Seeing someone do something cool, feeling inspired, then messing around yourself, putting little movements and ideas together to create your own unique line. That's skateboarding – and it's also how the OlliOlli series came together. Having played endless runner Canabalt, creative director John Ribbins had a thought: 'I think that could be cool on a skateboard.' He'd already spent years tinkering with ideas for 2D skaters. Even though during the late noughties Roll7 was focused on educational entertainment and marketing, Ribbins threw together a simple mobile demo for the game.
"It didn't have tricks, it just had you tap the screen to jump, and you had to tap the screen again before you hit the floor, or you literally just fell over and it played the sound of a watermelon being hit with piece of stick and it sounded like you broke your legs," he recalls.
