In a step towards expanding freedom and control in Skater XL’s core gameplay, an update has just been released into public beta on Steam which makes some changes and additions to the grab mechanic.
You now have the ability to:
- Grab the board at any time with LB / RB, including while riding, during manuals, grinds, power slides, mid-air, during flip tricks, during pop-outs and more. You can also hold grabs through transitions between these different game states. There are no constraints on when you can grab or when you need to release the grab.
- Grab the board at any subtle angle you choose based on the angle of the board. There is a unique hand position and pose that will be created for any given board angle. Each hand can grab anywhere around the board including between-the-legs grabs, Seatbelts and Crails.
- Grab and release the board with either or both hands independently to mix and combine different grabs.
Much like the original core gameplay, these new abilities are not programmed tricks or canned animations but a series of systems which create movements on the fly based on player input. This puts more creativity, style, and expression in the hands of the player.
* Please note that these are incomplete features in early development, containing bugs, rough edges and (some amusing) animation and body pose glitches. Due to the real-time nature of Skater XL’s gameplay and animation approach animation and pose cleanup can be complicated and often make sense to focus on towards the end of the process.
Also, as things progress during public development elements may be added, changed or removed in further builds.
We look forward to seeing what kinds of tricks and lines everyone comes up with!
Coming soon for consoles.
* IMPORTANT: Update features referred to in this post are located in the “Beta” branch of the game on Steam. This is a separate stream of development for us to publicly test early or experimental features in development.
You MUST opt in to play this version of the game by following the steps outlined here:
-In your Steam Library, right click ‘Skater XL’ and open Properties
-Select the ‘Beta' branch.
-Steam should start downloading this version
