Recently I had the opportunity to interview developer Meddling Kids, who’re working on TrickShot, an interesting new multiplayer game. TrickShot, set to release next year, is an intriguing hybrid of extreme sports game and third person shooter. Perform radical tricks to earn health, ammo, and points to help you defeat your foes in battle. The concept is a little difficult to describe, so instead check out the PAX 2020 trailer here:
Looks pretty cool, right? I definitely thought as much, so I reached out to developer Meddling Kids with a few questions from myself and other GW staff about their upcoming skater-shooter. Graciously, they agreed to an interview. So, without further ado, here’s that interview in full!
GW: Firstly, the game’s art style seems to have been influenced by many of the popular hero shooters & battle royale games – was this something that was considered during development or did it occur more naturally?
MK: The art only really started coming together recently, after we got back from PAX East in February. Till then we were using Paragon characters and market place environments. Our game is kind of silly and over the top, so we thought something a little bright and little cartoony would be a good fit vs hyper realistic.
GW: For sure! I think the art style really fits the gameplay. It’s really bright and bombastic, and a little futuristic and that totally meshes well with the hoverboards and such.
What kind of payment model do you intend to adopt for the game? Will it be free-to-play, or something different?
MK: We have not formalized it as of yet since we are still in discussion with potential publishers. Personally, I think the Rocket League model is fair for Indies and players. Having a small fee for a base game that comes with lots of unlockables. Plus support for microtransactions for future character cosmetics, maps and game mode expansions.
GW: That totally seems fair. Adding to that, you made mention of character cosmetics – with this game, it seems like there’s great scope for additional content down the line. So, we’ll be able to expect anything like this if the game picks up enough traction on release?
MK: We have lots of fun ideas for outfits, hats, masks, hairstyles, emotes, boards, skates, and tricks. We want players to be able to unlock lots of in-game items and to have the option to expand their character further through our item store. We are also looking to hear from the community on what kinds of items and brands they want to see in the world of TrickShot
GW: Ah, that sounds awesome! Given the uniqueness of the game’s concept, what kind of game modes can we expect other than the standard Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag etc?
MK: We really want to explore all the things we can do with the skate movement and shooting mechanics in one. We are playtesting several concepts outside of CTF & DM but they are secret for now. I will share with you that we are working on a race mode that feels like Fall Guys meets Mario Kart.
GW: Wow, that actually sounds amazing! Can’t wait to find out more about that one. Before we close off, just one more question:
Of course, the new Pro Skater remake release made waves when it released recently – are you hopeful that some of the fanbase from that game will be drawn to TrickShot?
MK: Yes, we are happy to see that the new Pro Skater is fun again and selling well. It proves our hunch that people would enjoy the speed, movement and tricks of extreme sports games again. Plus there’s a new generation of gamers that never experienced those older games. We are big fans of Jet Set Radio, Pro Skater and SSX. You will see a lot of the fun that made those games great, mixed with a shooter in TrickShot.
GW: Jet Set Radio is brilliant! Thank you so much again for taking the time to chat with me today. Is there any release date/platform information to share yet, or is that all still under wraps for now?
MK: We are targeting releasing Winter next year. Public testing around early next Year.
MK do not have any solid information on platforms to share just yet.
Of course, TrickShot isn’t the first game to combine the movement of an Extreme Sports game with lovely shooter action: Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive featured some similar traversal mechanics to use while blasting mutants, and of course there’s indie dev Chonku Rabb’s insanely fun-looking rollerskating game concept which made the rounds on Twitter last year.
TrickShot is certainly shaping up to be something worth keeping an eye on in the months to come! Big thanks to Meddling Kids for taking the time to answer our questions.
Are you gonna pick up TrickShot when it drops? Let us know in the comments below! Also, why not check out our totally tubular YouTube channel?!
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