# New Snowboarding game due later on in 2016



## nicklinacre17 (Apr 5, 2016)

This is a copy and paste from the article I read. I would post the link but as I am a newbie it won't allow me to yet.

Anyway, enjoy...

*Mark McMorris collaborating on new open-world snowboarding game Infinite Air*

Regina’s snowboarding superstar Mark McMorris didn’t just slap his name on Infinite Air.

The 12-time X games medallist will be a playable character in the game, but he’s also been involved with its development since the conceptual stages.

“The first time we met with him, he had a very clear idea about what he thought the game should be,” said Peter Garcin, the game’s executive producer. 

Infinite Air is being made by Canadian developer HB Studios, based in Lunenburg, N.S., and is arriving this fall on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The game is being published by Maximum Games. 

Infinite Air won’t be like previous snowboarding games. Instead of having an arcade feel like Amped or SSX, it’s going for realistic, physics-based gameplay. 

“What he’s (McMorris) really interested in is something that’s very authentic. That is sort of a true representation of the sport,” said Garcin, who works at HB Studios. 

The approach is reminiscent of how EA’s Skate was a more realistic depiction of skateboarding as opposed to the Tony Hawk games. Garcin agrees with that comparison. 

“Yeah, pretty much. That’s a really good description,” he said.

It’s also exactly what McMorris told the team he wanted during early discussions.

“He was like, ‘It should totally be like the Skate of snowboarding’,” said Garcin.

Infinite Air won’t feature the same score attack system seen in most extreme sports games.

“We try to use the same scoring system they use in real life. So if you do a slope style run, you get marked out of 100 the same way,” said Garcin.

The game uses a trick detection system that not only sees what moves a player does, but evaluates how well they pulled them off. It can tell if they landed a trick cleanly, or were clumsily flailing around in the air.

“The same factors that the judges in real life use, we use those to analyze your performance,” said Garcin.

To ensure those tricks looked real, the developers recorded motion capture performances of McMorris. Doing this on a real hill with snow probably wasn’t feasible, so an indoor ramp was constructed with plastic sheathing that McMorris’ snowboard could slide down.

His moves were captured in short snippets and poses, which were then linked together with “a lot of physics and math,” according to Garcin.

Props simulating rails were also brought in to record how McMorris jumps on and off them. 

“It looks like his riding when you’re playing the game,” said Garcin.
​
Infinite Air’s tricks sound like they’ll require more finesse than simply mashing out combos, especially since they’re physics driven.

“You can tweak out every grab that you do and pose, and you can choose when you go in and out of the grabs, and how deep your rotations are,” said Garcin.

“One of the things Mark really wanted to see was the ability to change the way that you rotate in the air a little bit by moving your head, by changing how you can cork and stuff.”

McMorris’ involvement didn’t end after motion capture work was done. He’s been supplied with a development kit, and is regularly sent builds of the game that he can play and give feedback on.

“We want to keep him in the loop with all the stuff we’re doing. Whether it’s screenshots of the game, or builds and how it’s playing…or even just general authenticity questions or detail questions that only pro riders have insight into,” said Garcin.

Another thing that will separate Infinite Air from previous snowboarding games is its open world, which Garcin said is approximately 100 square kilometres in size.

“A lot of previous games are essentially what I would describe as a tunnel racer game, where you’re on a course, you’re on a track and that’s the only place where you can go,” said Garcin.

In Infinite Air, players can go wherever they like on the game’s mountain, and can use a helicopter to get around quickly. Once they find a peak or a line they like, players can drop down and start riding.

The open world is also where Infinite Air’s social features come into play. Instead of just supporting custom tracks, players can create entire mountains. Users can sculpt the terrain by putting cliffs and bowls where they like, and then decorate the landscape with ramps, half pipes and rails.

The level editor builds off of HB Studios’ past experience with their golfing game The Gold Club, where players could design their own courses. Garcin said the team is still deciding how large they’ll allow custom levels to be. They want them to feel expansive, but not sparse and empty either. And yes, those custom levels can be uploaded to the game’s servers and shared online for others to play.

HB Studios has confirmed the game will have asynchronous multiplayer components. While navigating the open world, players can discover runs uploaded by other gamers that they can try to beat. There will also be competitions based on real snowboarding events such as slope style, big air and half pipe.

Garcin couldn’t say yet if the game will include real-time multiplayer, where players can ride in the same world with their friends.

“We’re just looking at how deep we can go on that stuff,” said Garcin.

No screenshots or trailers for Infinite Air have been released yet, but we’ll be sure to post them when they are.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Sounds awesome, hope it delivers. SSX was a huge disappointment. I think I played it for less than 5 minutes before turning it off and saying, "Well, that was fucking lame."


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## nicklinacre17 (Apr 5, 2016)

Same, the whole arcade style of play doesn't really appeal to me.

Skate nailed it with the way that game played. If Infinite Air is similar then I'm definitely looking forward to it.


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## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

Anyone ever play Bully?

Same folks that made GTA.....something like that where you start out as a little kid growing up, you have to learn how to ride, get lifts to the hill, make money,reach dirtbag status, find shit to do in the summer move to bigger mountains, turn pro....bla bla bla


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## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

too 

long

didnt

read


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