Welcome to AWOL
Welcome future AWOL players,
I'm Dennis Crow from the AWOL team, and I'm here to talk about our new skateboarding game called AWOL. I'd like to take a second to explain what we're building, how we're going to do it, and why I think you'll love it.
Who are you and why build a skateboarding game?
The first game I worked on was Tony Hawk Underground for the Nintendo Gamecube. It was 2003, and skateboarding games were huge. I was a tester who worked the nightshift at Activision HQ. My job was to come in every night and play through the entire game to make sure it didn't crash. It often did. That year, I played thousands of hours of Tony Hawk and I was hooked.
After I caught the game dev bug, I was lucky enough to join world class dev teams to build games at Kaos Studios, Blizzard Entertainment and Rockstar Games. Last year I finished working on Grand Theft Auto Online and started thinking about my next project.
Why don't we have a good skateboarding game? Neversoft and Black Box are not coming back. Activision destroyed the Tony Hawk series and EA won't create Skate 4. Where is the game for people who grew up on Tony Hawk? Where is the successor to Skate 3? What game will inspire a generation of gamers to pick up a skateboard?
Thirteen years after I started my career working on Tony Hawk, I am returning to my roots to build a skateboarding game for skateboarding game fans.
I've been fortunate to assemble an amazing team that knows how to make this game. Here's how it's going to work:
What's the game going to be like?
Focus on the skateboarding first
If the skateboarding gameplay feels great, then the game will be great. Fortunately, the team knows how to make it great. We will ship every two weeks and ask you how the skating feels. The final game won't ship until we get the feel right.Sweat all the details
The Venice Skatepark is an amazing place to skate and the perfect setting for AWOL. The park is tucked between the ocean and the boardwalk in the iconic town of Venice Beach. It's where the modern skateboarding was born, and where it will be reborn in video games. From the way the morning sun illuminates the famous VENICE sign to the paint your skateboards leaves on a rail, we will sweat every detail to immerse you in Venice Beach.Co-op from the start.
Games are more fun to play with friends. Playing together also helps build a community that we can all be a part of. That's why the game will have a co-op mode built in from the start. You can begin skating in single player, get your tricks down, then invite your buddies in to rip up the skatepark together.
That's it. Those are our three principles. Hold us to them.
Here's where you come in:
Our team needs your help to make AWOL great. It takes a lot of people working together to make a good game, and involving you from the start can help a small team like us make AWOL into something great.
This basecamp is the tool the AWOL team is using to keep the team organized and the game on track. From time to time we'll send you messages, questions, and links to download game builds. You'll get everything via email. All you need to do is read them and reply when you've got something to share with us.
Here's what you can do now: Have an idea for a feature? Check out our backlog and email us if we're missing something. Want to sign up to play test? Send an email and we will let you know when a build is available. Are you a game developer who wants to contribute to the game? We're a small group and we can definitely use your help. Read about our development style first, then send us an email. Know a good joke? Make us laugh.
No matter what, we would love to hear from you, and we pledge to read and reply to all messages.
When we finish AWOL, and I know that we will, all of us will look back at this message and smile. This is the start of a journey full of new friends, new challenges, and a whole lot of hard work.
On behalf of the AWOL team, thank you for reading this. See you at the Skatepark.
-Dennis & the AWOL team
