Hey all – I’m Jemima, I’m a author right here at Roll7, and I’ve been requested to share some particulars in regards to the course of of making our newest OlliOlli World growth – Discovering the Flowzone. So, right here’s a quick lowdown on how we developed the setting and characters – and the way the town of Radlantis went from an underwater metropolis to a skateboarding paradise within the skies!
Let’s start at first; once we began engaged on the second OlliOlli World growth, the very first thing we knew was that it was going to be set underwater. You might discover – based mostly on the prevalence of clouds on the emblem, and the flying ship within the cowl artwork – that this didn’t find yourself occurring! However once we began out, we have been engaged on the idea of an underwater journey.
The concept of a deep-ocean skate paradise immediately made us consider Atlantis, the legendary metropolis supposedly misplaced beneath the waves in historical instances. So, in between researching currents, tides, and varied sea creatures (we developed a specific fondness for Nudibranchs, also referred to as Sea Slugs), we did a deep-dive into the lore of Atlantis. I ended up studying a bunch of Plato consequently, since he was the primary individual to jot down in regards to the delusion of Atlantis – I’ve to say, after I began writing for an all-ages skating recreation, I wasn’t anticipating the necessity to research Historical Greek philosophy! I’m not complaining, because it was fairly attention-grabbing stuff (and presumably the primary time that my historical past diploma has ever truly turn out to be useful in my day by day life). Anyhow, the Historical Greek affect is a part of what drew us to the thought of a skating competitors – the thought was that this journey would finish with a sort of skate Olympics held deep underwater by the folks of Radlantis.
With this in thoughts, we created the Radlantis Three – the skate crew who be part of the participant within the seek for Radlantis. Lizz (Lead Narrative Designer, Author, most likely the best individual ever) labored on Squid and Christopher Licht, and I labored on creating Professor Planks. We preferred the thought of a rag-tag workforce who don’t essentially at all times get alongside however are sure collectively by a typical objective. They’re all explorers in a manner, however they bring about various things to the desk – Squid is a seasoned sea captain, Licht is an astrologer and a mystic, and Planks is doing analysis for her college… or possibly simply avoiding her college students! We needed this new trio to really feel completely different to the companions you might have within the base recreation, so that they have a barely extra argumentative power to them. It’s nonetheless very lighthearted and enjoyable, but it surely’s a little bit of a change from the ‘outdated associates’ dynamic of the unique crew.
So, there we have been, merrily researching away and planning to create an underwater cityscape, crammed with cheery sea creatures and funky new skateboarding buddies – after which, all of it modified…
Partway via improvement, we determined that we wanted to alter course, and transfer the setting to a metropolis within the clouds. Why? Properly, it seems that from a gameplay perspective, skating underwater simply isn’t as enjoyable as skating via the sky, propelled by the mighty Windzones towards greater air, cooler tips, and better scores. Additionally, it labored so much higher from an artwork fashion and a map house perspective to take issues up into the ambiance. So, a change of course was known as for – however all was not misplaced! We liked the thought of a flying ship – the characters we’d been workshopping appeared even cooler up above the clouds. Placing Radlantis up above Radlandia reasonably than under the ocean labored, and we may additionally maintain the skate competitors angle.
What we did want was a brand new Skate god to satisfy on the finish of the growth – any person who mirrored the brand new sky-based setting. And so Lizz created Gail Power – a god who controls the wind and skies above Radlandia. Gail Power is tremendous enjoyable, very vibrant and she or he undoubtedly lives as much as her identify! She’s a power of nature. We additionally determined to incorporate B.B. Hopper and a number of the main-game Skate Godz within the growth – with so many enjoyable new characters to satisfy, it felt necessary to additionally embody some acquainted faces. Whereas it is a separate story to the primary plot of OlliOlli World, it’s good for gamers to nonetheless really feel the sense that they’re exploring a cohesive setting that ties into the world.
As soon as all that worldbuilding and character creation was out of the best way, it was only a matter of writing up some suitably foolish dialogue and placing it into the sport. This truly took ages! We labored very exhausting on it, but it surely largely concerned looking at clean pages and cursing on the sky, so it’s not tremendous attention-grabbing to examine. We additionally did a bunch of labor with the artwork workforce to assist carry the environments, characters, and animations to life, and as soon as all that was carried out we despatched it off to be translated so followers all around the globe can benefit from the recreation. And now – many many months later – all of you might have the possibility to discover the Flowzone, discover Radlantis, and possibly even win a trophy in a contest thrown by the Skate Godz themselves…
We hope you take pleasure in enjoying this growth as a lot as we loved writing it. Bon voyage, good luck, and comfortable skating!