According to SSX creative director Todd Batty, he finds the “death” of the extreme sport genre “something that I refuse to believe”.
“Arcade games are challenging to design. On one hand, many players expect instant gratification from an arcade title and have little tolerance for an overly steep learning curve,” Batty stated.
Batty attributed the recent decline to developers and publishers not putting enough effort into designing a pure arcade experience. “This is actually true of most games today, but is even more important in this type of game. On the other hand, with a shallow learning curve and instant gratification comes the perception (which is often true) that the game lacks depth and is therefore only going to be enjoyable for a short time.”
Batty stated that he gave his team the credo: “Make awesome easy, and make oh-my-god really hard.” He added, “Rather than following a more traditional zero-to-hero learning curve, SSX lets you feel like a hero from the first time you pick up the controller. And from there, with a little practice, or in some cases a LOT of practice, you can start to perform like a superhero.”
This philosophy harkens back to Jack Nicklaus’ mantra for golf course creation: “Make it look hard but play easy.”
SSX will be released in North America on the 14th February on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with the European release following on the 17th.
