Skateboarding games have changed considerably over the years. While the genre has increasingly moved toward realistic sports simulation, Skatesterre is taking a different approach by returning to the fast, accessible arcade style that defined earlier skateboarding games.

Developed by Goon Squad and published by Headup, Skatesterre was created with the goal of capturing the feel of classic titles such as Skate or Die, Dave Mirra, Grind Session and the early Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games.

For Headup CEO Dieter Schoeller, those games represented a particularly appealing approach to skateboarding.

"They offer less frustration than more realistic simulation titles and have a 'pick up and play' nature about them, that makes them much more accessible," Schoeller explained.

That philosophy became the foundation for Skatesterre. The idea was to make players feel like skilled skateboarders quickly, allowing them to perform tricks through an intuitive control system while still enjoying the simple act of riding around.

Building that experience proved challenging, particularly for a small independent team.

The developers wanted to preserve the feel of classic arcade skateboarding while introducing modern quality-of-life improvements, using Unreal Engine's latest features and adding character customization influenced by professional skateboarder Sterre Meijer.

A project built around passion

The game's lead developer was already deeply involved in skateboarding before joining the project. A passionate skater himself, he had even built a mini ramp in his garden and spent his free time experimenting with skateboarding game prototypes.

That personal connection to the sport helped shape the project's direction.

Schoeller also saw an opportunity to connect the game with the changing culture around skateboarding. After following Sterre Meijer's career and social media presence, he believed her personality and approach to the sport made her a natural fit for the project.

"I felt that she represented many of the positive developments happening in skateboarding today," Schoeller said.

The team wanted to support the growing visibility of women in skateboarding while creating the arcade sports game it had always wanted to make.

Schoeller eventually contacted Meijer and met with her in the Netherlands.

"She has been super supportive from the start," he said, adding that working with Meijer and her brother was a particularly positive experience.

Finding the right look

Meijer's involvement went beyond simply lending her name to the project. One of the team's biggest priorities was making sure her appearance and skating style were represented authentically.

That process required considerable work.

At one stage, the developers scrapped much of the character model they had created and started again to get the details closer to Meijer's actual appearance.

For Schoeller, that attention to detail was important because Meijer's identity as a skateboarder is closely tied to her individuality.

She has developed her own style rather than trying to conform to a particular image of what a skateboarder should look like.

The developers wanted Skatesterre to carry that same attitude.

The result is intended to be colorful, playful and slightly unconventional, encouraging players to experiment with different approaches rather than simply following a predefined path.

Finding your own line

At the heart of Skatesterre is the idea of turning a level into one continuous skating line.

Instead of viewing a stage as a collection of individual ramps and rails, players are encouraged to connect different parts of the environment together, chaining tricks into increasingly ambitious combinations.

"When you start seeing a level differently, not as a collection of ramps and rails, but as one continuous line, and suddenly pull off a huge combo, Skatesterre really clicks," Schoeller said.

That feeling is ultimately what the developers hope players will take away from the game.

The goal was never simply to recreate an older generation of skateboarding games. Instead, the team wanted to preserve the freedom and immediacy of classic arcade skating while giving the experience its own visual identity and modern features.

For Schoeller, the ideal reaction is simple.

"If you remember just one thing about Skatesterre after booting it up for the very first time today, I would want it to be that it makes you want to play one more run."

Skatesterre is available now on Xbox Series X|S.