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Explore the creative process behind Denshattack an action-packed skateboarding game through a colorful Japanese-inspired dystopia.
Learn more about the influences and challenges behind the practicalities of using a train to do skateboarding tricks.
Denshattack is out today on XBOX Series XIS, XBOX PC and via XBOX Game Pass.
When we were first pitching Denshattack, and even when people hear about it today, its the core concept that really surprises them. We like to describe it as Tony Hawk but youre a train and they immediately become intrigued by how we came up with the idea.
The very first spark for Denshattack started with a small Japanese toy train. One day I was absent-mindedly pushing it around, making it jump over imaginary obstacles and ended up putting it on a finger skate. I just had to see if it would work as a game. My colleague Angel thought I was crazy, but we put together a quick prototype and immediately saw that the idea had legs (or rather, rails). So, we got to work creating something to pitch, and the rest is history.
As the project progressed, we asked ourselves can a train actually capture the same feeling as a board does in games like Tony Hawks Pro Skater and SSX Because when I think about that great flowstate energy you get by chaining tricks and combos, the magic doesnt necessarily come from the board itself (Jet Set Radio does this with rollerblading after all). Its more about the movement and expression it brings, where everything becomes an opportunity to experiment and express your own style. Thats the feeling we wanted to chase.
Games like these were huge inspirations because they all understand the joy of movement. They make you want to replay the same level again and again, because you know you can do it better next time.
In some ways a train is a perfect match for trick gameplay because it already has something you are always looking for: momentum. A skateboarder builds speed, commits to a trick and uses the environment to keep that flow going. A train does the same thing, just with several tons of steel behind it. The railway tracks became our skatepark. Instead of asking players to freely steer everywhere, we wanted them to think about timing, rhythm and creativity.
One of the biggest surprises during development was discovering that applying this system to railway tracks, which could have been a limitation, actually became one of the games greatest strengths.
