Skater XL News

What is up guys?! We are stoked to present The Warehouse by Yaky as the latest addition to the Skater XL Mod Browser. With Yaky's history of creating incredible maps, both in their design and their visuals, this map is another banger.

Designed with an emphasis on overall flow, The Warehouse blends traditional street and park terrain, along with pumptrack-esque features, to create an indoor environment like none we've seen before.
Lighting and textures have been remastered for this version, plus optimizations made for performance and memory use, but all other design elements and geo are straight from the mind of the creator.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Warehouse is available now in the 'Maps' section of the Mod Browser, with 50 new gear items added as well. Just filter by 'Newest' to see all the latest community created gear.

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

Hi all,

We’ve been seeing a ton of chatter on our various social channels over the past few weeks, have been discussing internally and wanted to give you an update. We put together a Q&A that we hope provides some clarity on a few key points.


Q: Are you aware of the gameplay petition with 10k signatures?
A: Yes, we’ve been tracking it since it came out. It blows our mind to see so many people care about the game and rally around proposed gameplay changes and features.

To note, we are present on all the main social channels and are connected directly to many players. We also know about, gather feedback on and have discussed just about every suggestion or feature request in public discussion or sent to us in DM (even ones we don’t find time to respond to), including requests for a stats mod, trick additions, multiplayer functionality, switch stance control options, sound effect improvements, the delayed Switch release, and many more.

We love what has grown around the parts of Skater XL that are in place currently and would like players to know we are aware of and discuss all these things at length internally.


Q: Do you consult players when making features?
A: 100%. Although it is not always seen publicly, testing and player research is a core part of how we learn and make design decisions. We have a ton of contact with players when building features and content, and in figuring out our overall strategy.

How we do this is part of what we see as the secret sauce of the studio. As we move forward, we will be tapping players to help test and develop new features, participate in public events and provide one on one feedback. We hope you will participate.


Q: Will you implement modifiable gameplay stats?
A: While we don’t consider the core mechanics at present to be complete, there is an intensive process we follow in making decisions about designing, player testing, iterating and refining certain parts of the game.

We understand and had suspected that dedicated players would hit a skill / depth ceiling after a certain number of hours and would have demands for added realism among other things. The existing mods allow players on PC to unlock some extra variety, control, realism and value in the gameplay, but they also break a number of design rules we established early on as well as opening other complex issues and challenges.

Implementing core gameplay customization matching the existing PC stats mod would likely provide some wins in the short term, but would not be in line with our approach to carefully crafting and shaping the core parts of the game and the bigger picture.


Q: Are you still working on the Nintendo Switch port?
A: Yes. The release is delayed and TBD but still underway. Stay tuned for more info on this.


Q: Will you communicate more about future plans?
A: This is something we have talked through and considered many times. In general, we aren’t a studio who likes to make empty promises and we try to avoid “fluff” answers, so there will be times we just aren’t ready to talk about particular features. Please stick with us. We’re heads down planning and working on new stuff that we will share with you as soon as possible.

The implementation of any feature takes a lot of work to determine if it fits with our bigger goals, needs adjustment, re-design or is even scrapped altogether. So please, try to be patient with us, but keep giving us feedback and we’ll involve you as much as we can.

We understand many people are accustomed to studios releasing road maps and release schedules, but we don’t think this is something that works well for our iterative development process. Rest assured, 2021 is going to bring a lot of new elements to Skater XL.


Some final notes:

Skater XL 1.0 is not the final vision of the game -- it’s a solid foundation for something bigger.

Coming into the new year we need to step back and rebuild some of our internal processes to allow for more efficient workflow, better quality control and focus on some growth within the team. Some of this work has already been completed and a new hire was made over the holiday break.

As for the near future, with the Mod Browser now available cross-platform, we are hoping to be able to start a steady stream of content drops to keep players engaged while we take some time to recalibrate the studio. The work that so much of our community has created deserves to be celebrated and giving players access to this content on all platforms is something we feel is very important.

Our goal is to move the skateboarding genre forward, so please stick with us while we give it a shot. We might succeed at this and we might not, but that’s part of what makes doing something new so exciting. It’s been a crazy ride to this point but we have a feeling the best is yet to come.

Most importantly, we want to thank you for engaging with us and caring about Skater XL.

Much love, Easy Day.

What is up guys! We are very stoked to announce the release of update 1.1, further deepening the integration of mod content into the core experience of Skater XL. We have always thought of Skater XL as a community driven game, and making user generated content as accessible as possible to players on all platforms is our next step in that direction.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In this update we have integrated a Mod Browser into the main menu of the game, allowing access to browse, download, and install mods without ever leaving the game. And while some of you have been modding for years and find the current process easy enough, there is a large group of players that may still be intimidated or confused about the traditional modding process. This integration makes it easier than ever for new players to get involved in the community, but also streamlines the process for modding veterans in a way that we think will add real value.

Here’s how it works:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In addition to remastered and ‘Optimized by Easy Day’ versions of Applewood Park, Quebec Skate Plaza, and Riverfern maps, players on PC will still have access to a select group of the existing mod maps through the Mod Browser. Mod maps and gear that do not appear in the Mod Browser, can still be downloaded from other locations and installed using the previous method. Script mods that affect gameplay can only be installed using the current method and folder structure.

We will regularly be curating drops of mods which are uploaded to the Skater XL Mod.io website, which will be vetted for copyright, quality and age rating, they will be made available on the browser, creating a steady stream of fresh content and endless reasons to come back and see what’s new.

New stuff is not just limited to community created items, and we have also added some new brands to the official gear lineup, that can now be found in the character customizer. You can now rock gear from Uma Landsleds (Evan Smith’s new board brand), Illegal Civ, Cariuma Footwear, Macba Life and Am Grip. We are very stoked to continue to grow our partnerships with some of the best brands in skateboarding.

This is a huge step for the game and future of content updates, but we are far from finished. We are very much looking forward to 2021 and continuing to update the gameplay and features with more big updates.

We again thank the entire Skater XL community for your continued support and contributions! We hope everyone has a great holiday season, and look forward to big things in 2021!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

What is up guys?! We are very excited to announce that the first collection of mod maps and gear will launch on all platforms on December 16th! This integration further cements our commitment to the Skater XL community, and making user generated content available to as many players as possible.

We'd like to give a huge thank you to the entire Skater XL creator community for all your contributions, and bringing your own individual flavor into the world of Skater XL. We are very stoked to see you all continue to push the boundaries, as we further integrate community content.

While modding is nothing new to the PC crowd, the integration of mods directly into the game's menu is a huge improvement to the ease of finding and installing high quality mod maps and gear. No longer is it necessary to spend time downloading, checking file names, and dragging into folders. Now you can browse mod listings with images and descriptions, install, and use mods in seconds without ever leaving the game.

For more information and details, check out our previous Steam Announcement HERE

Thank you to the entire Skater XL community for your continued support, suggestions and ideas. We appreciate you and look forward to continuing to evolve Skater XL with more updates to come. Stay tuned to our social channels for up to the minute info.

What is up guys?! We are very stoked to share our latest trailer and announce that Skater XL players on all platforms will be able to access a world of community created mod maps and gear this December. Skater XL has always been driven by it’s passionate community, and as developers, we have been blown away by the creativity and abilities of our devoted group of mod creators.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

While modding has long been a huge part of the Skater XL experience on PC, our integration of the mod.io platform into the core game experience makes it easier than ever. Through this integration, we are able to bring players on all platforms a curated offering of the best mod maps and gear, and regular content drops of fresh content via online servers.

In addition to allowing a steady flow of new content, the process of finding and downloading mods into Skater XL could not be easier. Simply open the mod menu in game, browse a curated list of mod maps and gear that have been listed on Mod.io, and click to install. It’s literally that simple.

And while it is our goal to provide as much mod content as possible to our community on all platforms, there is a significant amount of effort on the part of our team to convert and optimize maps for the various platforms, moderate content, and create a high quality experience. But rest assured that you will see a steady cadence of mod map and gear drops to keep things exciting for the foreseeable future.

As we mentioned earlier, we see this as a huge step forward for the future of games and building open ecosystems where player expression is a priority and involvement is not limited to completing challenges or earning points. Through the integration of mod content, players are encouraged to become part of the creative process, and build and share their creations with the larger community. We could not be happier to bring this world of possibilities to life.

Our initial mod content drop on all platforms this December will feature a huge range of mod gear and skins, as well as remastered versions of three of the most popular and diverse mod maps on our mod.io page. These maps offer a huge range of terrain and a new opportunity for exploration. We worked with each map creator to optimize and give visual upgrades to each map, ensuring a premium playing experience.

It is worth noting that all mods that will be integrated into the game, will go through a moderation process to ensure their suitability for our age rating, trademark and IP rights, and a number of other factors. Mods that might not fit the criteria for integration, may still be added using the old system for adding mods.

FIRST DROP MAPS INCLUDE:

RIVERFERN
Created by Taitjames from Sydney, Australia, this map features a mash-up of real life skate spots found in the land down under.


QUEBEC CITY SKATE PLAZA
Created by AlexLaskka from Quebec City, Canada, this map is a highly accurate replica of the well known skate park found in the great white north.


APPLEWOOD PARK
Created by ROARTEX89 from Kent, England, this map caters to all skating styles with huge stair sets, its own skatepark, hubba ledges, techy manual pads and more.


Thank you as always to the incredible Skater XL modding community for you passion, energy and inspiration. We could not be more appreciative of your contributions and creativity. We look forward to working closely with the creator community and we continue on our road to true cross platform modding. We will be sharing more details soon as the implementation date approaches.