The Evolution of Beat Skater’s Art 

Hey Skaters! This is the third entry in our series of devlogs that take a deep dive into several aspects of Beat Skater’s development. In case you missed our last devlog, which discussed some of the quirks of game programming and the approach we have here at Flip Studios, that can be found here. For this devlog our Co-Producer and Animator, Demi Singh, will be giving a brief overview on how the Beat Skater art style was decided upon in addition to how it has evolved.

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Beat Skater’s style has evolved quite quickly from the beginning to the launch. Beat Skater has evolved to have a unique style originating from street style art. What originally started as a mainly asset oriented game, also developed characters for the player to utilize as well. When it comes to character creation, we looked for dynamic characters that would fit the style of Beat Skater. Even with silhouettes mocked up, the characters showed a level of dynamics in their silhouette that was well suited for a rhythm game. 

One of my favorite characters to look at in the concept phase is Catgirl. 

At first we started with a chibi style, something that had a cuter and rounder look to it. However, the feel of the game is more street art oriented, so as you can see in the second iteration.. The character became a lot more “harsher” with the lines. This gives it that “grunge”, “punky” feeling that fit the game well. The facial expression also changed to spiky teeth and eyes with harsh lines. This change in facial expression gave the character more of a “rugged” feel and created a sense of deviousness. 

3D art has been ever-evolving as well. We first started quite simply with designs, however, the desire for more interesting and engaging textures arose. With a game that is centered around street style art and skating, the team decided it would be best to include many aspects of art- including graffiti and pop art- to help further that element. 

When it comes to color palettes, neon colors are a big part of Beat Skater’s core palettes. As seen below with the two rug iterations, staying consistent with the team’s color palette is quite key but experimentation of what can work is also imperative.  

Testing out color palettes                                    Testing out color palettes v. 2 

Before                                                                   After 

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Demi Singh

Co-Producer and Animator 

Thanks for that Demi! That’s all we had planned for this devlog, but come back in two weeks for a brief dive into some of the interesting technical and design methods that Flip Studios uses to resolve bugs in our game, including some that don’t actually fix bugs at all! Please leave any questions or comments you have for Demi or the team overall below and we’ll respond! To keep updated on Beat Skater, make sure to follow our Twitter and Instagram. If you’re interested in trying the game, it can be downloaded for free on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. Thank you for the time and playing!