Hey Folks,

Mark your calendars and join us at Nacon Connect 2024!


Peace,
The crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

Welcome to 2024!

We’re back for the first time since October 2023, and we’ve got quite the year ahead of us, but we’ll save that for later. This Dev Blog is all about our latest release - DLC03!

Now to get right to it, this is a content focused DLC release, including our newest school map and object dropper assets. Skating is all about creativity and adapting to what you have, and we have an abundance of fun terrain and object dropper assets for you to enjoy in this newest DLC release!

On the note of releases, it’s important for our fans to know that producing and releasing DLC content does not exclude us from continuing to plan and focus on improving our core mechanics. It’s on this note that we are pleased to announce that we are currently working on transitioning Session to Unreal 5!

It's still too early to make any concrete commitments on the implications of this, but it is a necessary step in order to continue a sustainable production on Session.


Over the last few months we have continued to structure & grow our team in order to solidify our foundations to adapt for the future. Our current staff, as well as our open studio positions can be found on https://www.crea-turestudios.com/about/ & https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/


Now to the update….


The big ticket in this DLC is the Schoolyard map. As anyone who has ever watched a skate video can attest - Californian school’s delivered a unique hybrid of street and park skating before modern skate parks were a thing. They had small rails, banks, picnic tables, benches, and a wide array of sets to huck yourself down.

In order to pay homage to this terrain from the golden days of skating, we have compiled our favorite spots into one kick ass schoolyard map!

The map includes spots inspired by, but not limited to:
● Hollywood 12 & 16
● Carlsbad Gap
● Sylmar 9
● Skittles
● LA High Rail
● Walter Reed
● Lockwood
● Belmont 9
● Muirlands 14
● Elysian 18
● Leap of faith
● El Toro
So dust off the old VHS tapes, and reminisce on that dream trick you may finally be able to pull off 🙂

As with all DLC maps, we like to provide some unique and fun skateable Object Dropper Assets. This latest batch is a mix of items you would find in a schoolyard, or that you would bring to a schoolyard to improve the speed or run up to a specific obstacle.



As mentioned above, we continue to work on solidifying the future for Session. This is by no means a small feat, and we’re in the thick of defining what it implies and how it will impact our plans, but we’re working on it and will share more info as we progress.

Peace,
The crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

We’re back with another Session Dev Blog, as we’re psyched to be bringing you some fun new content and terrain to skate.


The turtles have found themselves at home in NY and their sewer lair, but we’re also seeing awesome clips from around San Francisco, Philadelphia, and beyond. So keep the clips & content coming - and don’t forget to tag our social accounts!

Since our last release we’ve continued onboarding new team members and building for the future while also ensuring we're producing fun content for you as the player. To that note we’re excited to announce the release of our latest DLC bundle - in collaboration with Black River fingerboards!



Black River” Object Dropper asset set

• 38 items from rails, benches, boxes, and more!

We’re excited to finally be bringing back one of our early supporters of Session, Black River Fingerboards. While fingerboarding is not skateboarding - it replicates the freedom, artistic expression, and counter culture roots of skateboarding, just at a table top level. Being able to share the love we have for skating and grass roots companies like Black River was an easy call for us, and the variety of skateable objects leads to some incredible opportunities in game!

Please note that while the Black River object bank assets are bundled with the DLC, once owned they can be placed & used in any map or locale.

• Phatt Nugget Mall

The 90s were the heyday of the megastore and the boom of giant multi storied shopping malls all across North America. Malls have always been the forbidden fruit for skaters. Being clean, indoor, and mostly tile or marble with an abundance of ledges and drops the terrain was perfect, were it not for society & security! Thanks to Phat Nugget Mall being abandoned for the last 10 years, you can now revisit those glory days of hanging in the mall, but now with your deck and a chunk of wax!


Object Dropper Overhaul!

• We have fully reworked the Object Dropper system to make it more user friendly & intuitive, while still allowing for maximum player freedom. While those of you familiar with the old system will have some adjustment, the ease of use is greatly improved with our latest iteration.
  
• A bundle of free objects has been included in the Object Dropper overhaul for those wanting some variety but not ready to jump on the DLC.
  
• Asset Grouping is now possible:
  
• Asset re-orientation & Snap-to-ground added
  

General de-bug & Fixes:

• Camera - Fisheye camera lens has been reverted to V1
  
• Historical Challenges: Nate’s New York challenge line has been fixed
  
• Crash - A random Replay Editor crash on loading replays has been fixed
  
• Object Dropper - Objects no longer sink into the world on map load
  
• Audio fixes
  
• Improved material sounds
  
• Improved landing audio feedback
  
• Implemented surface transfer fx
  
• Other general debug fixes…

We continue to build our team here at crea-ture studios and are focused on integrating our latest team members into the studio, and project. Once we have everyone grounded we can look at how, and where, they can contribute in a meaningful and impactful way for the players!

Even with our latest additions, we’re still actively recruiting - and you can find ALL open roles at: https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/

Finally - keep an eye on the @Session Game instagram & Tik Tok accounts for updates and additional content from Donovan!

Peace,
The crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

In this DevBlog we’ll provide high level updates on where the studio, team, and ultimately Session: Skate Sim are heading.


In May, we were thrilled to release our first DLC bundle, "Chris Cole & the Abandoned Waterpark" and the response from the community was very positive.

Since then, our team has been working tirelessly on our next exciting update - the Session X TMNT collaboration.

As self-proclaimed 90s kids, the opportunity to bring the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the world of Session was like a dream come true - one we couldn't pass up for anything in the world. And now, the moment has arrived, and we are thrilled to announce that the TMNT collaboration is available for download as a free update!!!

We can't wait for you to dive into this thrilling experience and join our heroes on an unforgettable journey in the world of Session. So grab your gear and get ready to embrace the ninja power! Cowabunga! 


- Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael have joined the session roster

- Hard Goods - Decks & Griptape

- Soft Goods - Apparel

- Camera Lens → TMNT
TMNT Lens: - Changing the Camera Model in the Options Menu to → “TMNT” will add the distinct artistic signature of TMNT: Mutant Mayhem to Session: Skate Sim

- Replay Editor filter –TMNT
When editing replays as a turtle, with the TMNT camera model active, the Replay editor will become TMNT branded:

- Sewer Map - fun and innovative skate spots are the bread and butter of session - welcome to the NYC sewers…while the content is free, you need to do some NYC leg work to find the map BEFORE it becomes available through the transit system. Check the transit images for a hint on where to go!

- Mission Log status saved on reboot: “Untracked” missions previously became “Tracked” in the Mission Log on a reboot - this is fixed and track status is now persistent
- Scoop speed control
We have added the ability to dictate the speed of scooped tricks by managing the relative speed of the scoop input. Therefore a slow scoop on a shuv-it will lead to a slow shuv, and vice versa. Arc-length has now been cut as a scoop input method.
- Board pitch in Manual board control is dictated by the angle of the trick input and is now maintained for the duration of the trick - helping in landing orientation for grinds, manuals, and landing in banks!
- Board flip offset adjustments - Board position under player has been improved - as shared by Donovan on Instagram
- Camera - Fisheye camera lens has been revamped to improve granularity and improve fidelity.
- Other general debug fixes…

Skateshop content:
- Bug fixes on apparel
- Suck clothing integrated

Audio:
- Improved audio on manuals & kick turns
- Board flipping feature - dependent on rolling speed and flip speed
- Tweaked board breaking heights
- Added option to toggle flatspot audio
- Updated foot grip-tape sliding sfx for most tricks
- Added more wood scuff sound on pressure flips
- Split landing impact sounds so some follow the skater and some stay at the location of impact

We continue to build our team here at crea-ture studios, and over the last month we have increased 36% in size!!!!

Onboarding our new team members and integrating them into the studio, and project, is our priority. Once we have everyone grounded we can look at how, and where, they can contribute in a meaningful and impactful way for the players!

Here are the roles we’re onboarding:

● HR Director - Will be key to helping improve our studios presence in the market and driving recruiting

● Animator - Support for Session is a priority, but so is assuring programming support for animation additions / improvements!

● QA Lead - Driving the building and structuring of our QA team to ensure we continue to focus on quality and improvements for our core player base, a great addition to JL’s contribution in the QA domain to date.

● Art Director - A critical addition to ensure we’re sticking to our vision and building on what we have for both Session & the future.

Finally - we’ve been fielding a lot of questions on our social channels regarding Switch production. We’re happy to announce that there will be a Switch update including all of our updates for launch, and our DLC, closer to the year’s end.

Finally, Recruitment at crea-ture studios continues & Open positions can be found at https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/

Peace,

The Crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

It’s been 4 weeks since our last PC specific update, and we’re already back!

It’s finally time to announce our May update and our first full standalone DLC bundle, included within our next Title Update, so here it is…

This DLC bundle welcomes pro skateboarder Chris "Cobra" Cole to the Session lineup and includes updated gear from sponsors Fallen, Spitfire, and Zero. Additionally, the DLC presents the Crea-ture Waterpark, the first map not set in a city location or skate park alongside six new missions featuring Chris Cole, four of which take place on the new map. Players can also look forward to six exclusive "DIY" assets and five Chris Cole Zero deck designs in the skateshop.

• Chris “Cobra” Cole officially joins the Session: Skate Sim roster
  
  • Sponsors in game - Fallen, Spitfire, Zero, Liquid Death

Adding Chris to Session is huge for us here at Crea-ture studios. His influence on the industry, and each of us as skaters is irrefutable. Whether you were picking up a board in the 90s, or 2020s, Chris’ presence has been consistent. He is one of the few skaters to have won Thrashers Skater of the year two times!!

• The Abandoned Waterpark is our first map outside of a city spot or Skate park
  
• The waterpark has an interesting combination of steep slopes with lots of speed, big gaps, and risky spots. However it’s not all that makes up this terrain. Take the time to shred the lazy river, or skate one of the awesome parking lot banks!

• Play 6 new missions with Chris Cole - including 4 in our all new DLC map!

• 6 Unique “DIY” assets

SkateShop content

• 5 Chris Cole Zero Deck Graphics

We continue to crack away at our Q3 & Q4 Roadmap for this Summer. The Roadmap relies fully on our capacity to output asd a team, and we’re still looking to add some key roles before we can lock down the plan. However, keeping aligned with players, and growing Session, continues to be our main focus! If you know anyone out there who would be the perfect fit for our team - do share!

Recruitment at crea-ture studios continues & Open positions can be found at https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/

Peace,
The Crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

It’s the last week of April and we’ve delivered the last of our 3 PC specific updates!

It’s already been a busy start to spring for our remote team. We’ve recently welcomed our newest addition, and well known community member, JL Nightmare to the Crea-ture Studios roster. JL brings 5+ years of session experience to kick start our Quality Assurance team. If you’ve checked out any of his videos you’ll know how detailed he is!

That brings us to 11 employees here at Crea-ture as we continue to look for the right candidates for our team.

Recruiting continues to be our biggest priority as we work on staffing key roles for Session & the future…but let’s get to this quick PC1.3 update, because we’re already flying towards the upcoming DLC1 release this May.

PC1.3 drops today and includes the following updates, all of which will be included for free in our next platform wide updates!

Accessories System

• Implementation of core system for player accessories

Board Breaking

• Added an Option slider added to +/- probability of board breaking when On
  
• Updated graphics on certain board sizes

Bug Fixes

• Player HUD UI tracking on mission completion fixed
  
• Historical challenge fixes (x13)
  
• Skateshop skinning bugs
  
• Various world collision fixes

Audio Fixes

• Improved flatspot values
  
• Reduced truck squeaking
  
• Slight increase in catch sfx volume

Miscellaneous

• Crea-ture park added to Transit system

Accessories: Glasses were added as the first accessory to drop
The following brands have also updated their Skateshop deck graphics:

• DGK
  
• Meow
  
  • Samarria’s Pro Model updated!
• Thankyou
  
• Flip
  
• Welcome

Beyond these quick updates we’ve been working on future world content & features, with more info to come on our Q3 & Q4 Roadmap this Summer. The Roadmap continues to be a living document as we grow and adapt to our latest opportunities. Keeping aligned with players, and growing Session, continues to be our main focus!

DLC1 release dates to be confirmed soon - Keep an eye on our Social channels and Steam page for these dates along with future Dev Blogs...

Finally, Recruitment at crea-ture studios continues & Open positions can be found at https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/[/url] Peace, [i]The Crea-ture team![/i
Peace,

The Crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

We’ve officially hit Spring here in Montreal, and there is a buzz of excitement on the team as we get ready for our upcoming releases and finally some outdoor skating!

We’re also happy to share that Donovan is continuing on his road to recovery and he’s been back to pumping out awesome content on the regular. Our latest board breaking clips have surpassed our unique viewer counts on any social clip to date…and we’re just getting started, so it’s not just us that’s buzzing!

We’re also super sad to see the latest news changes in the industry, and couldn’t believe what we were reading regarding our favorite teams and riders. If we know one thing though, it's that when skaters slam they get right back up! We’re excited to see what new growth will come out of these changes!

Session production has been moving along at full speed. We released our first PC update, PC1.1, in February and we’re stoked to see that the new onboarding and general accessibility changes have had a positive impact for players. The release of PC1.1 and subsequent deliverables made the last month a hectic time!

PC1.2 drops today and includes some fun updates that the team is excited to share, so let's get to it.

All of the following will also be included for free in our next platform wide updates!

Board Breaking

• Board breaking is being released in the Experimental menu for this update, and is turned Off by Default.
  
• Is functional in gameplay and in the Replay Editor!
  
• When turned ON - the system tracks several factors:
  
• Wear & Tear (On & Off)
  
• When set to “Off” the likelihood of breaks < drastically
  
• Drop height
  
• Landing angle
  
• Landing on any slope < chances of breaking on big drops

Broken Board Video: https://youtu.be/hkNqOgYsy98
Broken on Rail: https://youtube.com/shorts/q_1E4FfKQZU


Audio Updates

• Catch SFX integration - the player now plays catch audio on any trick with player & board separation

Board Stacked Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/VyhqfMu0eGQ

• Reverb tweaks
  
• Volume & attenuation adjustments
  
• Flat spot probability decreased

Object Dropper Assets:

Stacked Decks
Available in 3/4/5 deck combos

Kicker Ramp

We’re excited to experiment with the more fun side of skating - the addition of costumes to the skate shop will give us some fun opportunities moving forward. Welcome to Session @LiquidDeath!

Available in the skate shop now - grab your in game wallets $$$

Costume - Liquid Death
Video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Tc4tzIwMq3Q


Panda Head!
Bucket Hat
Brimmed Beanie
Beyond the fun content, feature updates, and long term planning, we’re setting the design and tech foundations for further improvements and additions. As stated last month, the Roadmap is still evolving as we grow and define our next steps, but keeping aligned with players and growing Session is our main focus!

Clearing our Experimental menu features into full release features, as well as core gameplay fixes, are on there too!


Recruitment at crea-ture studios continues.

Open positions can be found at https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/

Keep an eye on our Social channels and Steam page for future updates and Dev Blogs, including an updated roadmap...

Peace,
The crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

We made it to 2023!

We hope everyone managed to stack some clips over their holiday breaks, whether in game or IRL, for those of us north of the 49th it’s been pretty snowy so Session has been a welcome outlet!


We had some big news on the team front with the rapid turn of events for Donovan Strain!

We're happy to report that he is in the hand of some of the best medical and support staff on the West Coast, and surrounded with family and friends. In time's like this we realize how easy it is to take the simple things in life for granted!

On that note - Happy Valentine's day - from us here at crea-ture Studios to all of our fans!

Yes Session, and making games is important, but nothing comes before our family, friends, and our health! Now we can get back to our usual programming.

We continue to work on our Roadmap and align on what will bring the most to our player base as a whole, and will help ensure the longevity of Session. We’re actively building a bug backlog that will also be addressed over the next year of production - so we don’t only add to Session - but actively address player frustrations.

After our latest announcement regarding our upcoming releases this March, we’re excited to share that we will be moving to monthly PC releases for February, March, and April!

The first PC release will be dropping by the end of February, and will include:

• First Time User Experience - AKA Onboarding
  
• Updated Mission / Quest tracker
  
• AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution 1.0

[/b][/list]

• New Skateshop content

We’re excited to welcome NEW truck brands to the in game skateshop. We’ve reviewed how trucks are built in game, and the benefits to gameplay, and your board control, are pretty awesome!

We also tasked the art team with producing what they’d love to skate! Here are some examples of the fun and unique skateable assets you can expect to see in future releases.

This specific bundle will be released on PC this February!

[h4]Object Dropper Assets[/h4]

AVE Bench
Tile Kicker
Curved Manny Pad
Pyramid with rail spine
A-frame with rail/box
Skatable Car!
Visit our social pages for clips of these assets in game!

• All bug fixes in the December Dev Blog +
  
• Impossible’s now wrap around your foot - clipping is to be expected.
  
• Donovan’s Skateshop meetup is no longer a “no-bail” line.
  
• Continued Mission trigger detection box improvements
  
• Bailed tricks will no longer count towards mission or challenge objectives
  
• KS Fastplant backers in credits

Recruitment at crea-ture studios continues, and open positions can be found at https://www.crea-turestudios.com/careers/

Finally we’re looking forward to sharing an updated roadmap for Session production in 2023!.

Keep an eye on our Social channels and Steam page for future updates and Dev Blogs.

Peace,
The crea-ture team!

Hey Folks,

We released V1 over 2 months ago, and we’re loving all of the content being pumped online by players and skaters alike. From clips, to full edits, the community posts never cease to amaze us! We’ve seen everything from buttery back tails to recreations of classic skate parts, there’s no shortage of unique gameplay content being produced with the in-game Replay Editor.

September’s V1 release of Session was a major milestone for us as a team, but even bigger for us as a studio. Building a game studio and shipping an original IP is a huge feat, and we’re beyond proud of what we’ve been able to achieve with our limited resources.

2022 was by far one of the more challenging years for the Session team with the release of the Public Update 2 build, the closing of Early Access, and culminating in the launch and release of V1. All of these deliverables were achieved while also managing the ebb and flow with the growth of the studio. The road to release was almost 5 years long, and over that time the size, dynamics, and composition of our team changed considerably. We had departures from Key roles - but nonetheless managed to push on with solidifying our vision and ensuring we provided the most balanced experience at launch.

The two months since launch have therefore been calm after the storm, but we have been more than busy during this time!

• Continued optimization for performance - Our cities continue to get optimised to ensure we provide the best performance on all supported platforms!
  
• Pause Menu restructure - In order to improve visibility, as well as ease of access, to core menus & settings, we have cleaned up and restructured the Pause menu.
  
• Mission Tracking - Improved mission tracking will allow you to jump between main path, secondary, and Pro missions on the fly.. It will also improve visibility of all mission options available at that time.
  
• Mission Completion - If you complete steps of an untracked mission - you are now notified
  
• Mission progression - You are now fed side missions to meet the required EXP before proceeding to the “Skateshop meetup” and all other arc gates.
  
• Mission detection improvements: Throughout the mission arc based off of player feedback
  
• Transit Improvements:
  • The transit map now identifies the single stop nearest to the required location - from any city
    
  • The transit map now Identifies the nearest stop to the destination within the same city
• Replay Editor updates:
  • Now stores TOD changes made in the editor
    
  • Added a check for existing save files with conflicting name
• Brandalised DLC content is now FREE in the shop - once the DLC is purchased
  
• Audio improvements:
  • Wind Effects - Wind sound plays when going fast. Different sounds will play depending if you're in the air or on the ground.
    
  • Attenuation Settings - Tweaking attenuation falloffs, adding occlusion, focus effects, doppler, reverb distance

• Footstep Materials - Added sounds when walking on different surfaces. Grass, cars, plastic etc.
  
• Manuals - Added wheel impact sounds when exiting a manual.

• Effects - Testing a stereo delay on certain sounds to give more width.

• Grinds - Added unique sounds when grinding the top of a fence.
  
• Board - Added improved board impact audio

• General Mixing
• Daily Challenges
  • Grind challenges are now tracked in Metres
• Historical Challenge trick detection:
  • NolliePop shuv - M.Mcbride
    
  • Inward Heel - M.Mcbride
    
  • Brooklyn Banks 2010 Best Line - Nate Rojas
    
  • Welcome to Hell - Jamie Thomas

We know that we have the best skate sim on the market - our goal now is to improve how we introduce newcomers and players in a fun and progressive way to our extensive gameplay. As of the next Patch planned for early 2023, all new players to the game, or new characters created in your current game, will experience a new onboarding flow.

The original Brooklyn Banks tutorial has been scrapped for a better paced and more transitional introduction to the gameplay mechanics. Feedback from new users was clear - the learning curve was too steep, and was becoming a barrier to entry - creating frustration for players as opposed to empowering them!

In order to tackle the various barriers to entry we had identified, we’re delivering a combination of changes to gameplay and exposure at a base level.

The new default difficulty preset will now account for basic Left Stick navigation, and does not require mirrored input for Switch tricks, amongst other ease of access changes. This default setting will now prove as a transitional step into the full Session feature set, once players have found their comfort in the core navigation and tricks sets.

The tutorial is now considerably longer than before, but provides the foundation of exposing and confirming key elements from navigation, to tricks, and supplemental features. As we found that even as an experienced skater - there were some core gameplay features that were poorly, or not at all, exposed.

Not only are we tackling the First Time User experience, we've also made various improvements to existing features. The Mission Log is now toggled on/off HUD, it now allows for scrolling between current mission options without having to enter the pause menu and skater log, leading to more time for you to work on your tricks and clips. It also provides input per step of the tutorial as to what is expected of the player.

While we’re tackling how to improve the first time user experience, we’re also working on elements for our existing player base. As mentioned before - the content being produced is awesome, so it is only logical that we pursue features that promote the challenging of friends and sharing of content in the game world. To this extent we’re currently scoping and designing the potential for future features that will help transition your offline gameplay with the Session community in a seamless manner.

• New and unique Object Dropper assets!
  • For both the next free patch & the subsequent DLC
• We’re working on the next pro-skater who will be coming to Session. He’s a pro known for his absolute love for skateboarding and throwing backside 360’s into his trick sets. Some call him the NBD king, and we really feel he has the same level of passion we have for skateboarding.
  
• We’re also working on a new map, this is our first foray into a non-city setting (not including the skateparks), and we’re loving the variety it’s bringing so far. This map will be a part of a future DLC drop, so take a look at the image below and guess where you’re going to be skating next.

DLC dates will be announced after we release our next Free patch in early 2023!


Our next releases are now planned for Early 2023 - starting with a free patch - and will be tackling the overall accessibility and onboarding of players into Session as well as the many quality-of-life fixes listed above. This free patch will be followed by the first official DLC drop.

Finally - To keep up with our players and fans we just opened our own Tik Tok account[www.tiktok.com] - run by our community manager, Donovan Strain!

Keep an eye on our Social channels and Steam for future updates and Dev Blogs.

Peace,
The Crea-ture team!