Tony Hawk's Project 8 [PSP]

Yahoo! Video Games: What engine changes does Tony Hawk's Project 8 bring? How will it be taking advantage of its next-generation platforms beyond the visual enhancements?

Brian Bright: The render engine for Project 8 is a complete rewrite from what we used for Tony Hawk's American Wasteland on the 360. To make the game look and feel as realistic as possible we now have rendering support for normal, environment, specular, and ambient light maps. The next-gen engine also gives us shaders such as metal, grass, water, and glass. These shaders provide depth and resolution to our textures, so you can see every crack in the concrete and every nick in a hand rail. Additional full screen effects such as bloom, depth of field, and radial blur give the game an entirely new look for the world.

Previously in Tony Hawk games we would play one animation at a time with minimal blends. This was functional and looked good, but now we have the power to run a more complex animation system across multiple processors. We wanted to create the most dynamic and fluid animation system possible, one that would depict skating in its purest form and complement the amazing player control. To get realistic motion to drive this system we had all of the pro skaters come to Neversoft and we recorded their motion capture data on a variety of setups: mini ramp, rail slides, and primo boxes. To motion cap Tony Hawk we went down to Birdhouse Industries and captured Tony on his 14 foot ramp. This mo-cap data powers a real time animation system that can play up to 20 different animations on the skater at once. What this means is that the skater now dynamically reacts to the environment.

YVG: Tell us about the game's realistic physics engine. Has it been hard to apply real physics to the traditional, gravity-defying moves seen in other Tony Hawk games?

BB: The game is not a skating sim, we always lean more towards fun over simulation. With that said, the new physics will give you a sense of speed where momentum plays a much larger role while going downhill. You will see this in speed wobbles, carving bowls, bombing hills, and pumping vert. All of this is simulated in engine for the first time.

YVG: Explain what makes the new speed/momentum dynamic a significant improvement?

BB: This change in momentum means that players will look for down slopes and banks to extend their combo lines. Pumping vert to gain speed is also a must, and changes the way you approach big combos.

YVG: What plans do you have to help make the game more accessible for new players?

BB: For Project 8 we have a redesigned goal system provides each goal with an AM, PRO, and SICK difficulty level. This will make the game both accessible to the novice and super challenging for the advanced player.

YVG: Which skaters does the game feature? Will we be seeing anyone new?

BB: We've got Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Bam Margera, Paul Rodriguez, Stevie Williams, Mike Vallely, Daewon Song, Ryan Sheckler, and Bob Burnquist returning. New to the game are Nyjah Huston, Lyn-Z Adams, Dustin Dollin and Christian Hosoi.