Lore and Legend behind The Misplaced Metropolis of Radlantis and Gail Power

Hey all – I’m Jemima, I’m a author right here at Roll7, and I’ve been requested to share some particulars concerning the course of of making our newest OlliOlli World enlargement – Discovering the Flowzone. So, right here’s a short lowdown on how we developed the setting and characters – and the way the town of Radlantis went from an underwater metropolis to a skateboarding paradise within the skies!

Let’s start originally; after we began engaged on the second OlliOlli World enlargement, the very first thing we knew was that it was going to be set underwater. It’s possible you’ll discover – based mostly on the prevalence of clouds on the emblem, and the flying ship within the cowl artwork – that this didn’t find yourself occurring! However after we began out, we had been engaged on the idea of an underwater journey.

The thought of a deep-ocean skate paradise immediately made us consider Atlantis, the legendary metropolis supposedly misplaced beneath the waves in historic instances. So, in between researching currents, tides, and varied sea creatures (we developed a selected fondness for Nudibranchs, also referred to as Sea Slugs), we did a deep-dive into the lore of Atlantis. I ended up studying a bunch of Plato because of this, since he was the primary individual to write down concerning the fantasy of Atlantis – I’ve to say, after I began writing for an all-ages skating sport, I wasn’t anticipating the necessity to examine Historic Greek philosophy! I’m not complaining, because it was fairly attention-grabbing stuff (and probably the primary time that my historical past diploma has ever really come in useful in my day by day life). Anyhow, the Historic Greek affect is a part of what drew us to the concept of a skating competitors – the concept was that this journey would finish with a sort of skate Olympics held deep underwater by the folks of Radlantis.

With this in thoughts, we created the Radlantis Three – the skate crew who be a part of the participant within the seek for Radlantis. Lizz (Lead Narrative Designer, Author, in all probability the best individual ever) labored on Squid and Christopher Licht, and I labored on creating Professor Planks. We preferred the concept of a rag-tag staff who don’t essentially all the time get alongside however are sure collectively by a standard objective. They’re all explorers in a manner, however they convey various things to the desk – Squid is a seasoned sea captain, Licht is an astrologer and a mystic, and Planks is doing analysis for her college… or perhaps simply avoiding her college students! We needed this new trio to really feel totally different to the companions you have got within the base sport, so that they have a barely extra argumentative vitality to them. It’s nonetheless very lighthearted and enjoyable, but it surely’s a little bit of a change from the ‘previous pals’ dynamic of the unique crew.

So, there we had been, merrily researching away and planning to create an underwater cityscape, crammed with cheery sea creatures and funky new skateboarding buddies – after which, all of it modified…

Partway by way of growth, we determined that we wanted to vary course, and transfer the setting to a metropolis within the clouds. Why? Effectively, it seems that from a gameplay perspective, skating underwater simply isn’t as enjoyable as skating by way of the sky, propelled by the mighty Windzones towards greater air, cooler tips, and better scores. Additionally, it labored quite a bit higher from an artwork fashion and a map house perspective to take issues up into the ambiance. So, a change of course was referred to as for – however all was not misplaced! We beloved the concept of a flying ship – the characters we’d been workshopping appeared even cooler up above the clouds. Placing Radlantis up above Radlandia reasonably than under the ocean labored, and we may additionally preserve the skate competitors angle.

What we did want was a brand new Skate god to satisfy on the finish of the enlargement – any person who mirrored the brand new sky-based setting. And so Lizz created Gail Power – a god who controls the wind and skies above Radlandia. Gail Power is tremendous enjoyable, very vibrant and he or she positively lives as much as her identify! She’s a pressure of nature. We additionally determined to incorporate B.B. Hopper and among the main-game Skate Godz within the enlargement – with so many enjoyable new characters to satisfy, it felt vital to additionally embrace some acquainted faces. Whereas this can be a separate story to the primary plot of OlliOlli World, it’s good for gamers to nonetheless really feel the sense that they’re exploring a cohesive setting that ties into the world.

As soon as all that worldbuilding and character creation was out of the way in which, it was only a matter of writing up some suitably foolish dialogue and placing it into the sport. This really took ages! We labored very onerous on it, but it surely largely concerned observing clean pages and cursing on the sky, so it’s not tremendous attention-grabbing to examine. We additionally did a bunch of labor with the artwork staff to assist carry the environments, characters, and animations to life, and as soon as all that was performed we despatched it off to be translated so followers all world wide can benefit from the sport. And now – many many months later – all of you have got the prospect to discover the Flowzone, discover Radlantis, and perhaps even win a trophy in a contest thrown by the Skate Godz themselves…

We hope you take pleasure in enjoying this enlargement as a lot as we loved writing it. Bon voyage, good luck, and glad skating!