begin the rebuild of the animation system. Skater XL is the first skating game ever where the board is driven by fine-grain player control and natural movement at all times as opposed to using pre-made animations for each move and trick.

While giving what we feel is responsive and satisfying gameplay, this presents a great challenge in creating our character animation system, as the game doesn't know what the player is going to do ahead of time.

We had to invent a very unique system to animate the character and there were a lot of challenges in building the first version of it. We learned a huge amount going through the process for Early Access and think we can make some significant improvements on this second run, especially now that we can incorporate our learnings into the next round of mocap.


Grabs

We have implemented an initial system for grabs that we have been testing internally. In the spirit of Skater XL our focus has been on giving the player a feeling of control and responsiveness and allowing them to style their moves any way they like.

We feel this early version of grabs achieves this goal and feels amazingly fun. We plan to have a testing round with our group of beta testers soon and hope to release the system in a future update.






Skater XL x The Nine Club Experience Video Part Contest

The contest is now closed for submissions, and the winner will be announced on the May 1st episode of The Nine Club Experience. We got over 100 entries, and we were blown away by the talent, creativity and hard work that everyone put into their parts. Thank you as always to the map makers, modders, and players for making this contest a huge success!

Hey players! While we are hard at work on development towards Skater XL’s full release, we wanted to create something fun for the community and reward all the great content creators, map builders, community members and modders that have contributed so much to the game in Early Access. So today, we are excited to announce the first ever Skater XL Video Part Contest with our friends at The Nine Club!

Check out the announcement video from Chris Roberts and The Nine Club:
https://youtu.be/9fLCjn2Mdvc



Film your part. Submit your edit. Win fame and fortune.

The Rules
We want you to get as creative as possible with your video edits, but there are a few rules to keep the lawyers off our backs. Trademarked character mods are NOT allowed. That means no brand logos, no company board graphics, no copyrighted songs, etc. Level and camera mods ARE allowed and encouraged, as long as there are not logos, trademarks, billboards, etc (i.e. MTN DEW park is a no-go).

Submitted video parts can be up to 3 minutes long and will be judged on trick selection, creativity, camerawork, edit, and overall impression. Parts will be compiled and viewed by the Skater XL team, but the winner will ultimately be decided by our guest judges: The Nine Club.

The Details
To access mods including the replay editor, join the Skater XL Modding Discord Group: https://discord.gg/WXENqq
Mods that include any trademarked brands on gear are NOT allowed. Color and/or style changes are OK as long as no logos are shown.
No copywritten music. Royalty free music can be found on sites like http://freemusicarchive.org/
Level and camera mods ARE allowed and encouraged
Videos can be submitted by entering a Youtube, Vimeo, Twitch, Instagram or Facebook link below
All entries must be received by April 24th, 2019 at 11:59PM PST

The Prize
One Winner will receive:
$250 USD Cash
GoPro Hero7 Camera
Skater XL Skateboard
DC Shoes package
Nine Club package
Glassy Gamer Glasses
Winning video will be uploaded to the Official Skater XL Youtube Channel
Top 5 Entries will each receive a pair of Glassy Gamer Glasses


CLICK HERE to submit your video part and for full rules and details. Let's see what you got!

Here's some inspiration from LucasLurks, featuring parks created by Theo

https://youtu.be/Q0BT2w4b89c

Thanks for your continued support!

Happy Monday SXL fans! We just released minor update 0.0.5. Here's a rundown of new features and bug fixes that are included.

For a walkthrough check out Nightspeeds' video here, with further description below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWYnBL4gD4g

One Foot Ollies/Nollies:  You can now take your front or back foot off the board during ollies and nollies. Simply ollie or nollie and click either the left or right stick to remove your foot.  For now, you can only remove one foot at a time and only after ollies/nollies, not after catching flip tricks. You still have tweaking control with both sticks after the foot is removed.





Mongo Pushing: You can now push mongo in regular and switch in both stances, if that's your thing.  Pressing the X button (xbox controller) will always push with your left foot.  Pressing the A button (xbox controller) will always push with your right foot.



Movement Correction with Rotation: In the previous update, we made skater rotate to match the surface he was jumping onto which helped with the flow of skating transition and banks.  

This would however cause the board to rotate out from under the skater, making it hard to judge landings. In this update, we make a correction to the jump so that the board lands where you intend it to.





Quarterpipe Landing Speed: We fixed a bug that caused the player to slow down at the bottom of transitions.





Impact Audio Bug: Removed loud excess landing noises on impact.

Grind Explosion Bug: Removed bug that would occasionally cause the player to fly away at great speeds upon making contact with a grindable.



Camera Rotation In Air: The camera no longer rotates in the air, this is helpful when skating ramps as the camera will wait until you land to turn around.





Catch Rotation Angle Limit:  We’ve limited the max angle the board can go when catching with both feet.  This should help prevent some of the strange catch poses.





Courthouse Updates:  Building and rail textures have been updated with more detail


Skater Pop Direction:  We’ve corrected the direction that the player jumps during the initial pop.  Previously, he would begin to pop away from the surface, now his pop is in alignment with his bodies orientation.





Mod Disclaimer:  As many of you have experienced, downloading game updates will override your custom mesh and texture mods.  To re-install these changes you'll need to open the Unity Asset Bundle Extractor and replace your textures and other graphical mods.  To re-activate scripted mods like the level importer you simply need to open the Unity Mod Manager and click “Install” once before running the game post update.

Thank you for your continued support.  We'll catch you on the next update!


UPDATE SINCE POSTING - Mod Disclaimer: If you are experiencing bugs, there is a chance it may be caused by conflict with one of the script mods. If you are unable to land in manuals, find yourself pushing very fast or have other strange rotation bugs occurring, please remove all mods and reinstall one by one to make sure it doesn't break the game after the newest update. You can remove your mods by:

1) Open Unity Mod Manager and click Uninstall.
2) Locate your SkaterXL directory found in by default: "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\SkaterXL"
3) Locate "Mod" folder in the SkaterXL directory, and delete it.
4) Reinstall mods carefully using Unity Mod Manager, one at a time to make sure they don't break compatibility.

Some users reported issues with vert mods specifically. It may also happen when combining several mods. Replay mod and map importer are safe to use at this time.

Happy Monday SXL fans! We just released minor update 0.0.4. Here's a rundown of new features and bug fixes that are included

For a walkthrough, check out Nightspeeds' video here, with further description below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diXXujAfQoc
In Air Rotation: In previous builds, when you popped a trick the skater would rotate to be upright in every situation. Now the skater will rotate to the angle of the surface you’ll land on. This is massively helpful when skating quarter pipes or park like environments with lots of banks and ramps, which includes many of the modded maps.

Old Quarter Pipe Rotation:


New Quarter Pipe Rotation:



Old Transfer Rotation:


New Transfer Rotation:



Goofy Board Control Direction (when doing flip tricks): Last update we fixed the board control direction when you are moving the board left or right during ollies only. Now it's fixed for flip tricks as well and the board should move correctly at all times, in all stances.

Goofy Low Ollie Knee Pop: Issues with the knee in the low goofy ollie animation have been fixed.

Old Goofy Low Ollie:


New Goofy Low Ollie:


Wheels: They roll now. 😃

Disclaimer for modded wheel textures: The old wheel texture contained shadows and looked strange when rolling as the shadow would roll with the wheel. With this update we have removed the shadow and custom modded wheel textures should use the new wheel texture as a base going forward.

Max Grind Angle: The max vertical angle you can tweak your board in a grind has been increased a small amount to help with locking into tricks like blunt slides.

Courthouse: Ed has been working his way towards completing the Courthouse map. In this update you'll see improvements to grass and dirt patches.

Old Grass:



New Grass:



Falling While Setup: Previously, there was a bug where if you were falling while setting up for a trick and simultaneously turning, the skater would turn but the board would fall as an unresponsive physics object.

Old Fall When Turning From Setup:



New Fall When Turning From Setup:



Goofy Push Foot Placement: Fixed position of foot when pushing in goofy stance.


Crash Fix: Removed a plugin that was causing crashes for many users.

Mod Disclaimer: As many of you have experienced, downloading game updates will override your custom mesh and texture mods. To re-install these changes you'll need to open the Unity Asset Bundle Extractor and replace your textures and other graphical mods. To re-activate scripted mods like the level importer you simply need to open the Unity Mod Manager and click “Install” once before running the game post update.

Known Issues: With this update, there was introduced a small audio bug when landing which sometimes results in a few extra sounds on impact. This will be fixed in the next update.

Thank you for your continued support. We'll catch you on the next update!

We've just released an update with a few small changes:

1) Pushing off leg angle

We've made some adjustments to assets which makes the front knee bend at a more normal angle when pushing off.

The character animation system tends to fight with inverse kinematics system (which moves and bends the legs to keep the feet on the board), making it a tricky balancing act to get the two to work with each other.

Still not perfect movement, but should help with having to look at the bow-legged pushes all the time while playing for now.

Before fix:


After fix:



2) Courthouse visuals

We've added extra layers of detail to many surfaces in the courthouse including dirt, cracks, scratches, wheel bite marks and debris. We think the level is much closer to a real gritty LA feel with these changes.









There are also puddles and gathered rainwater using Unity's new graphics pipeline's "Screen-Space Reflection". Our lead environment artist Eduardo has a math background and has written technical papers on rendering and lighting, he's a wizard with using new techniques.

We think the new details look pretty cool, what do you think?





3) Leg tweak direction

Fixed bug where during a tweaked Ollie, the legs could move in wrong directions based on stick input.

Before fix:


After fix:


Happy weekend dudes! We'll be in the office making this thing happen as per usual. Hope you get outside for a real skate. Peace!

The EDS Team