Gameplay
To emulate the precision of real skateboarding, I invented a unique control system using only three touches. Each distinctive trick animation is dictated by swipe direction, speed, and distance instead of using a predetermined playback. The first touch controls the pop, the second touch controls the spin, the third touch controls the flip, and an optional fourth touch adds late spin or flip. With three taps or swipes, you can perform over 1,000 different tricks with true repeatability, relying on muscle memory rather than a probability algorithm.
The biggest challenge with a realistic skateboarding game is making a trick difficult to land initially, while allowing the user to land it consistently with practice. To help players become more consistent, I developed a practice mode where XP points are earned and stored each time a trick is landed until a ceiling is hit. A player's XP% for a specific trick assists in snapping the board rotation closer to the threshold of allowable movement. Match points are determined by how "clean" a trick is landed, which compares how closely a user flipped their board to the perfect version of that trick.
Backend
Skate Champ uses an Amazon Web Services autoscaling EC2 group that runs 10k lines of Node.js code I wrote to process game data and other information. Frequently accessed data is stored in DynamoDB, while historical data is stored long-term in S3.
Nearly 400k mobile devices have registered for push notifcations and messages are published cross-platform via Simple Notification Service (SNS). The random challenger queue is powered by Simple Queue Service (SQS) to prevent duplicate matchmaking.
Advertising
To maximize ad revenue, I built custom ad mediation into the application. Based on performance, the server chooses the interval at which ads appear, which ad networks are used, and which ad formats to display. Fill rate and eCPM for each network are logged and compared to ensure that the most profitable ads are displayed most often.
User Interface
To create an immersive cross-platform experience, I built a UI framework for the buttons, modal windows, alerts, scrollviews, and fonts rather than using native equivalents. The HUD for practice and match modes posed a challenge in organizing user data, trick suggestions, a stance toggle, social sharing, and shortcuts to the help and shop pages. Additionally, an overlay appears after each trick attempt that displays statistics specific to the user.
