12/29/2023 0 Comments Olliolli trailer![]() ![]() And all the time you need to be looking at that balance and try to put yourself in the position of the player to understand how they're feeling. And that's why with OlliOlli World we looked at what we could strip back - we don't demand that you press X to land, that's now an optional mechanic. "You know, we're aware that we're asking the player a lot. "When you play OlliOlli, there is potential for a cognitive overload," he continues. "You use the grab mechanic to essentially activate the tractor beam each time - so you're not actually learning the new mechanics, such as a different way of doing it. "The reason why I think the tractor beam fits well is that we're adding to something you already know," Hegarty explains. My worry about adding mechanical things to a game as pure as OlliOlli is that every new thing you add actually reduces your options - in the same way that, say, Portal 2, with all its new ideas, ultimately felt a bit more restrictive than the first game. "It's more like, what is the vibe of the world? And when you add to that vibe, it works a lot better." "You're not really looking at specifics in terms of like, what are the the the areas that can't be explored? What are the types of things that can't be added?" agrees Varma. "But once you then work out how it fits in to the combo system and the tricks and how you can spread that across a level, hopefully, you end up with something really meaningful and interesting." "It's like, okay, this potentially feels like a different game now," laughs Hegarty, coming back to that phrase. The temptation with a new idea can be to chuck it in everywhere in a level. "It can't break the flow, it's got to be additive to that experience." ![]() And adding something in for the sake of it." He pauses. Rather, Hegarty says, "We're always very aware of not making something that's just too gimmicky. That doesn't mean there's a list of do's and don'ts for how you add things to the game, though. VOID Riders sits outside of the main campaign so you can join it at any moment. Even if it was a really weird reason, there had to be a reason for that thing." "And that applies to the narrative, the people in the world, the visuals, everything. "Being cohesive was one of our game pillars," Hegarty says. So when you add more stuff, how do you make sure it fits? OlliOlli World is a game with a dizzying amount of stuff in it, but somehow it's still very coherent. When I first saw the artwork for VOID Riders, I wondered about it. More stuff! More levels and story and jokes and chances to slam into the ground and restart. And this also means new items for the character creator and all that jazz. And this means there's a lot more verticality. And the aliens are lofting other bits of the world into the air too - ramps and rails and obstacles. The important thing is: aliens! Which means tractor beams have been added to the game, allowing you to grab your board when you enter the purple strip of light and get lofted into the air. The premise is simple: aliens have arrived in Radlandia - granted, some were already there - and they want to collect skating samples for a deep space skate park. I'm talking to Hegarty - and lead designer James Varma - because OlliOlli World is about to get its first DLC, a sci-fi package called VOID Riders which arrives 15th June. ![]() But it just became a different game."Īctually, this is a good place to start - on the process of adding stuff and seeing if it works or not, on the process of not making a different game. We really wanted to keep it in, but then it was just a QA nightmare, because you could slam down about 20 metres from the finish line and then slowly worm your way over the line."Ĭonclusion? "It was hilarious. You couldn't quite tell, but the more you did, or the less, the player just wiggles and worms along the ground. "Earlier on in development, we actually had a - we had to get rid of this mechanic - but basically, when you slammed you could just fiddle with both sticks, and there wasn't really any rhyme or reason to what you're doing. Watch on YouTube The OlliOlli World Void Riders reveal trailer.
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