Slopecrashers Dev Johannes Lugstein Talks Accessibility in His Arcade Racer

gamerant.com:

Everyone remembers their first experience picking up a new game — the controls feel foreign, the interface might be confusing, and/or the flow of gameplay isn’t yet second-nature. Some games have steeper learning curves than others, but Indie developer Byteparrot is looking to flatten that curve in its upcoming release Slopecrashers.

The arcade snowboarding game looks to create an experience that both casual and serious players can enjoy. Game Rant spoke with developer Johannes Lugstein about how accessibility is baked into Slopecrashers’ design.

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On its face, Slopecrashers is a relatively straightforward racer. Competing as a host of animal mascots, players race one another on downhill tracks on snowy mountain passes, arid desert dunes, and narrow city streets. Players can participate in an events-based campaign mode which includes races, stunt shows, and slaloms.

Tricks are a major gameplay element — players can execute “many moves” during races as part of Slopecrashers’ stunt system, Lugstein said. The game also encourages social play, and Slopecrashers will feature split-screen multiplayer for couch competition. While developing his game, Lugstein was inspired by similar titles that anyone could pick up and play. Mario Kart was chief among those influences.

Nintendo’s party racer is easily accessible to anyone, even players not familiar with gaming. Even if someone pours hundreds of hours into Mario Kart, Lugstein said, “you can still have friends who have never touched that game that are still beating the crap out of you.” That’s something that Slopecrashers aims to capture. “I really like that,” Lugstein said.

“I really want my game to be like that also — to have