"It's all about quality over quantity."

Jay Balmer and Chris 'Cuz' Parry, lifetime skaters and Associate Producers on Skate, lift the lid on the hot new title on PS3.

How does the control system work in Skate?
Jay Balmer: The controls are really straightforward. The left stick controls your body for turns, spins and powerslides, while the right stick is connected to what you do with your board for ollies, fliptricks, manuals and grind positions. Then there are two buttons to push with either foot and the two triggers to grab the board with either hand. That’s really all there is to it. It is up to you to explore and play with controls; just get out there and Flickit.

What have you done to ensure that the skating action in Skate is as realistic as possible? Are there any actual skaters on the development team?
JB: It was all about getting the feeling of skating right, and to capture that feeling we had to get it to look as believable as possible. We designed the controls with that in mind. We did motion capture of the pros to get the animations right. We wrapped everything in physics to keep us grounded in reality. We positioned the camera low, so it shows off the tricks just like a real skate filmer would. There are skaters all over the dev team and involved in all the key areas. To some we are called the watchdogs, ensuring the game stayed authentic to skating, while still becoming a great game for everyone. I think we hit the perfect balance.

Will there be real-world licensed skaters?
Chris ‘Cuz’ Parry: Absolutely. We’ve had the pleasure of working with 19 amazing pro skaters (plus Rob Dyrdek’s sidekick Big Black is up in the mix as well). The skaters come from a range of skating backgrounds representing some real legends and legends in the making. Street, vert, pools, tech, speed...we’ve got all the bases covered. To name just a few: Danny Way, Mark Gonzales, Mike Carroll, Chris Cole, Terry Kennedy, Chris Haslam, PJ Ladd...the list goes on and on.

How is the single player game structured?
CP: As with the controls and environment design, we’re taking our cues from skateboarding itself in terms of structuring the single player experience. Single player progression pretty much follows the arc of any skater trying to make a go of skateboarding as a career. It’s all pretty much about the coverage. The challenges you do add to your reputation and open up coverage opportunities in two of skateboarding’s premiere magazines – Thrasher and The Skateboard Mag. As you progress from the back pages to the covers you’ll get sponsors, film video parts, enter contests, play games of S.K.A.T.E., compete in gnarly downhill races, and own a variety of skate posts around our fictional skate mecca called San Vanelona. Get the covers of both magazines and you’ll open up some truly spectacular skating venues in the form of the X-Games and Danny Way’s Mega-compound.

What does Skate offer that other games in this genre don’t?
CP: An unflinching dedication to capturing the feeling and culture of skateboarding. We stuck to our guns and never saw the need to go too over the top with the environments or actions...we know that the act of skateboarding is gnarly enough to thrill most gamers. With our own skaters hucking themselves down huge sets of stairs, launching monstrous airs across huge mega-ramp gaps, or blasting down hills at breakneck speeds, we didn’t see the need to stray too far from what’s actually going down in skateboarding today. So far, the reviews and fan base we’ve generated seem to bear this philosophy out.

Why have so few developers attempted to develop games in this genre in the past?
CP: There actually have been quite a few attempts at games in the action sports genre, but most have succumbed to the feeling that they were simply aping the control set that was developed by the biggest name in the genre. From bikes, to wakeboarding, to rollerblading and snowboarding there’s been attempts at them all. Some were actually quite good, and some were super fun.

Will you implement other styles of trick into future instalments now that you've got such a solid control base (i.e. flatland tricks, surf-style skating)?
JB: Of course, there is more to do and more we wanted to do. We’ve spent years dreaming of and designing this game. There are so many tricks and styles that have been done over the years and modern skating is becoming a great mix of all of them. The mission was to deliver the feeling of modern skating and bring it to a whole new level for gaming. It was about quality over quantity; you’ll have to wait and see what the future holds.

What can we expect from the soundtrack?
CP: We’re proud of the innovative approach we took with our soundtrack and use of music in the game. We opted not to have music blaring at all times, unless of course the player decides to turn that option on. Instead, we took a more cinematic view of music, much in the same way a pro skater would in choosing the songs to accompany the video parts he must produce for his sponsors. Most of the licensed tracks were either chosen by the skaters themselves or have appeared in memorable skateboard videos.

Another innovation came in our use of original score. We hooked up with a bunch of great musicians and DJs (DJ extraordinaire Z-Trip, legendary skater Tommy Guerrero, and Alex Epton of Spank Rock to name a few) to lay down a score for the neighbourhoods and spots of San Vanelona. We actually use the music to lure you to some of the more remote spots hidden in the vast city.