Skater XL News

The Skatepark of Tampa has been a mainstay on the global skate scene for the better part of three decades, supporting grassroots skateboarding, their local community and throwing what have become legendary contests, Tampa Pro and Tampa Am. There are few places in the world that have hosted more skateboarding icons than SPoT, and it's contests are the most anticipated of the year for skateboarding's biggest names. Legends like Andrew Reynolds, Eric Koston, and Dennis Busenitz have all claimed the top spot over the years.

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We are very stoked to partner with SPoT to release their updated skatepark design, which will be unveiled at the 2021 Tampa Pro contest October 15-17. If you've ever dreamed of skating the same contest course as your favorite skaters, this is your chance to digitally get down. The Skatepark of Tampa is now available for download in the 'Maps' section of the Mod Browser. Just filter by 'Newest' to see the listings and download.



The team at Easy Day worked with SPoT to create a true representation of the skatepark's latest iteration, complete with an updated centerpiece obstacle featuring rails, wedges and ledges and multiple ways to skate each. Quarterpipes and banks line each end to help keep your speed up and flow back and forth, hitting the main park features in between.





To add even more detail, the art of pro skateboarder Kris Markovich lines the walls of the park, just as you'll see at this year's contest.



We hope that you will enjoy the park and shoutout to creator MastaFlex for his earlier mod version of this park. If you need a little bit of inspiration, tune into skateparkoftampa.com October 15-17 and watch your favorite pros putting the course to good use.

Changes:
- Fixed gameplay sounds bugs in Multiplayer affecting sounds of other players
- Fixed DIY Objects not always deleted on map change
- Minor DIY Map Editor camera improvement

Note that a minor fix was also made to a prefab object which meant we had to rebuild the Addressables bundle of all assets hence this update is a 3GB download despite being only minor changes.

IMPORTANT: Update features referred to in this post are located in the “Alpha” branch of the game. 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 at the bottom of this post.

What is up guys?! We’ve just released a very early stage version of a new game feature called the “DIY Map Editor” into public alpha on Steam.

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The DIY Map Editor allows you to place, move and delete skateable objects in maps for both single player and multiplayer game modes. To access it simply opt into the new ‘alpha’ branch in Steam (Properties -> Betas) and then, once in the game, push and hold the Y/🔺 button or access it from the main menu

Up until now we’ve been building and testing this feature with players in private but as this is a social feature, it makes sense to go into public testing in a much earlier 'alpha' state than with previous features. This will help guide design decisions, see what works and what doesn’t as we continue development of the DIY Map Editor for PC and eventually for consoles.

We look forward to seeing early players jumping in and speaking with more of you as the feature develops. See you in an MP session soon with the DIY Map Editor!!

















Mod Disclaimer:
While we make efforts to preserve existing mods with each update, we are not able to control exactly how updates to the official game code will interact with every one of them. If you are experiencing issues with the new update, please first try removing your mods and adding them back in one by one to see if the issue can be isolated.

To open the Alpha, follow these steps:

Right click ‘Skater XL’ and open Properties

Select the ‘Alpha' 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 [alpha]”.

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.

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Designed to meet the specifications of professional skateboarder and Primitive founder Paul Rodriguez, the Primitive Skatepark is a private playground for Primitive’s elite team of skateboarders including Skater XL’s Tiago Lemos. The team at Easy Day have recreated the park to allow players to get as close as they ever might to skating this exclusive training facility.



Paying close attention to the fine details of the environment, the Skater XL version of the Primitive Skatepark replicates the obstacles and flow while optimizing the size and scale for gameplay.

The park has traditional skatepark features like banks, quarterpipes, flatbars and ledges, built around the centerpiece doubleset with a hubba and handrails. If you watched the Street League Skateboarding Qualifier event, you already know that there are no shortage of ways to skate this park.





To create a more dramatic look and give your footage a different vibe we have released an additional ‘Lights Out’ version of the park, with an overall darkened park and spotlights highlighting the park features.









Both versions of the Primitive Skatepark are available now in the 'Maps' section of the Mod Browser. Just filter by 'Newest' to see the listings and download.

Thanks as always for your support and contributions, and we'll be back soon with more news and map additions.

We hope you all enjoy these additions and shout out to creator Brookzee99 for his recent modded PC version of this park!

We are very happy to announce that Skater XL Multiplayer Free Skate mode is out of Beta and now available for players on all platforms! With this update, friends from all corners of the world can link up online and share a skate session together.

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Skateboarding is more fun with friends, and there’s nothing quite like hanging out, talking shop, and vibing off each other. That essential experience inspired us to create Skater XL’s online Multiplayer Free Skate mode.



Multiplayer Free Skate mode is built to replicate the energy and hype of a real life skate session as closely as possible. No rules or barriers, you and the homies decide where to skate, what to skate, and how to skate it. Whether you want to match each other trick for trick, choreograph party lines, or just vibe off each other in a more freeform way, Multiplayer Free Skate provides the platform.

The social component of skateboarding has always been part of our vision for Skater XL, so we’ve given Multiplayer Free Skate players the capability to capture and save video of impressive lines and momentous trick moments using the in-game replay editor. Videos are a big part of the culture and we felt it was important to give players a way to share and rewatch their favorite moments long after the session is complete. A check of the Instagram #SkaterXL will give you an idea of the amazing content that is already coming out of the creative community.

Multiplayer Free Skate is our first step in opening up social modes in the game and features:

• Skate with up to 10 people online - Join a random room or start your own private one and invite your friends to join using a passcode
  
• Replays - Replay and save your group party lines, with the same replay editor functionality available in single player mode
  

Smooth frame rates and a lag-free experience are so important to Skater XL’s physics-based gameplay and, given the extra processing and complexity of running online multiplayer, we wanted to make sure this update would feel as good as possible for those on low end systems.

Alongside the development on the multiplayer features, work began back in January on optimizing many of the systems and assets in the rest of the game. A huge number of hours have gone into turning over every stone and reworking code, 3D assets, lighting, shaders, and more alongside the multiplayer systems themselves to squeeze out extra performance and FPS. The game now runs and feels significantly smoother on low-end gaming PCs even with many characters on screen during online play.

Also included in this latest update is a small injection of new character gear with shoes from New Balance and Es Footwear, as well as an apparel capsule from Dickies. As we continue to release regular updates, you can expect to see even more new gear hit the customizer.



Be sure to follow us on social media for more updates, event announcements, highlighted content, and news. Thanks as always for your support and we hope to catch a session in a multiplayer room with you soon!