EA has released new footage from the first Skate 4 insider playtest, giving everyone an idea of exactly what kind of shape the game is in right now.
Observe:
As you can see, there are still a lot of in-production assets in use here. Barely any of the art assets or textures have been implemented. Though skater models have been rigged and animated, they’ve been coloured in featureless placeholder swatches so that skin and clothing stand out. Footage appears to come from larger multiplayer sessions, with multiple skaters interacting. Some are skating together, risking life and limb to perform synchronised tricks. Others are (and for our American readers, I’m invoking an Australianism here) stacking it unbelievably hard. If your favourite part of any skating game is watching other players eat complete shit, good news: you’ll find plenty of it in this video.
I also saw players attempting to bug the physics by bailing off the skateboards into a cuddle puddle. I think I also clocked one or two looks at someone moving objects and scenery around mid-game.
I know it’s not very Kotaku of me to praise anyone’s marketing, but I do like the level of transparency EA is exhibiting here. It’s not that the trailer isn’t stage-managed to within an inch of its life, because it is. Shots have been carefully selected and edited to highlight the things EA wants you to see. But I like that it’s willing to show the game in such an early state, free of the assets that will make it look like the AAA blockbuster it’s destined to become. Indeed, rather than let the game’s energetic rumour mill spin out of control, EA is making a habit of showcasing this game using placeholder assets. I’d like to see more major publishers doing this. Show your players a little more of how the sausage gets made. They’ll thank you for it.
Skate 4 (which is actually named Skate, but who the hell is going to call it that?) is still taking volunteers for its Insider program. You can find out more about that over here.
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