OlliOlli World

gamedeveloper.com:

It's been a while since the skateboarding series OlliOlli last rolled into town. The two original games, OlliOlli and OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood, were indie darlings of the PlayStation Vita, and have since been re-released many times since their initial debut. But for the past several years, as its development studio Roll7 has focused on other projects (including 2015’s Not A Hero), all has been quiet on the OlliOlli front.

Until today, with the debut of OlliOlli World, a new entry in the series that hits the refresh button on both its visual style and perspective. Shifting away from the blurry pixel-based art of the first two games, this bright, cartoonish new direction embraces both the spirit of the 90s skater subculture and introduces new features that reflect the current gaming climate.

To get some insight into the game's new direction, we spoke with Simon Bennett, the co-studio head at Roll7, who told us all about the philosophy and thought process behind changes made to the series’ look, as well as its new features, including two new co-op modes that reinvent the OlliOlli multiplayer experience. Read on!

Game Developer: Can you tell me about the new 2.5D perspective in OlliOlli World and if or how it opened up new features and forms of gameplay?Bennett: Absolutely – the new 2.5D perspective has given us the opportunity to branch out in terms of art style, character design, and even tricks options versus the previous 2D OlliOlli titles. The real breakthrough moment was during prototyping, where we were initially working on a separate game which involved looping back and forward through a smaller static skate park. We hit upon the idea to combine this with the OlliOlli levels we’d been working on - and that’s