Skater XL will come with three community-made maps at launch

(Image credit: Easy Day Studios)

The upcoming skateboard sim Skater XL will launch in July with the "Easy Day High School" map, which developer Easy Day Studios revealed earlier this month as "the quintessential skateboarder’s playground, capturing the California schoolyard vibes and terrain where much of skateboarding’s roots come from." Today the studio said that it will also include three community-made maps at release, each of them enhanced by the studio's art team.

"Since the Early Access launch of Skater XL, the modding community has grown to a humbling 84,000 members who have created thousands of amazing maps, fake skate brands and gear," Easy Day co-founder Dain Hedgpeth said. "Their creativity and passion has not only inspired us, but has become an integral part of the Skater XL experience and we want to pay homage to this by including some of their work at launch."

The three community-made maps bundled with the game will include:

  • Grant Skate Park - Grant Skate Park, created by modder turned Easy Day Studios team member Theo, is one of Chicago’s premier public skateparks. The three-acre waterfront park has a variety of terrain, including street and transition features with a focus on overall flow. Revealed here for the first time, Theo’s version of this real-life skate park holds true to its layout and design, while small tweaks have been added to optimize gameplay.
  • Streets - Streets, by prolific map creator Jean Olive, is a mash up of street spots inspired by some of the best terrain in the skateboarding world. ‘Streets’ encompass several city blocks of skateable territory, from San Francisco-esque hills, to the unique skateable architecture of Spain. Players will recognize skate spots from Los Angeles and New York, as well as Jean Olive’s own creative designs.
  • Hűdland Training Facility - An original creation by Pactole, Hűdland is every skater’s dream private skatepark. Packed full of street and transition features, Hűdland is the perfect indoor place to hone your skills before taking them to the streets. Features include flatbars, stairs, hips, handrails, quarterpipes and more. The warehouse setting and overhead skylights give the map a unique look and feel, while the overall flow of the park will keep players perfecting lines for hours.

Hedgpeth said that the three maps are "just the beginning of our plans to involve the community as we look towards launch and beyond." Numerous smaller mods for decks, wheels, griptape, shoes, and other bits of apparel are also available through Mod.io's Skater XL portal. Skater XL is set to go into full release on Steam on July 28. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.