SNOW: freeride/freestyle skiing game

[slugmoney]

***preface: I know nothing about game development, so some of the stuff below could be totally stupid from a development point of view, these are just some thoughts from someone who's been playing the game.

I think this is a great game with great potential, but it feels like you guys are more concerned with aesthetics and pumping out new maps. I have no idea how the development works, all I know is that the past few updates haven't done too much. M2 was great, but there wasn't that much that changed, only trails/prewind. I hate to do this, but I have to compare this to shredsauce. Snow is much better looking, it's got more diverse maps, and feels "realer". However shredsauce has got its technical stuff so good. Rails are very good in shred. Jumps are very good. I think that snow has immense potential, but it needs work at the basic level. Focus more on just rails, just jumps. Its amazing how complex snow is, but I honestly think the issues are in these basic things.

My dad always told me to offer ways to improve instead of just complaining, so here are some ideas (just my ideas, devs prob know better): Maybe focus less on maps, especially if there will be a custom map maker implemented, the community will then make them for you. I would say focus on the basics of rails, jumps, and riding overall. Fixing jumps could be as easy as adding some speed...

In the end, I think more people will appreciate a game that works great, rather than looks great.

tl;dr: function over form, not form over function. Great game.

 

[_DUSTY_]

***preface: I know nothing about game development, so some of the stuff below could be totally stupid from a development point of view, these are just some thoughts from someone who's been playing the game.

I think this is a great game with great potential, but it feels like you guys are more concerned with aesthetics and pumping out new maps. I have no idea how the development works, all I know is that the past few updates haven't done too much. M2 was great, but there wasn't that much that changed, only trails/prewind. I hate to do this, but I have to compare this to shredsauce. Snow is much better looking, it's got more diverse maps, and feels "realer". However shredsauce has got its technical stuff so good. Rails are very good in shred. Jumps are very good. I think that snow has immense potential, but it needs work at the basic level. Focus more on just rails, just jumps. Its amazing how complex snow is, but I honestly think the issues are in these basic things.

My dad always told me to offer ways to improve instead of just complaining, so here are some ideas (just my ideas, devs prob know better): Maybe focus less on maps, especially if there will be a custom map maker implemented, the community will then make them for you. I would say focus on the basics of rails, jumps, and riding overall. Fixing jumps could be as easy as adding some speed...

In the end, I think more people will appreciate a game that works great, rather than looks great.

tl;dr: function over form, not form over function. Great game.

From what I understand there a specific roles that are filled by specific people in development. There's say a level designer, modeller and programmer. It's not really possible to focus more on functionality (which would be done mostly by the programmer) and less on level design since the level designer would have to do part of the programmer's role which he isn't trained to do.

 

[Rparr]

please just get rid of pre spins. Also its impossible to clear any jump in the new update. This has gone from a really fun game to nearly unplayable.

This, sadly.

 

[SNOWTheGame]

tl;dr: function over form, not form over function. Great game.

You're completely right in your feedback. But as _DUSTY_ said, these are different areas focused on by different developers.

Shredsauce definitely nailed the core gameplay really well, but with a bunch of smoke and mirrors to make things feel good. As we're developing a much bigger experience we can't rely on tickery to make systems and mechanics work as we want. We have to build them from the ground up to be completely dynamic so that the world can live and breath on its own.

One of the things our lead developer has spent a majority of his time on over the last month is to physicalize the skis. As you'll notice in both SNOW and Shredsauce, the skis are not actually "physically" there. If you ski into something you'll see that the front half and back half of the skis clip through the object. Malcom has done a great job working around this for Shredsauce, but we feel that a lot of what we believe is really solid gameplay will come from having they skis fully physicalized. With that fixed, grinding will actually work properly without us needing to build a whole system around it.

The reason we can release new levels is because our art team (3 guys now!) are building assets all the time. To build an entire open-world mountain with every possible detail we need to pump out a lot of art assets. We have made a priority list and sometimes those assets can be used in stand-alone levels. So for JOI and Fochi, 99% of those assets can be reused in the game somewhere else.

I spend every day playing SNOW trying to figure out what we need to do to get the core gameplay locked down. Unfortunately it's not an easy fix and will take a few more attempts to get it right (including a few new features). We decided to release SNOW early so you guys could give you feedback, but we also ask that you are patient while we try to get things working properly.

 

[slugmoney]

but we feel that a lot of what we believe is really solid gameplay will come from having they skis fully physicalized. With that fixed, grinding will actually work properly without us needing to build a whole system around it.

That's exciting! thanks for the reply, keep up the good work

 

[fortyvalve]

We decided to release SNOW early so you guys could give you feedback, but we also ask that you are patient while we try to get things working properly.

Every person posting in here asking "why does it cost money right now" needs to read this and understand it.

 

[PJS.]

You're completely right in your feedback. But as _DUSTY_ said, these are different areas focused on by different developers.

Shredsauce definitely nailed the core gameplay really well, but with a bunch of smoke and mirrors to make things feel good. As we're developing a much bigger experience we can't rely on tickery to make systems and mechanics work as we want. We have to build them from the ground up to be completely dynamic so that the world can live and breath on its own.

One of the things our lead developer has spent a majority of his time on over the last month is to physicalize the skis. As you'll notice in both SNOW and Shredsauce, the skis are not actually "physically" there. If you ski into something you'll see that the front half and back half of the skis clip through the object. Malcom has done a great job working around this for Shredsauce, but we feel that a lot of what we believe is really solid gameplay will come from having they skis fully physicalized. With that fixed, grinding will actually work properly without us needing to build a whole system around it.

The reason we can release new levels is because our art team (3 guys now!) are building assets all the time. To build an entire open-world mountain with every possible detail we need to pump out a lot of art assets. We have made a priority list and sometimes those assets can be used in stand-alone levels. So for JOI and Fochi, 99% of those assets can be reused in the game somewhere else.

I spend every day playing SNOW trying to figure out what we need to do to get the core gameplay locked down. Unfortunately it's not an easy fix and will take a few more attempts to get it right (including a few new features). We decided to release SNOW early so you guys could give you feedback, but we also ask that you are patient while we try to get things working properly.

We, as a community, really appreciate the work you guys are putting in. Keep it up, you're doing great so far.

 

[Espen519]

How long until the big park is built? Ya know, the big open space after the half pipe

 

[ChuckTesta]

Im having a ton of problems getting speed to clear the jump on the JOI map, even when i turn hax on to get up to 110 KM/H. however you boys did a fantastic job with Fochi

 

[Poikenz]

Not sure if you guys plan on optimizing your code to run higher settings with less usage, but it might be something to look into. I just tried your new M3 update and just going through the store was maxing out my temps hard. Thank god I don't have a fermi or I probably wouldn't have a house right now. And yeah I realize that is an outdated joke.

 

[Espen519]

just got the m3 update and it has made the game look like shit and run super bad. the whole look has changed and for the worse. plus, running on low still lags hard, when it didn't previously, with higher quality. please fix soon

 

[Espen519]

But hey, JOI works now, so thats cool. I still support this game 100%, as it is the one of the only freeskiing games out there, and im excited to see how far it comes these next months

 

[IBranden]

Just updated and played Snow for the first time in at least 3 months. It a lot more polished then it was, and i would say that its gotten a lot better, loving the ski tracks, switch riding/ mechanics and new areas. That being said, there is still a LONG way to go, and I hope the improvement keeps coming.

Two things that i think would help greatly for the game is a new rail system, and sound.

P.S. anyone have tips on gaining speed? I can never make the jumps in the original park.

 

[SNOWTheGame]

New update "M3" went live yesterday! The changelist, new items and some screenshots can be found here:http://snowdev.tumblr.com/post/85050114367/m3-game-update-08-05-14

The developer video can be found here:

For those too lazy to view either of those, the most important things to know are..

a) better graphics

b) better physics

c) screamin semen

 

[SNOWTheGame]

Of course, now I find that you can embed videos again..

 

[uyghur]

Finally we can turn off motion blur!

 

[albatross.]

finally got some time to spend with the game, and I am really liking it. played it with a friend who I used to play a ton of amped 2 with back in the day, and wound up tweaking a lot of values to get things feeling better:

- we increased rail magnet distance a ton because rails were a pain to get on to

- reduced ski friction a ton because rails are crazy slow and sticky at default values. once we got a value we liked the skier was bouncing over kinks at speed in a pretty realistic fashion

- the old values for changing speed didnt seem to exist anymore, so we changed the threshold for pushing so we could push infinitely as getting speed right for rail lines is pretty annoying still

stuff that feels mechanically clunky still:

- Grabbing delay while jumping is weird. I was doing grabs in jumps at the same timing as amped 2 and the skier wouldnt grab, currently you have to wait too long to start the grab or it wont register

- jumping just feels really clunky in general. I feel like i press jump at the right time all the time and the skier just doesnt jump or jumps a second later

- getting speed for rails and rail lines really suck, too often you wind up just not moving between features or even on features. rails need to be smoother and getting speed on flat needs to be easier/faster

the games gonna be good tho!

 

[SNOWTheGame]

finally got some time to spend with the game, and I am really liking it. played it with a friend who I used to play a ton of amped 2 with back in the day, and wound up tweaking a lot of values to get things feeling better:

- we increased rail magnet distance a ton because rails were a pain to get on to

- reduced ski friction a ton because rails are crazy slow and sticky at default values. once we got a value we liked the skier was bouncing over kinks at speed in a pretty realistic fashion

- the old values for changing speed didnt seem to exist anymore, so we changed the threshold for pushing so we could push infinitely as getting speed right for rail lines is pretty annoying still

stuff that feels mechanically clunky still:

- Grabbing delay while jumping is weird. I was doing grabs in jumps at the same timing as amped 2 and the skier wouldnt grab, currently you have to wait too long to start the grab or it wont register

- jumping just feels really clunky in general. I feel like i press jump at the right time all the time and the skier just doesnt jump or jumps a second later

- getting speed for rails and rail lines really suck, too often you wind up just not moving between features or even on features. rails need to be smoother and getting speed on flat needs to be easier/faster

the games gonna be good tho!

awesome feedback - thanks. We're hopefully going to be completely redoing grinding mechanics for M4, so you can look forward to that.

jumping is indeed clunky as it's half animation and half physics based. Just a simply ollie is really difficult to get to feel right, and we're constantly discussing how we can make it better.. time will tell

grabs seemed to have had some issues with our new animation update - we'll see if we can figure out what's making them feel weird. we want it to feel like you are actually reaching and grabbing, but we don't want it to feel frustrating.

 

[Andrew_M]

Would love to know when you plan on releasing for mac or if you will at all, the amount of feedback you would receive might make it worth it.

 

[slugmoney]

love the new update guys

 

[SNOWTheGame]

Would love to know when you plan on releasing for mac or if you will at all, the amount of feedback you would receive might make it worth it.

we have been able to compile the game for linux (50% of the work) but now are waiting for the last few files from Crytek to get it running.. we expect this to be relatively soon

 

[MLJ]

we have been able to compile the game for linux (50% of the work) but now are waiting for the last few files from Crytek to get it running.. we expect this to be relatively soon

He'll yeah! Keep up the good work guys, I haven't plAyes in a while cause my windows partition is a little weird, so I'm stoked to be able t play again.

 

[McLS]

How do you do screaming semen?????

 

[JahLiam]

How do you do screaming semen?????

Down left up

 

[op14]

Ever since the new update my game won't open and I have no idea why.

 

[uyghur]

Ever since the new update my game won't open and I have no idea why.

does it say something about cryengine not being able to allocate specular probe texture atlas?

 

[I_Do_Aerials]

I exclusively play SNOW in first person at 110 degrees FOV. Looks like a GoPro, and feels like you're actually skiing. I've played a few hours over the past week and I've been thinking of what I'd want.

One thing that would make doing tricks much easier would be somehow making the riders head focus on where you're landing when possible. Such as when doing an upright 7, after around 270 his head would turn to face the landing, staying on the landing until around 450, then turn again at around 630 until you land. Also it would be nice for doubles being able to spot better in between flips, helping to judge how much time you have left before you land.

I'm sure you guys are working on it, but when taking off switch, it's very hard to land forward again due to your character still looking over his shoulder as if skiing switch.

That being said, there's no other game that fulfills my cravings for skiing better than SNOW.

Also add a scale aerial hill. That'd be cool

 

[white.powder]

when iit will be free?

 

[Rparr]

I played the shit out of this game for the first month it was released for early access. After that, it ran worse and worse as updates came, and now it is unusable on my computer.

My question is, how do you guys plan on making this game playable on a non-supercomputers without sacrificing quality?

When will people without a gaming computer be able to play your game? I assume optimization is not to be done until right before release? I have what I think is a pretty nice laptop and I'm getting sick of not being able to play.

 

[SNOWTheGame]

Update went live earlier today that should fix the issue of the game not running on many of your systems.

If you have a low-end PC, please let us know how it runs on the lowest of settings - we've tried to really pair down the game for low spec, so hopefully it runs better.

 

[op14]

Update went live earlier today that should fix the issue of the game not running on many of your systems.

If you have a low-end PC, please let us know how it runs on the lowest of settings - we've tried to really pair down the game for low spec, so hopefully it runs better.

I have a relatively shitty pc and even though it's on the lowest of graphics and relatively low resolution, it's still a little laggy. For a point of reference I guess, I can play DayZ Arma 2 mod on low graphics with an average of 28-30 fps.

 

[op14]

Update went live earlier today that should fix the issue of the game not running on many of your systems.

If you have a low-end PC, please let us know how it runs on the lowest of settings - we've tried to really pair down the game for low spec, so hopefully it runs better.

I have a relatively shitty pc and even though it's on the lowest of graphics and relatively low resolution, it's still a little laggy. For a point of reference I guess, I can play DayZ Arma 2 mod on low graphics with an average of 28-30 fps.

 

[Rparr]

Well, I take back my previous words. Snow is running perfectly after the latest update. I am happy again. Now, to relearn all the controls...

Great job guys.

 

[ny300z]

so i finally got a new mid grade PC and coughed up the $10 for xpadder and wow! finally can play snow perfectly! its was a great game when it lagged and with a keyboard, now its just awesome!

looking forward to new features and updates

 

[McLS]

Help!

none of the 3 arrows grab work (so dub tailgrab, bow and arrow, screaming semen). They never actually worked for me, i just didn't know those grabs existed, should i redownload the game?

 

[ny300z]

does anyone else want a big jump line with just a shit load of jumps one after another?

im sure that would be really is to make too

 

[MLJ]

we have been able to compile the game for linux (50% of the work) but now are waiting for the last few files from Crytek to get it running.. we expect this to be relatively soon

Will we be able to transfer our purchases to mac if we have already downloaded the game on PC? I know this is a stupid question but I reallyreallyreally want to play.

What do you mean by soon? A week? A month? A year? A decade? A century?

Thanks!! So excited for this!

 

[fortyvalve]

does anyone else want a big jump line with just a shit load of jumps one after another?

im sure that would be really is to make too

I found one skiing around it was like 4 o 5 i think, haven't found it again tho

 

[Poikenz]

Help!

none of the 3 arrows grab work (so dub tailgrab, bow and arrow, screaming semen). They never actually worked for me, i just didn't know those grabs existed, should i redownload the game?

It could be your keyboard, I also can't get the grabs to register, can you get double arrow grabs with spins and flips? I know that I can't and certain combos don't work on my keyboard.

 

[*DUMBCAN*]

I found one skiing around it was like 4 o 5 i think, haven't found it again tho

Spawn at the pipe, just ride straight through the pipe and a bit further down there's a load of jumps. It's shit difficult to keep speed for them though...

 

[SNOWTheGame]

Great to hear that the game is running better for some of you... sorry if it's running worse since the update! Optimization is an on-going thing and a constant battle against CRYENGINE updates that stop supporting certain tech.

@Mac Support: can't say when the last few files will arrive, but we hope this summer. If you have purchased SNOW already you will have access to it on Mac too.

@Longer jump lines: If you explore you can find a lot of great lines down the mountain. My favorite takes me down through the ice cave and just to the right of the small park. By the time i hit the river I've probably got like 10+ jumps under my belt.

 

[dtwizzle]

Needs audio and lots of bug fixins

 

[SNOWTheGame]

Oh, and about the keybinding issues people have been having. Unfortunately some keyboards don't like too many inputs at once. We're looking for a solution...

 

[*DUMBCAN*]

Oh, and about the keybinding issues people have been having. Unfortunately some keyboards don't like too many inputs at once. We're looking for a solution...

Could you allow consecutive taps instead of holding down the button? I know that's how Malcolm got around this problem in shredsauce (tweaked grabs)

 

[ny300z]

@Longer jump lines: If you explore you can find a lot of great lines down the mountain. My favorite takes me down through the ice cave and just to the right of the small park. By the time i hit the river I've probably got like 10+ jumps under my belt.

thanks ill look around.

Also, the game is running great and the graphics are insane! the grabs look awesome

only thing i would want at this point is audio and instant replay maybe cinematic to see the sick shit i just stomped

POV is working great and is a whole different experience to me! riding switch doesnt look perfect yet but you will get there.

this game already exceeded my hopes! thank you

 

[jmasterp]

Someone needs to make an official thread walking people through how to get it to run on a Mac. A step by step in getting bootcamp or whatever it needs to run. Great job on the game guys, I haven't been able to play it yet, but it looks great.

 

[uyghur]

Anyone else's ski trails not working?

 

[MartianMan]

Someone needs to make an official thread walking people through how to get it to run on a Mac. A step by step in getting bootcamp or whatever it needs to run. Great job on the game guys, I haven't been able to play it yet, but it looks great.

THIS.....

 

[yippie]

This just got posted by Snow on fb. Killer edit. Game looks insane

 

[MLJ]

This just got posted by Snow on fb. Killer edit. Game looks insane

That handdrag cork 3 was insane. Next physics step for the devs: use the newly physicalised skis to create the impression of a more dynamic rider, ie wobbly skis when landing, presses on snow and allow the skis to bend somewhat, like in a really backseat landing.