Summary
- Built in collaboration with pro skater Sterre Meijer.
- The fresh perspective of Goon Squad‘s retro arcade skating experience.
- How Sterre’s experience and passion helped shape gameplay and authenticity.
I’m Dieter from Headup, and together with Goon Squad we created Skatesterre, an arcade skateboarding game that takes you back to the golden era of the genre. Today, I will tell you about how the game came to be, why we chose to work with Sterre Meijer on this project, and where the journey from the initial idea to the now finished game took us.
Skateboarding games have evolved enormously since the early days, but much more in the direction of actual sports simulation than the original arcade skateboarding feel. So when we started the development, bringing back the exact flow and feel of the original genre flagship titles like Skate or Die, Dave Mirra, Grind Session and of course the early THPS games was our ultimate goal. These are the games we know best and feel extremely at home with. They offer less frustration than more realistic simulation titles and have a “pick up and play” nature about them, that makes them much more accessible.
Players should quickly feel like a real skate pro, ripping the best tricks easily through the highly intuitive control scheme while also just feeling the joy of riding their boards. Getting all these parts in line was an enormous challenge, especially considering that this was a true indie project.
Our goal was to capture that core feeling while adding modern quality-of-life improvements, leveraging Unreal Engine’s latest features, and introducing character customization through Sterre’s unique sense of style.
Before our lead developer joined the studio, he was already a passionate skateboarder, even building his own miniramp in his garden, and had been working on skateboarding game prototypes in his free time. He and I shared a vision of creating a great game driven by that personal passion. From my perspective as the producer, and having followed Sterre’s social media presence, I felt that she represented many of the positive developments happening in skateboarding today. It seemed like a great match: we could support the growing presence and empowerment of women in skateboarding while creating the kind of arcade sports game we had always envisioned.
I have been personally following many skaters on the social channels and was very impressed by Sterre and her journey in Skateboarding. So, I reached out to her, and we met in the Netherlands. She has been super supportive from the start, and working with her and her brother was a real joy.
Sterre has this infectious energy and authenticity that immediately felt right for a skateboarding game. She has her own style, does things her own way, and genuinely loves skating. That spirit of freedom and self-expression is exactly what I feel Skatesterre should be about.
The main focus with Sterre was getting her looks and style right, so that she felt authentically represented. At one point, we even scrapped much of the model’s work to a certain point and had the whole model redone. I hope you’ll feel the love and time invested especially in making this feel authentic to her.
Sterre has always followed her own path rather than trying to fit a particular image of what a skateboarder should be. We wanted the game to reflect that attitude: it’s playful, colorful, and a little unconventional, and it encourages players to experiment, find their own lines, and develop their own style.
When you start seeing a level differently- not as a collection of ramps and rails, but as one continuous line – and suddenly pull off a huge combo, Skatesterre really clicks.
Capturing that feeling from the classic arcade skate games I grew up with, while giving it our own personality, is something we’re very proud of. If you remember just one thing about Skatesterre after booting it up for the very first time today, I would want it to be that it makes you want to play one more run. We want Skatesterre to capture that simple joy of skating: experimenting, getting better, finding your own style, and having a great time doing it.
Skatesterre is available on Xbox Series X|S now.
Skatesterre
Headup
Link together huge combos, land stylish tricks, and shred through levels designed for speed, flow, and creativity.
Ride as Sterre Meijer a.k.a. Surfsterre, Dutch skateboarder and rising figure in the global skate scene, and carve your way through streets, parks, and urban playgrounds packed with rails, ramps, and hidden lines.
Complete missions, chase high scores, and unlock new fashion pieces as you progress – building your own unique skate style along the way.
Classic Arcade Skateboarding
Easy to learn. Hard to master: Experience gameplay inspired by the legendary skateboarding games of the early 2000s. Tight controls, fluid movement, and a deep combo system make every run fast, satisfying, and rewarding.
Skate Your Own Style: Kickflips, grabs, manuals, grinds, and more – Skatesterre features tons of sick tricks you can combine into massive score multipliers. Discover creative lines and push your runs further every time.
All killers, no fillers: Skate to a killer soundtrack packed with underground skate punk and skate rock tracks that channel the energy of the golden era of skateboarding games.
Unlock Fashion & Style: Completing mission objectives unlocks a wide variety of fashion items for Sterre. Build your own skate look with different outfits and gear as you progress through the game.
Diverse Levels: Explore a variety of levels filled with rails, ramps, gaps, and hidden routes. Each environment encourages experimentation and rewards players who master the flow of the map.
Chase the Perfect Run: Link tricks together and chase the ultimate high score. Every trick matters when you’re building the perfect combo.
Features:
• Fast-paced arcade skateboarding gameplay
• Tons of sick tricks to master and combine
• Shred to a high-energy soundtrack packed with underground skate punk
• Mission-based objectives across multiple levels
• Unlockable fashion items and outfits
• Large environments full of rails, ramps, and secrets
• Play as Dutch skateboarder Sterre Meijer a.k.a. Surfsterre
• Inspired by the golden era of skateboarding games
The post Skatesterre: Where Classic Arcade Skateboarding Meets a New Generation appeared first on XBOX Wire.