MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Welcome to Ego Trip, where we ask the finest game development talent a series of questions about the toughest subject of all – their own games.
In the chair this month is the skateboarding legend that is Tony Hawk. Here he is:
He may be accustomed to handling the pressure that comes with sporting competitions, but can he keep his head when faced with our quiz?
Profile
Name: Tony Hawk
Famous for: Being a skateboarding icon
Answering questions on: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (PS1)
What was the North American release date of the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game for the PlayStation 1?
I want to say September 28th 1999. I think that’s it.
(The PS1 original was released August 28th, 1999)
As the first game’s release drew close, there was something else in your life that you were doing. You’ve said before that testing the game gave you a break from that task. What were you avoiding?
It was writing my book. The funny thing about writing that book was that I didn’t actually focus on it until I sprained my ankle really badly.
In that first game, there were two unlockable ‘secret’ characters. What were their names?
They were private Carrera and Officer Dick. We got in a bit of trouble for Private Carrera. When we submitted it for approval to the consoles, we didn’t disclose that she was there, and she was a little risqué.
The funny thing about her was that she was named because executive producer Joel Jewett liked Porsche Carreras, but people thought she was patterned after some porn star named Tia Carrera. She came to thank us for putting her in the game.
Can you name three of the bands on the soundtrack to the game?
Any three? The Dead Kennedys, Primus and Goldfinger.
There were nine levels on the original game. How many of them included collectible tapes?
It was three right? They were the competition levels.
Can you name the two lead designers on the game from Neversoft?
That’s hard. The guys I worked with most closely were the guys from Activision named Scott Pease and Dave Stohl. I can remember one of the designers so well, but I can’t remember his name.
(Aaron Cammarata and Chris Rausch)
1st place:Charles Cecil (5 questions out of 6 correct)
1. Paul Gower (5/6)
1.Sean Murray (5/6)
4. Martin Hollis (4/6)
4. Miles Jacobson(4/6)
4. Tony Hawk (4/6)
Unfortunately Tony Hawk’s memory isn’t as good as his skateboarding, as he languishes in last place, or 2nd for the optimists among you.
Over the coming months you’ll see this leaderboard evolve into a defining list of industry masterminds (or a high score board of game development’s most ambitious egomaniacs, depending on how you look at it).
