Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
A classic arcade skateboarding game series that inspired Rollerdrome's skating side.
Where Tony Hawk's Pro Skater comes up2 episodes and tests
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit, speaking with Rollerdrome's creator and a Roll7 developer testYou Should Play Rollerdrome
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testAre Score Systems Still Relevant?Tony Hawk's Pro Skater shows up as a design reference, not a business case, so the sources give no numbers. Its scoring punishes repeated moves and rewards combos, gaps and chain-keeping, which pushes players to use the whole trick system. Rollerdrome's early builds mixed its skating with DOOM-style combat and were impossible to learn. Lesson: when merging genres, cut features from both halves, and write score rules that reward the behavior you want.
- 1Chase a high scoreScoring rules shape how players skate
- 2Vary tricksRepeated moves lose points
- 3Chain combosMultipliers add risk of bailing
- 4Hit gapsGap bonuses send players around the level
- 5Use full trick systemRevert and manual keep chains going
From Tony Hawk's Pro Skater page notes
What was said about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater scoring rules push players to use every trick. Neversoft's scoring uses repeat penalties, combo multipliers, spin and stance bonuses, and special gaps. Points decay on repeated moves, so players have to vary tricks. Combo multipliers add the risk of bailing, and gap bonuses send players around the level.
Revert and manual let players keep chains going. Chasing a high score therefore makes players use the full trick system as designed: "you'll actually find yourself playing the game in the way the designers intended."
Bailing works in Tony Hawk's because skating is all the player thinks about. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is the arcade reference for skating games. Its mechanics, such as bailing, work because the player is focused on skating alone.
When Roll7 combined this style of skating with DOOM 2016-style shooting in Rollerdrome, bailing and the grind balancing mini-game were cut, because players now had too much else to track.
You Should Play Rollerdrome
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is the arcade reference for Rollerdrome's skating. Bailing works there because skating is all you think about, which is why it was cut when skating was combined with shooting.
Bailing works in Tony Hawk's because skating is all the player thinks about. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is the arcade reference for skating games. Its mechanics, such as bailing, work because the player is focused on skating alone.
When Roll7 combined this style of skating with DOOM 2016-style shooting in Rollerdrome, bailing and the grind balancing mini-game were cut, because players now had too much else to track.
Are Score Systems Still Relevant?
Points decay on repeated moves, combos and gaps give bonuses, and revert and manual keep chains going. Chasing a high score makes you use the full trick system as designed.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater scoring rules push players to use every trick. Neversoft's scoring uses repeat penalties, combo multipliers, spin and stance bonuses, and special gaps. Points decay on repeated moves, so players have to vary tricks. Combo multipliers add the risk of bailing, and gap bonuses send players around the level.
Revert and manual let players keep chains going. Chasing a high score therefore makes players use the full trick system as designed: "you'll actually find yourself playing the game in the way the designers intended."
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