BTS - Pro Skater 1+2 (139) (Patreon)

G'day McTwisters, let's talk about the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 episode. There isn't a whole lot to really discuss given it's a very standard episode but we'll give it a go. Was definitely an interesting road to get here!

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Announcement & Road to Launch:
The moment the date was announced for this game, September 4th, admittedly I was pretty pissed to be completely transparent. Given we cover this series in October, I was torn between dropping the video ASAP or waiting for a month. Given my plans for Hawktober 2020, it slotted in perfectly at the start, as the topics begin following the second THPS game. Originally I was going to simply wait for October to release the video... until Crash 4: It's About Time was announced for October 2nd... ffs Activision!
So everything had to be rushed forward. The Apocalypse review I'd planned for September had to be finished in August and the remake review had to be done as close to release as possible. Not the end of the world but it's just made the entire schedule a bit messy to say the least!

Along with that rush, I also had less time for the new Hawktober O2 merchandise to arrive so that I could wear it in the episode to help promote the special. Thankfully it all got here in time. What made this project so special though was receiving a Collector's Edition EARLY direct from Activision which was absolutely MENTAL!
Never in my wildest dreams did I consider such a thing would ever happen and once I got my hands on that thing, the motivation jolted through my body like electricity, I was so excited to start working on the video!

Capture Card Problems:
Given I don't often cover or even really play modern titles, I've focussed less on getting those games recorded at the highest quality. I'd had the chance to play Crash 4 and THPS early to make videos and the best settings I could have was 1080p 30fps which unfortunately, led to a lot of complaints and speculation about game performance prior to release, due to the low framerate. This really got in my head in ways I can't really describe. Worse was YouTube processing the video in a weird way that led to more problems in the actual uploads.
So I decided I needed a new capture card and possibly even an upgrade to a PS4 Pro over my current slim model. But I'd left it too late for the THPS review. So I got feedback from a lot of friends on what was more important: framerate or resolution and we all agreed resolution, so I started playing the game at 1080p 30fps. I've developed a powerful and reliable gut feeling over the years and after only completing 4 levels in the game, I decided to check the footage and for whatever reason, it was incredibly choppy despite the game running at a constant 60fps on the slim PS4.

So I had to delete my save file and restart the game, thankfully only losing 30 minutes of progress but, it was still a dampener on the spirit right when I didn't need it. I decided smooth gameplay was more important so capture the game at 720p 60fps and it looked super smooth. But the dropped resolution combined with me botching the gamma settings, the entire video looked incredibly muddy and flat. Really disappointed that I let myself down on that one, thankfully now I've got a new device for 1080p 60fps and the difference is astounding!

Logo Work:
The original logo for this game is actually one of the worst of the entire franchise. It sucks! And the problem with a logo that sucks is that it's REALLY difficult trying to replicate it and make it look decent. I was stuck with which option to take, you can see them both below. I was originally going to have this as another merch option but once I made it say Square Eyed Jak, I scrapped that idea instantly because it just looks shit.
Thankfully getting the swoosh animation was as easy as doing a reverse chroma key on the swoosh animation from the intro video and that was it. SUPER easy trick and it worked better than I thought it would!

LIGHTS OUT!!! GUERILLA RADIO!!!
The intro for this video was SO MUCH FUN holy shit! From the moment I saw the legit board in the CE, I pre-ordered day one with the plans of I will actually skate that thing. I've skated my original shit Simpsons deck with 2 wheels, hand me downs, RIDE controllers and so I had no choice but to do that. And when I got to try the Warehouse demo and heard Rage Against the Machine, I decided to re-record my classic cover of the song from my original THPS2 episode in 2015. Was actually difficult trying to get it to sound as spastic as before living in an apartment... I was doing this weird "screaming quietly" thing just off of instinct. That was about an hour of trying to record that.

As for stuff on the board for the intro, it's something I haven't really done for a while. That one note skit was the driving force for the first year of Hawktober and after that... I felt like there was no need to really do it again because it would just be old news. Combined with my confidence at the park nose diving after that first year and my bad legs, I was worried about stepping onto a board again. Thankfully I was actually very quick to just jump on and start cruising around. I'm NOT a skater and never will be but I was kind of surprised at how comfortable I felt on the thing and that come across in the video too, as a lot of people pointed that out to me. I got to the park at about 9:30am and I was there until 12:30pm, skating pretty much the entire time.

I thought I could do a funny fake looking grind by cutting a bunch of shots together which you can see in the edit. Didn't really work but it was worth a go. It obviously doesn't show in the video because I'm bad ahahaa but I was actually trying REALLY hard to get some cool stuff to use. After a while of getting more comfortable on the thing, there was this tiny hip I started charging at (charging lol) and starting to teach myself how to get up and over stuff. Looks weak as fuck on video but for me, I had so much fun attempting that. I also started just messing around with the board and in the words of Rodney Mullen "it was like the skateboard taught me" because suddenly out of nowhere... I started to grasp the concept of scooping and how the board is actually rotated. I didn't land anything aside from my little stomp trick BUT... it got me very excited to start going to the park in my free time and FINALLY practicing on the board!

Grand Champion of THPS!
Getting to see a game prior to launch was very interesting to say the least. There was a multiplayer session setup for creators and media to try the online and yo it was SO FUCKING BORING because all these journos have clearly never played the games before... so I just destroyed all of them! 😂
But it was also interesting to see these people use the map editor... none of them tried. And I'd have to assume some normal players somehow got their hands on it early as maps like "Easy 10mil score achievement" parks were present before the game launched. So I took it upon myself to try and make something decent and plaster it with advertising for the channel. Little did I realise just how big of an impact that would have had on the channel. It's difficult to track of course but the AMOUNT of people being like "hey I found you through your custom map" boggles my mind. So it was a wild week to say the least!

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That's a WRAP!
All in all, it was a lot of fun working on this one. Very cool moment and having a spare CE to give away is really special for me, given how far the channel has come thanks to covering this franchise! And whether I continue to skate or not, I still have mine as a trophy of that hard work with a letter from Acti inside! 😊
So we'll end it there people. If you've got questions, don't be shy and I hope you all found that interesting! Until next time, I hope you have a great fucking day, cheers!