Team      

Design Table  
of Contents  
Game Flow   
Introduction   
Menus   
Game Screens   
 Status Indicators   
 Pause Overlay  
The Game  
 Winning  
 Exhibition   
 Tournament  
 Scoring   
 Game Play   
 Controls   
Moves   
 Banking Turn   
 Kick Turn   
 Push   
 Jump   
 Ollie   
 Bluntslide   
 Nosegrind   
 Tailgrind   
 Noseslide   
 Tailslide   
 Railslide   
 Kick Flip  
 Inverted Indy   
 Powerslide   
 Five-Oh   
 Fifty-Fifty   
 Fakie   
 Varial   
Objects   
 Immobile Objects   
 Mobile Objects   
 Power Ups   
 Protective Gear   
 Food and Water   
 Ethereal Imagery   
 Product Logos   
Arenas   
 City Streets   
 Skateboard Park   
 Storm Drain   
 City Park   
 Construction Site   

The point of view seen by the player is typical of most 3D, first-person games like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, with one added feature. Vertigo allows the player to choose a removed point-of-view. This option presents the player’s on-screen representation viewed by a flying camera which follows the skater. This allows players to actually watch themselves executing acrobatic moves.  

The first-person POV creates the kind of immersive experience characteristic of many 3D games. For some moves and for some players, the first person POV may be more effective.  
  

First-Person Point-of-View Removed Point-of-View 

The removed POV looks more dramatic than first-person. It constantly highlights the realistic motion-capture driven body movements of the player’s on-screen avatar. Pushing and turning are accompanied by arm and leg movements. In first-person POV, an Ollie will raise the player’s point of view momentarily. By contrast, in removed POV, the player’s avatar visibly rises from the ground, his board drifts away from his feet, and when he touches down, his legs flex with the impact. 

The removed POV also adds the benefit of a constant vertical camera. With removed POV, the orientation of the camera never changes with respect to vertical. For new players and those more susceptible to vertigo, the constant vertical orientation can be instrumental in staying balanced on the board. 

Toggling between first-person and removed POVs sets the default view for that player. When the player is next selected for game play, the camera automatically views from the player’s preferred POV. 

Score and Status Indicators 

Superimposed on the 3D screen are two-dimensional status indicators. Bars indicate status and health and numbers indicate score, rank, and time elapsed. 

Health and Stamina indicators are colored bars at the bottom of the screen which can give a player her status at a glance or through peripheral vision. Stamina rises and falls as a player pushes himself to perform moves. When a player’s stamina is low, he may not be able to build up sufficient speed to perform some moves. Health changes as a player consumes power ups and suffers injuries. When a player’s health falls below a certain point, his agility, strength, and stamina suffer also. Suffering an accident which reduces health below zero removes the player from the game. 

Time Score/Rank 

Health Stamina  

Score is displayed as two numbers in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. The top number indicates a player’s score. The lower number indicates her rank among other players. 

Time elapsed appears as a digital time number displaying minutes and seconds. For example: 2:24 indicates two minutes and thirty four seconds since the player has entered the arena. 

Pause Overlay 

Players can pause the game by pressing the ‘ESC’ key or Pause button. Pausing freezes game action and displays the main menu overlaid onto the frozen screen. Hitting ‘ESC’ again or pressing the Play button resumes game play with no changes. 

During a multiplayer game, pausing does not freeze the game action for all players, just for the player who wishes to pause. That player’s skater will appear as a frozen, translucent image to other players. When the pausing player returns to the game by pressing the ‘ESC’ or Pause button again, his skater resumes motion with its original velocity.