Over 35 new games will be on show at GaMaYo on 21st November with 400 developers attending the event to try them out alongside publishers, investors and platform holders. The event is managed by Game Republic along with their Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays Games and Creative and Escape Technology
Today we look at demo number 8 confirmed to be at the event – a game from Blueshift Interactive
X-GRAVITY
What would be your description of your game?
X-GRAVITY is the next step in skateboarding gameplay – perform gravity-defying combos with your gravboard in an arcade style skateboarding game, hit big air, and master the element of flow – all on the NEXUS!
In Story Mode, uncover a conspiracy threatening this alien world you’ve come to call home, the NEXUS, a space station built around & powered by a black hole. You’re a teen, growing up in a sleepy suburban neighbourhood on the orbiting rings of HALOS-1, longing to make a name for yourself doing the one thing you love – gravboarding.
Build a social media following on FlikFlark, our in-game social media app, and become a voice for the people.
Complete missions and favours for a whacky cast of larger-than-life alien personalities to earn enough cash & build your following to compete in the ultimate test of skill – the GRAV GAMES!
Pull of combos & tricks which feel familiar to long term fans of extreme sports games, with the added dimension of gravity, you can pull off tricks otherwise impossible.
Customize your skater with a suite of unlockable clothing options and be who you want to be! Build & customize your gravboards with a suite of parts & designs made by independent artists.
X-GRAVITY was actually born out of 2 ideas in our uni days if you can believe it; a prototype of a first-person driving sim game we (the founders) worked on during our uni days, and a fan-remake of Jak & Daxter!
Some of those ideas & tone for a mission-based game in a city where exploration is key, translated into building a revival of the skateboarding genre – we especially loved the idea of a semi-open (hub & spoke) world with a mission-based structure and light-hearted narrative, like Jak & Daxter or Ratchet & Clank.
George grew up with a love for skateboarding and obsessively played games like THPS & SSX, which translated into a love for snowboarding in recent years, whereas Luna grew up in the freerunning scene and fell in love with the flow-based gameplay of Mirror’s Edge, but we both loved light hearted mission-based games like the aforementioned, as well as Simpsons Hit & Run (which was a big influence for the original pitch).
Over the years we spitballed these ideas as we worked our 9-5 jobs in the AAA grind, until one day Luna decided to start putting together a prototype to validate how fun it would be to combine these ideas and see how feasible a custom-gravity based game even is (spoilers: it would be a massive headache, but worth it). After working as a Lead Technical Artist for a while, Luna decided to quit mid-2023, and form Blueshift Interactive to work on X-GRAVITY full-time, George followed soon after, and here we are now!
Tell us about the team behind the game?
Blueshift Interactive was formed by Luna & George – two lifelong friends who met online, both studying games art at different unis, as part of a Jak & Daxter fan project. We quickly realised we were on the same page on a lot of things, and ended up very closely working together on Sackboy: a Big Adventure while at Sumo Digital shortly after graduating! We went in different directions career-wise, but always wanted to form an indie studio once we have the experience & know-how.
One day it was just time to form the studio and pursue the dream!
What kind of experiences do you hope to bring players?
We want to bring a familiar experience to those who are fans of the extreme sports games boom of the ’00s, while also innovating on the genre to bring something new that the new generation can also enjoy.
In 10 words or less, highlight the appeal of the game?
“X-GRAVITY is an arcade skateboarding game where you defy gravity and hit jaw-dropping combos in a psychedelic alien metropolis!”
Any links to access/wishlist the game?
Not at this time – we are currently working on a Steam page to coincide with a future marketing push.
