Ski stunt sim: physics based skiing game; position of sticks (mouse) translates to skiers’ body position
Gran tourismo: driving simulator, based on real physics, this will have more in common with driving games than action sports games
Gta: 3rd person role playing game – freeskier will have little mini games to help get you more $, as well as an on-going damage thing, like shoot-em ups – if you stack it too much you’ll get injured and need to heal yourself (doesn’t need to be complex, can just be something like going to the med centre and paying some $)
Ssx: only 3-d skiing game out there
Gameplay
Because the controls are so involved you’ll need a fair few tutorials to get the hang of it.
Turning: basic turning will be moving the left stick left & right, but then short turns, hop turns, smooth carves and skiing switch can be learned. L&R2 control edge setting untouched, they will put in a bit of an edge, but rolling down the hill will let you sideslip and rolling up the hill will dig in edges more.
Jumps: like sss, jumping will be controlled by the contraction and extension of the legs. With the 3 axis of movement available, you’ll be able to do spins, flips, Lincoln loops, off axis spins, rodeos & mistys. Due to the physics sim nature of the game, your air will be dependant on your body position and how you set up the air, no bullshit auto-landing like in ssx.
Grabs: the grab will be dependant on the body position and the button pushed. For example, neutral sticks with the L1 button pushed will be a left hand safety, and L2 will be a right hand mute. By extending the legs you tweak the grabs, but by squatting down they will be more stable – completely tucked legs, neutral position and L1&R1 buttons pushed will be a double safety but with extended legs and leaning forward will be a truck driver.
Skills and attributes
All skills can only be learned but not bought. (Like in gta:san andreas, with driving & riding a bike), however your equipment adds to your skills.
As your skills increase, the gameplay will be less twitchy and less demanding, so your character wont have to think so hard about what he’s doing (remember when you were learning, how hard you had to concentrate?)
Power: controls how much oomph you can put into turns and airs – increased by gym work & just skiing around
Stability: what it takes to knock you off your feet, be it landing wonky or getting bucked by uneven terrain or stiff skis-increased by gym work & skiing around
Air sense: your stability in the air. Greater air sense means perfect form on takeoff & landing aren’t as important and you won’t go window winding on big airs or drops. Also makes judging airs easier – increased by taking air
Spin: how fast you can spin. Goes hand in hand with air sense, but is responsible solely for how fast you can spin or flip – increased by spinning your arse off
Balance: connected to stability, but has more to do with fine balance like on rails and releasing & setting edges than core stability – increased by doing rails and practicing side slipping
Stamina: freeskier will have days like gta and your character will get tired. Increased by gym work, general skiing and hiking
Resilience: how easily you get hurt, either by stacking or overdoing it.
Stoke: how stoked you are, your stoke will affect all your other attributes as a percentage, when you’re 100% stoked, all your attributes will be at full potential, but when you’re bummed out you might only have 25% of your attributes available. Stacking will decrease your stoke while doing hard things, good weather or being in a comp will increase stoke
Hurt: being injured will decrease your power and stability mainly, but also your stoke so you can’t perform to 100%
Equipment
Skis: rated on torsional & longitudinal flex, length, camber, sidecut, surface area, edge strength and core strength – these factors will decide its responsiveness, float, glide speed etc, just like in real life. You can’t get better just by buying the ‘best’ skis. If you get skis that are too long/fat/stiff/straight/whatever, you wont be able to control them and then they’ll kick your arse. All equipment can deteriorate with use, so it’s worth your while to get strong things. You can also have your skis waxed & tuned to go faster and handle better. All freeride/freestyle skis from all the bigger brands will be available, but then the smaller guys like pmgear and iggy will become available to you as you get connected, eventually meaning custom built shapes and your own promodel. There will also be novelty skis available like snollerblades, old-ass straight skis and classics no longer in production (like pow pluses and spats)
Bindings: you will be able to get alpine, rando and tele bindings and adjust the din. Just like in real life, bindings will have a certain build strength, responsiveness, weight and pre-release-ness (marker, that means you). As you adjust the din, you will need to find the balance between prereleasing and buggerising yourself. Rando & tele bindings will let you go skin out & tour, but tele bindings make skiing around harder
Boots: rated on flex, weight and comfort. Heavy, uncomfortable boots will decrease your stamina, boots that are too stiff will make landing in the back seat more painful & soft boots won’t respond. Getting things like custom moulding & footbeds can increase the comfort
Safety gear: increases your resilience significantly and stoke a bit – can include things like helmets, spine protectors, hip protectors and knee braces.
Clothes: waterproofness, breathability and insulation will combine to affect stamina and stoke (face it; if you're cold & wet you're not gonna have fun)
Pack: getting a hydration pack can increase your stamina, getting one that carries skis lets you bootpack easily etc – I can go on & on
BC gear: get skins, beacon, shovel, probe, crampons, whatever & go out & be safe in avy conditions, build a jump or go hike a sweet line
Vehicles: get a snowmobile, hire a cat or chopper & get out there!!
Goggles: shit ones will fog up, good ones will give you increased terrain definition and a clear view
Environment:
A whole lot of resorts will be available in their entirety, including all that fun stuff between the runs & the nearby front/sidecountry.
The weather can change day by day and be sunny, cloudy, snowy, rainy, whatever – and the snow will change accordingly – you will need to change your gear depending on the conditions
Places & minigames
Lodge: go home, save game, change your gear
The bar: hook up with people, like photogs, other skiers & potential sponsors. Stupid fun things like foosball, pool, dancing and drinking (lots of drinking) can get you attention. Has barman minigame (see how drunk you can get people so they hook you up)
Photography: take photos or footage & get $ for your good work.
Ski shop: get new stuff or get your skis tuned. Also has minigames like wax bitching and delivering skis on the snowmobile
Ski school: learn new skills faster than just skiing around pointlessly. Also have ski school minigames – snowplow as slow as possible without losing it and going apeshit at the little kids
Med centre: get fixed up, go to the gym
Ski patrol hut: get bc training, 3 minigames – akja rescue, chasing down speedfreaks and avalanche patrol/rescue (blow shit up-YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!)
Heli/catski place: go heli or catskiing, and guide/pilot minigames
Career:
Enter comps, get hookups, sponsors, whatever and unlock new resorts.
That’s about all I can think of at the moment, what do you guys think?
