Games

Find your own way down the mountain in Steep

We interview the brains behind Ubisoft’s new snowboard, ski, wingsuit and paragliding game.

Written by Jon Partridge

7 min readPublished on 27.07.2016 · 0:43 UTC

Snow sports in video games have been one of two extremes: realistic to a fault, or just plain crazy. EA's SSX series got increasingly more ridiculous as time went on, culminating in 2012's appealing yet failed last-gen reboot, while we haven't seen the likes of the excellent 1080º Snowboarding series grace a new Nintendo console in over a decade.

Enter Steep, Ubisoft's brand new foray into the world of snow sports, which attempts to carve a line all of its own. The publisher dabbled in the past with Shaun White Snowboarding back in 2008, but this time the French publisher is not just giving you a board and expecting you to ride down a mountain. It's not that simple.

Steep, the brainchild of Ubisoft Annecy and creative director Igor Manceau, marks a new direction for action sports games based in fresh powder. Aiming to give you practically limitless freedom, it'll let you seamlessly hook up with other players, and you're able to play it exactly how you want to. You're not just limited to attacking the mountain on one plank or two, either – you have four different ways of making your way down, including a wingsuit.

Ahead of its fresh reveal at E3 this week, we chatted with Manceau to see just what he has in mind for the game, why now is a perfect time for a brand new snow sports title and how Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon inspired the winter title to go forward.

What's the story behind Steep? Who pushed for this at the studio, and when did it start? Steep was born just over 2 and a half years ago at Ubisoft Annecy and I (Igor, Steep Creative Director) pitched the project. It was both a really personal and rational pitch. Personal, because of a love for the mountain and all the things you can do up there. Rational, because we felt there was something new to offer in the action sport category in video games, but also because we had really convincing techs and knowledge within the Annecy Studio to tack on the project. We’ve had the chance to work on numerous major titles over the past twenty years, including Tom Clancy’s The Division and the Assassin’s Creed series. Needless to say that we’ve already had the chance to confirm our multi-player expertise. Ubisoft Montpellier and Kiev are studios we collaborate with on the development of Steep.

Was there a moment when you played a prototype and thought, 'yep, we're on to something here'? Yes, part of the pitch was to use our ground tech to create a playground that was varied and fun enough at really small and really huge scale. That means while you have something cool to do a few metres away, you can also go miles away and discover something totally different. The day we actually played that playground was a major achievement.

What snow activities will be represented. Is it just skiing and snowboarding? In Steep, players can enjoy four different adrenaline-fueled sports; Skiing, wingsuiting, snowboarding and paragliding. Each of these sports offers a great variety of experiences. Multiple activities allow players the freedom to explore Steep's open world in whichever way they choose. All four sports are balanced, and players can choose whether they want to use one sport or mix all four while exploring the environment.

Tell us about the mix of terrain. Will there be pistes/back country/both, and will it be open world so you can travel to just about anywhere you can see? Steep is a massive open world action sports game, with the mountain as your playground. We want players to embrace the thrill of big mountain and to enjoy a fresh action sports experience across a fully explorable mountainous open-world. You can use all the opportunities the mountain can offer ranging from forests to impressive stony cliffs, glaciers, lakes and more. The Alps will be your playground at launch. Alaska will add to Steep's already massive open world as a free game update.

How much of the focus of the game is on tricks and freestyle, and how much on discovery? If you're into insane stunts, jumps and tricks, you can go train hard in slopestyle and snowparks. If you're keen on discovering spots where no one has ever been before, you can move freely about the open world, from walking to flying. If you're into competition, you can take on many challenges and show what you're made of. You have specific challenges for each sport too, including big air, proximity flying, or forest slaloms. It's really up to you to choose how you want to spend your playing time.

How has the team gone about researching the game. Are many people on the team are avid winter sports fanatics? For our team, working on this game is a dream come true as it combines two of our passions – sports and the outdoors. We're from Annecy, a French town not that far from Switzerland, right in the middle of the European Alps. It's the place to be for outdoor action. We're only a few miles away from Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. Our studio is surrounded by mountains, and within our team, we're definitely mountain lovers, and very much enjoy all the exciting things you can do up there.

We're also located close to most parts of the action sport industry with whom we are collaborating closely, as well as with pro riders. This definitely gives Steep a truly realistic and authentic feel.

Did any previous Ubisoft games inspire Steep? Actually, part of the reasons why we decided to pitch Steep to our management is seeing an early demo of Ghost Recon Wildlands. The terrain tech really shows a huge environment, with a level of detail around the player that was really exciting. For the first time I had that feeling of being immersed in a massive landscape, and when looking around me I could see awesome terrain opportunities for me to go and experience while riding.

Another internal reference for us was Trials. When playing Steep you may enter that loop where just practicing your line and getting the perfect execution will allow you to pass a huge cliff or a forest slalom, for example. We do share the same philosophy of strong, physics-based behaviour that you need to master to achieve something unique.

Why is now the right time for a new snow sports game? Steep is a new breed of open world action sports game. We wouldn't qualify it only as a snow game. It's larger in its scope, and even more different if you consider the whole exploration aspect of it. That said, if you look at the number of action sports related videos that are produced and watched by people, as video games developers it's a great opportunity for us to offer players that kind of experience depicted in such videos.

How do you expect riders to interact in Steep? The experience of Steep is enriched when you play with other riders, whether friends or other players you may meet while exploring the open world. You can enjoy Steep’' multiplayer gameplay in many different ways. You can try to come up with amazing tricks, like a wingsuit flying through a paraglider, while a skier is jumping over both of them – that's just one example.

We strongly believe in Steep's potential to become a factory for creating crazy lines and jaw-dropping stunts – and you can record and share replays too. We're convinced players will think of incredible combinations that we haven't even imagined yet!

When can we get our hands on the game? Are you planning anything for post-launch to keep gamers coming back for more? The game will be released in December 2016. We are working on lots of exciting stuff, so stay tuned!

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