Number 1 priority is to catch up on all the paper work, some of which is urgent, which of course, I very quickly get distracted from. I'm spending way too much time on PR right now. We also need to get JCS2 moving. There is an update in review to fix important issues, plus small bugs, with a few extra missions sneaked in. Other wise the top priorities now are: - Improving trick detection. - Better manual and tack mechanics. - Fixing nollie tricks being reversed. - Improving vert physics. - A few more missions. - Fixing high score exploits. Still deciding on everything else.
Hey Luke, I know it was mentioned earlier in the thread - do you plan to update the trick-book, so it shows how to perform each move?
Not sure about that. I think more likely we will add missions to show how to do tricks, and publish a list of trick book tricks on our website.
I'm not sure how the Trick Book would show the tricks anyway. It's not like there's one direction for each trick, it depends on a number of variables so each trick would need it's own description which would look somewhat messy. The same applies to real skateboarding, most websites with trick explanations use video rather than attempting to explain through text. When I first started playing True Skate I thought the mid-air swipe detection might be off, but then I realised it was because I was flicking through the board from outside, rather than starting my swipe from the edge of the board itself. I can't remember if the tutorial specifically mentions this but I'm assuming it's where a few people are going wrong.
IMO, a replay system should come after the fixes and before too many more missions. It really needs it! : ) Ok, back to skating...
If the IGN review wasn't bad enough, the comments under it are a complete facepalm. Finger board? Oh, man.
Why arent there achievements based on the missions? Also will it be possible to challenge friends through gamecenter challenge for specific missions in a future update? Would be cool.
First, let me just first say that I'm a big fan of the THPS series. I used to play those games a lot. But I never felt that the controls translated well on a touchscreen (THPS2 for iOS). When Touchgrind came out, I didn't like it either. I didn't "get it". It was just too difficult for me to land simple tricks - the learning curve was too high, at least for me. Now onto True Skate. I have to say right off the bat this game looks beautiful (good job!), and that fact alone make me want to enjoy it. But I have some problems with the controls. A lot of people might not agree with me here, so I think you may want to consider having an optional simplified mode which gives players a choice. I haven't read very much of the comments posted here, so some of this may overlap with what has alrady been said: 1) When swiping to do a trick or stopping a trick in mid-air, you need to touch the board or start the swipe from the board. Instead, the simplified mode should allow you to touch anywhere on the screen. Flipping the board over when it's landed the wrong way should work similarly. For example, when you're trying to flip over the board on the ground, I naturally want to swipe from the left side of the board to the right side. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to do that before realizing that you need to start the swipe from the board. This shouldn't be necessary. Similarly, it would be nice to perform tricks without having to worry if your finger was exactly on the board or not. 2) Grinding is too difficult. If I'm landing anywhere close to a rail/edge and I have my finger down, the board should automatically enter a grind in simplified mode, even if the board is halfway through a trick or not perfectly aligned with the edge. It's hard enough just to get the right combination of speed and air to time it correctly, which makes it almost impossible for me to grind succesfully. When a feel like I should have entered a grind, the board simple topples over and it's extremely frustrating. 3) Tilt to steer, absolutely. It should be at least an option. 4) Manuals. How do you manual in this game? Is it possible? I should be able to enter a tail manual by simply touching on the back of the skateboard, or even behind the skateboard. Linking together tricks to make combos was essentially what made THPS fun. I have a few other ideas, but these were the main points.
I don't want to argue against other peoples' opinions, but my opinion is that grinding is incredibly fun in it's current state. A lot of the success comes from the line up, so use rewind a couple of times to make sure that's correct. Then remember that Ollie height varies based on how fast you swipe, so if you're flying over the rail try shorter jumps. Also once you connect with the rail, hold your finger directly over where the rail is under the board and in nearly all cases it should hold the balance just fine.
I also agree that grinding is exactly how I want it. I think it is perfectly realistic. I believe that you should have to swipe from the board, because this is a skating sim, not an arcade game. I understand that some people prefer the arcade style, but this is a sim and I don't believe the two should be mixed.
Yeah the distinction is made when you consider that the swipe controls aren't just an ideal control scheme for touch devices, they're actually supposed to be your fingers emulating the skater's feet. Swiping from the board is required because that's exactly where his/her foot should be making contact, so enabling swipes from outside of the board wouldn't make as much sense in that context. A toggle couldn't hurt anyone though, optional accessibility gets my vote as long as the more realistic simulation remains intact. Man, I'm posting a lot on this thread. Just can't get enough of the damn game!
I dont want to see the controls changed. That's what makes the game fun it's not unresponsive at all to me it's a challenge. If I miss a grind it's almost always my own fault. I like it that way.
I've been thinking about the option off adding a beginners board to the game or something, however, the main point to this game is to be difficult, and the reward being in achieving something difficult, so adding options to make things easy isn't the first priority. There are plenty of other skating games that are no challenge to do tricks if you want to play them. Even though it is explained in the tutorials, I knew some people would struggle to realised this. It isn't quite so simple though. When the board is on the ground, a swipe is used push as well as start tricks, so if you allow the start of a trick to work off a swipe it will conflict with pushing. You could allow swipes from off the board to only work in the air or when the board is upside down, but this brings in inconstancy into the controls making them more confusing. It would also be different to the steering. Also, the start point of a swipe is very important to how the board spins. It may not hurt so much as an option, although, it would not be so easy to implement the change. Grinds are meant to be hard. With practice you can get good at them. We are considering this, we have had a few requests. It is the opposite situation to Jet Car Stunts which amuses me, but in that game, touch steering wouldn't have worked with all the buttons and the swap between flying and driving. Manual combo linking was the wort bit of THPS in my opinion. Landing a big trick off a vert ramp with a revert into a manual, then up the other side of a vert ramp... repeat, felt so unrealistic, looked silly and felt like gaming the system. (True Skate can be gamed on the bowl rail at the moment but it is already fixed, ready for the update after next) Manuals are currently being improved for True Skate, but I thinking of adding a line system where if you do a trick with in a time limit, it will add to the score of the line, and if you keep repeating tricks you get less score. I don't want to encourage people to have to skate around the park in a manual the entire time to link easy tricks to rack up scores as the primary way of playing the game. You can already play another game that will let you do that. True Skate is meant to be about looking around the park and finding a challenging gap or transition or interesting line and figuring out how to do it, then feeling the reward when you pull it off. There are definitely some points of THPS that could be good in True Skate like recording which gaps have been done. That would give a lot more replay ability for the one level.
Hey Luke, how about adding some Rodney Mullen style tricks like sliding on the side of the board, Sliding on the backside of the nose or tail et cetera. Also, is it possible to manual yet or only in a future update?
I'm still really loving just skating around and doing excactly what some people here have mentioned. It never gets old just going for a gap, grind or flip trick and nailing it. The only other game that has gave me the same satisfaction is skate (by ea) I've had more playtime out of trueskate than I have out of DjMax ray which cost me £6.99. Everytime I pick it up there's always something to grind or some new grind to try. Truly has a feeling of achievement the way it is now. Please don't go changing much in the way of free skate and grind controls.
I've just started using the reqind feature that is really handy when you're lined up perfectly for a trick and miss just use the rewind it's a good way to practice.
