''Perfect Stride'' is an

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Arcane Kids Arcane Kids is an independent video game studio based in Los Angeles, California. They are a collective of developers, largely known for creating surreal and humorous video games using the Unity engine. As of 2015, the group consisted of 5 members ...

. It was released for

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

in an alpha form in 2013, but was abandoned before it was ever completed.

Gameplay

''Perfect Stride'' is a first-person skateboarding simulator that players can do tricks in and socialize with other players online. It is set in an alternate universe in which pro skater

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...

had never landed the

900 __NOTOC__ Year 900 ( CM) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Abbasid Caliphate * Spring – Forces under the Transoxianian emir Isma'il ibn Ahmad are victorious at Balkh (Northern Afghan ...

at X Games V in 1999 and achieved widespread recognition, and thus had never "triggered an explosion of corporate skateboarding", leading to the rise-in-power of an immortal "time wizard" who uses his abilities to prevent anybody from dying. The player's overarching goal is to venture through the various islands within the game's dystopian environment and find what is rumored to be the very last bullet to exist on Earth and use it to kill the Time Wizard once and for all. The game takes place within a metaphorical depiction of

Yahoo! Geocities GeoCities, later Yahoo! GeoCities, was a web hosting service that allowed users to create and publish websites for free and to browse user-created websites by their theme or interest, active from 1994 to 2009. GeoCities was started in November 1 ...

and serves as a symbol of the "dying web," noting that the various pieces of architecture are representative of personal web pages. ''Perfect Stride'' takes inspiration from early movement exploits in first-person shooting games. Making use of only the computer mouse, it utilizes a unique control scheme in which the player clicks the left and right buttons to build up force and moves the mouse in that direction to gain momentum. A "rewind" feature allowing players to correct mistakes is also present in the game, included out of the developers' experiences with other games and a desire to make the gameplay fair. The rewind gimmick is also tied into the game's plot; the player is unable to die at any point at all in the game, as time is frozen whenever they are about to and they are forced to rewind out of it.

Development

''Perfect Stride'' was announced by developer

in 2013. The concept for ''Perfect Stride'' was inspired by developer and co-creator Ben Esposito's early attempts to modify ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played ent ...

'', in which he mistakenly produced an unorthodox style of control that he felt would be interesting as a game of its own. Esposito brought the idea to co-developer Russell Honor, who took a full month in order to faithfully recreate the style of movement that Esposito had described. The game is meant to simulate the social atmosphere of a real-life

skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, quarter pipe ...

, taking heed from early mods and online chat rooms, and is intended to provide a laid-back multiplayer experience, with the team referring to it as a "lifestyle game". An early access alpha version of ''Perfect Stride'' was first made available to backers of the

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign for

LA Game Space LA Game Space was a nonprofit organization focused on experimental game design, research and education. The crowdfunded project planned to open an exhibition space in Los Angeles, along with a research wing, a space for workshops and support for ...

in August 2013. The build was a finalist for the "Excellence in Visual Arts" category in the 2014

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

, and was released for free via

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when LA Game Space ceased operation in 2018. Due to its ambitious nature, the game is still in development and planned for an eventual release via

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

, with intentions to include a

level editor A level editor (also known as a map, campaign or scenario editor) is a game development tool used to design Level (video games), levels, maps, campaigns and virtual worlds for a video game. An individual involved with the development of game levels ...

and a full-fledged multiplayer feature separate from the story mode. Though as of 2022 it is unlikely the game will ever be released as Arcane Kids has mostly split up with the about section of the game stating on Ben Esposito's website "The perfect game. Can you find a copy?".

References

{{reflist 2013 video games Apocalyptic video games Arcane Kids games Early access video games Indie games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Skateboarding video games Video games designed by Ben Esposito Video games developed in the United States Windows games