Inside EA - the Making of skate

Gary went inside EA and chatted with Jay Balmer about skate. Here's the 411 on pro skaters and creating a revolutionary skateboarding game!

Coutesy of EA

EA's skate, the revolutionary new skateboarding video game for Xbox 360 and PS3 is on the way! It's a brand-new, super-cool way to pull the moves that have, so far, been all about Tony Hawk and his video games. Gary managed to sneak all the way through EA's air vents into the office of Jay Balmer, one of the three people behind skate, for a chat about how the game was made. Here's the 411 on the creation of skate!

skate - March 2005: A Game is Born!

It all began when Jay Balmer, Scott Blackwood and Chris Perry sat down in March 2005 and decided to make a skateboarding game. They formed the first skate team and made a One Sheet summary of the game. Their bosses liked the idea, so they got rolling!

skate - Early Sketches of the City of San Vanelona

EA's skate video game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 lets you become a pro skater and upload videos of your coolest stunts!

An early San Vanelona Sketch

San Vanelona Computer Image

skate - June 2005: Making the Game

The team of three had grown to 12, a big presentation was shown to EA and they liked it. So skate began production - actually making the game with programmers, artists and more. Every three months they reported to EA, sort of like a report card, and they kept working and working and working and working.

skate - November 2005: Bring on the Pros

Even though the EA team was full of skaters, you can't make a skating game without the pros! Danny Way got the call first as EA flew down to hook up with the skating legend, show him some videos and talk to him about the game. Before you can say "Holy moley he ollie'd the Great Wall of China!" Danny was doing motion-capture and more. Soon after Danny joined the team, more pro skaters joined the team to help out.

skate - A Downtown Sketch and a Development Screenshot

A Sketch of Downtown

skate's First Hippy Flip

skate - Going Pro!

Working with pro skaters, EA took videos of how they moved, how they pulled their gravity-defying tricks and, most importantly, what they had to say. When you see a pro move in skate, it's how they really move. When you talk to one, it's what the pro actually said! The pros also told EA what skate parks and cool areas to add to the game, including Danny Way's 20-acre Mega Compound that you can unlock as the final area in the game!

skate - June 2006: Big Team, Big Game

As skate got bigger, so did the team as it grew to about 120 people. But, what were they doing? The team was building the virtual city of San Vanelona - a mix of San Francisco, Barcelona and Vancouver (Kidzworld's home town!). They were also building digital people and 3D objects - everything from massive skate parks to hats and hairdos.