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  • Behind the scenes with Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage


    11/11/2009

    Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage invites players to get back on the Wii Balance Board and tear down the slopes as they attempt to rise up the world rankings. This time around, those who equip their Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus can even create their very own tricks to impress the crowd!

    We caught up with the game’s lead designer, Stéphane Blais, to find out how the follow up to Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip injects a more competitive edge into proceedings.

    It’s only been around a year since the last Shaun White game was released for Wii. What were some of the key motivators in heading back to the slopes so soon?

    In Road Trip, the storyline was more about snowboarding in the “back country”, and what we decided to do with World Stage was to create a sequel to the storyline of Road Trip and place players on the world stage. So, the crew now wants to go into competition, compete against other crews and go pro. So that was one of the main motivations for us. And in the game it’s the main motivation of the player now as well – to go and compete against other snow boarders.

    Iwata Asks

    The first game was a big success, both in terms of sales and how it was received critically. Did you still feel there was room for improvement though?

    Absolutely. The thing is, we kept the good things from the first game and brought them to World Stage. So we kept the controls really accessible. I think that’s one of the key reasons Road Trip was successful. In World Stage, one of the improvements that we wanted to have was to create more content; more action on the slopes themselves. So since we didn’t touch the controls and kept them as they were, it allowed us to work more on gameplay elements. Now things are much more dynamic and much more action oriented.

    Can you tell us a bit more about the competitive element you mentioned before forms the backbone of Shaun White: World Stage?

    You start with your crew at the bottom of the ladder, so you are ranked 100, and your goal is to reach the top and become number one. So you start as a beginner and can visit different countries – it’s not linear, it’s more of an open structure. As you visit different countries you can win awards and improve your place in the rankings. And as you progress you can go from beginner to intermediate to advanced and eventually pro, then compete in the World Stage event when you compete against other people in a big one week event. And it’ll be hard, but you’ll get it! So that’s the main aspect, it’s really competitive all the time. You go up against other crews, you play with your friends and you progress, winning rewards as you go. 

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    So if your entire crew starts out ranked at 100, is it safe to assume you’ll be using different riders for different events as you compete?

    Exactly. I think that one of the nice things is that we kept the same characters that appeared in the first game, so you start the game with the same eight characters that you had at the end of Road Trip, and every one of them have their own little specialties. So, for example, if you enter a race you’ll select Gordon because he’s very fast, if you go for a trick event you’ll select Jasmine because she’s really good at jumping. And throughout the game some other new characters will join your crew. Also you have Shaun White. Shaun is already a pro, and you will meet him earlier than in the previous game – you get to participate in special one-off events where you take control of Shaun as he’s participating in some competitions. So it’s fun for the player because they have the chance to play as Shaun White earlier in the game, and if you manage to get the number one spot in the world, Shaun will be very impressed and join your crew and become a permanent selectable character.

    Iwata Asks

    Are some of the ideas that have gone into World Stage things that you were thinking about for the first game but have only been able to realise now?

    Yeah, I think more action on the slopes was one of these things. I think with Road Trip we really nailed the controls, and we worked a lot on those to make sure they were satisfying and accessible for everybody. Since we had that in place, we were able to focus on fun new additions to the gameplay, so we have things like corner kickers, quarter-pipes and half-pipes right there in the middle of regular slopes as well as in events. Since we didn’t start again and play around with the controls, we’ve been able to play with these new ideas and add them in.

    Also, one thing that really bugged us from the first game was the co-op mode. To play together you had to create a new co-op career and start again, but now it’s totally seamless. You can start your own career and a friend can jump in or out at any moment as you’re playing through it. We think that’s a very important addition.

    This time we also have online leader boards. So for each of the 25 slopes in the game you can post your best score and your best time online via those leader boards and compare those with people around the world to see if you’re really good - or not!

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    The control scheme for the first Shaun White game was widely praised, and you’ve already spoken about not having to go back and concentrate on the control scheme very much. But will players experience any subtle changes in how the game controls?

    We always felt it was really accessible, so there are just minor tweaks. For example, we’ve made sure it’s even easier to go on rails and do tricks. We also have more events that include more AI on the slopes – we have up to eight people at the same time boarding with you during races, so we also had to tweak the collision system a little bit to make sure your character isn’t constantly falling over and making things frustrating.

    The game uses Wii MotionPlus to let players create tricks. Were you actively thinking of ways to implement Wii MotionPlus in the game from early on in the development process, and was it just a case of finding the right way to do it?

    We wanted to do more than just simply support Wii MotionPlus, but it was very important for us to keep the controls as they where. The other thing that was important was to not alienate players who don’t have Wii MotionPlus by giving an extra edge to those who do. Of course, we played a little with ideas like mini-games and suchlike, but hey, it wasn’t snowboarding! So when we finally thought of the trick creation mode, that was it - the right thing to do. Give back the chance to be creative to the player.

    Iwata Asks

    Can you explain how the trick creation system works and what it adds to the overall Shaun White experience?

    It’s a three-step, very simple process that allows the user to replace an existing trick with a trick of their own design.

    The first step is to input the rotation and movement of the rider in the air. By moving the Wii Remote around in any way with Wii MotionPlus attached, that movement will be reproduced one-to-one on the screen by the rider on the board. It’s as if the Wii Remote becomes the rider’s board. There's only one limitation to the player’s creativity - you have to land correctly at the end of the sequence.

    The second step is putting the grabs on the trick. Again, this is a very easy process where, as your rotation is being played back on screen, you press and hold the A Button, B Button or both to add hand grabs.

    Then the last step, and sometimes the hardest! - Name your trick, choose an icon to represent it and you’re ready to go try your own trick on the slope.

    We see some franchises, especially sports titles, which have new additions to the series on an annual basis. Is that something you’d like to see happening with the Shaun White series on Wii?

    At the moment, I’m looking forward to players getting their hands on World Stage and hopefully having a really great time with it. The thing is, I think we have a good and funny storyline. So, looking forward, we don’t know where the crew will lead us. Now they’re pro, they’ve had success and maybe they go back to the back country – I don’t know!

    Iwata Asks

    Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage is out this Friday, only for Wii.