people do not do their best work when they’re tired. The team credits much of OlliOlli World’s success to this healthy and structured approach to development. “We do not crunch,” says Bennett. “We absolutely feel like the reason that we’ve managed to ship OlliOlli World on seven platforms on the day that we said that we would, is fundamentally down to the philosophy that has driven this new iteration of the studio. And it will continue to drive it, we will continue to improve on it. “On Laser League, it wasn’t mandated crunch. We asked the team specifically: ‘can you do an extra 20 per cent toward beta?’ Some people opted out, and we were fine with that. Some people just cracked on and did it. And we had to refactor most of that work, because it was littered with problems and issues. “That’s not because the team wasn’t putting their all into it – it’s because they were working more than they should have worked. We were all working more than we should have, and we made mistakes. Because we weren’t 100 per cent focused. The human brain can only do so much in a day, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying for a LinkedIn profile. That stuff’s all bollocks, and the sooner people actually realise that, the better.” The development of OlliOlli World couldn’t have been
more different than that of Laser League’s. Talking to Bennett and Hegarty, it’s obvious that they have more than rediscovered their passion for game development – and are clearly focused on ensuring that they manage that passion in healthy and productive ways. “It may sound cheesy, but [OlliOlli World’s development] was driven by a lot of positivity,” says Hegarty. “We were really excited.”
“The ambition for OlliOlli World was always bigger and
better,” says Bennett. “During development there was a concern that we were just dressing this game up to be OlliOlli with a bit of story, and we’ve added grabs and a nice art style, and that’s it – it’s just another OlliOlli game. “But when we started doing branching paths, right to left skating, and playing around with all the split routes, all those sorts of things… That’s when I turned around to the team and said ‘this is what makes this OlliOlli World. Forget that it’s a skating game, this is pushing
the boundaries of what a platformer can be. This is really innovative, this is an exciting thing, and we need to explore all the different avenues that this gives us, not only for level design but for art too.’
“I think that the design and the art team have done a
remarkable job of coming up with levels that are pushing the boundaries of where Sonic ever went. That was, for me, the point in development where any worries about if what we were doing was actually going to be remarkable was quashed. From there on, it was just excitement. We were making this big, bright, candy-coated video game in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. It was a huge juxtaposition, and just a super positive experience, through and through. “This was a charmed project, and a lot of that comes down to how amazing the team working on it were. It also comes down to us being super, super diligent on scope, and ensuring that what we were building was achievable in the timeframe. It’s the first properly charmed project we’ve had as a studio, and I want a bunch more. “OlliOlli World is the best game that we’ve ever shipped. It’s something that we’re immensely proud of, and it could have only been built under these circumstances.”
All of this is excellent news for both Roll7 employees and its fans, of course. Though we have some bad news for any Airbnb hosts out there… “I don’t feel like we need to go and sit in a church again,” says Bennett. “We just shipped a game, and we’re all still alive and still excited about making games. We have more in the pipeline, there’s lots of very exciting things going on in the prototype land. It’s fun.”
April 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 61
Above: The team were quickly excited by the new possibilities available in OlliOlli World
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