Today we had the chance to talk to Jay Balmer over at EA Black Box on his upcoming project, Skate 2. Throughout our thirty-five minute conversation, it was evident that he has a lot of passion for the project and the Skate series. With Skate 2’s release date right around the corner – along with the demo currently on Xbox Live – gamers should expect an entertaining time when they finally get their hands on the full game (in-stores next week). Read on to find out more about Skate 2 and how everything is shaping up for the title.
PX360:Jay, thanks for taking the time to speak with us about Skate 2; tell us a bit about your position at EA?
Jay Balmer: “I’m the Gameplay Producer on Skate franchise, which has kept me busy for the past few years.”
PX360: How long has the title been in development for?
Balmer: “We’ve always had big dreams when we started off thinking about making a skateboarding game so some of the ideas even before we started Skate. But then, right as we finish Skate we just rolled straight into Skate 2 so the entire team just kept their momentum rolling off Skate and starting Skate 2. Which, I guess, that gives us about 16 months or so in development.”
PX360: How eager was EA to develop a sequel on Skate?
Balmer: “There was lots of support when we were working on the original Skate and you know, we had great reviews, scored high, and fortunately we saw Tony Hawk go running so we had lots of support going into Skate 2. EA has been very supportive so it’s been the right place to create this game.”
PX360: How has the feedback been like for the demo that recently released on Xbox Live? What has been the response from the team with Xbox Live gamers figuring out how to glitch out of the skate park?
Balmer: “We watch all the feedback. It’s kind a time when we sit back and say ‘we’ve done our job, let’s see what happens next.’ They [gamers] point out stuff we know because not everything is going to be perfect, so we’ll keep improving. As for getting out of the demo, we knew it was possible but a new way was found that we hadn’t figured out ourselves. We’re kind of stumped on it. We’re seeing people getting to see more of the world than we were allowed to show them. It’s just really cool to see that happening because I think gamers and skaters are doing exactly what they should be doing.”
PX360: Will the glitches still be found in the PlayStation Network demo?
Balmer: “Well you know, we didn’t go back and change anything because our timelines are little slower so I fully expect people to do the same thing when they get it on the PlayStation 3. You just have to embrace it.”
PX360: What crowd is Skate 2 geared towards: the casual or the hardcore?
Balmer: “It’s tough to define who you’re making the game for. We always made the game a little bit for ourselves. We listen to and read all the feedback we can find. Then see what we really want to do and makes us stoked. There are a lot of us on the team and some of us are hardcore skaters who are really focused on the tricks. Then there’s the guys who aren’t mastering the tricks and enjoy the wipe outs. So we really built the game for ourselves and are stoked that people like it. We try to keep it accessible to as many as people as possible and keep it as entertaining as possible while maintaining the quality as much as we can.”
PX360: What was the reasoning behind the addition of the Hall of Meat that was added into the game?
Balmer: “Hall of Meat was always in the game because wipeouts always happen. We actually had dead moments before where you had no control and it was a moment of gameplay when the player could only watch. What we did this year was added control during the wipeouts and refined the scoring slightly. It actually wasn’t a lot of work because most of the system was already there. We wanted to celebrate wipeouts for those who are into it and make it better for those who are playing the game.”
PX360: How did the creation of New San Van come along? Also, how immersive and vast is the world compared to the original?
Balmer: “We enjoyed our city of San Vanelona and it was a neat place to create anything we wanted to since we weren’t trying to copy what’s out there in reality. So we stuck with that theme with creating New San Van. There’s a little bit of story behind it with a disaster wiping everything out. As for similarities, suddenly there’s a waterfront when there was no water before so we just added new districts. There’s really not anything but we a needed a story behind us rebuilding the city to make it more fun. We kept some stuff we liked from the original game and tried to get as much new stuff we could into the game. For scope wise, it’s probably a little bigger but it’s denser. It’s not like the suburbs where there are only a few roads and pathways. You can skate anywhere you’d like in the large world. So same size, but way more dense.”
PX360: It was mentioned around the net that you could buy real-estate or land in the game and build a skate park. Could you go into a little more detail about that?
Balmer: “As part of the story, you have to unlock or purchase new areas to skate. But you do get new places to skate as your progress in the story so that’s one reason to play through the story rather than just free skating. When it comes down to it, you are just purchasing places and not going into designing and building your own skate parks. Those are things that already exist and you are opening up access to. Last year you would open up the X-Games and this year you’ll be opening up the San Vana Slamma. It’s a big event in our game with contests to compete in. What we focused on as far as creating your own places to skate, we wanted that to be available anywhere. So instead of a create-a-skate-park editor we actually put objects all over the city that you collect together, rearrange and move around. So you can change anywhere in the city rather than a small location. It was a completely static world in the original with nothing being able to move or tipped over, so it’s a huge addition to Skate 2.”
PX360: What changes or improvements have been made to the trick system?
Balmer: “We were actually really stoked with what we got done in the original Skate. So our focus was to expand what you could do on your skateboard. We went after doubling the amount of your tricks and using your feet, hands, and completing the circle of control was one of our missions. You could grab the board while you were in the air in the original but you couldn’t grab the board while you were grinding. The focus was to make all these controls work so it’s not more complicated controls. It’s actually the same system that everyone played with and we went after getting double the amount of tricks in there. We didn’t want to step out lightly and only add in a few new tricks but expand as much as possible.”
PX360: Could you speak a little on the graphics creator within Skate 2?
Balmer: “The graphics creator is actually online on our website so anyone can go and playing with that. When they get the Skate 2, they’ll be able to download them into their game and put them on their skateboard, use them as their icons for the online profile, put them on t-shirts and hats. It’s a way to create your own brand and promote them on your character in the game.”
