Celebrity from Debrecen: An enthusiastic Debrecen resident brought Nagyerdei Ice Rink to life using a video game – with photos
Author: Peter Szabolcs | [email protected]
Publication date: 10.12.2023. 08:30 | Updated: 10.12.2023. 08:31
The founder of Nagyerdei Korisos, Nándor Makleit, doesn’t just tour freestyle koris in reality.
As he said, their team was formed a long time ago in Nagyerdő, and like all similar freestyle teams, they quickly got tired of skating around, so they started doing break dancing and simpler acrobatic elements.
Photo: Freestyle/Steam skater
Originally, the goal was to introduce the selected elements to the world, including the ice rink operators, and gain support from them, after the initial panic caused by the free-to-play game. By the way, this genre is not only amazing, it is also a registered sport in other countries (for example, France).
And now In addition to dozens of educational videos A specific video game about freestyle skating – in a style similar to the popular Tony Hawk Pro Skater series – was also created thanks to Nándor Makleit.
He also helped create the game A Chance Encounter. A former colleague contacted the founder saying that they had produced a sensor that digitized movement and that he wanted to test it.
– Supply and demand met, they picked up some tricks, and as a side effect, the aging between tricks. I received the material, and I looked at it too, but then I had no idea it would be such a good thing, I just used it for training material,” he stressed.
As he said, he had to delve into 3D modeling to do anything with motion data.
– Up until then, all I could think about was how good the 3D models were in educational videos. Then, by chance, I saw a video showing how to “erase” objects using texture from regular photos.
He confirmed that this was where the sixth sense was pointing, and went out to the old basketball court to survey it.
That was the last time he saw the barrier, fence and other objects in the area. The next time he returned to collect the missing parts, he was surprised that they were not there.
– At that point I already knew the site needed a revitalization, and everything seemed to be there. Of course, I still didn’t think much, I just wanted to finish the track – he pointed out, adding that he had to extract small details from old videos and ask friends for photos to make each element authentic.
– I scanned my body with the path, and after several attempts I came up with a usable result, which after more hard learning I was able to bring to a level where it could be moved and animated by the game engine.
He had his first relief when he put together the old track as a prototype (still in a fairly primitive condition) and the previously mentioned snowboard animation that had been accidentally recorded.
– I already knew that the couple from Debrecen, who really lost track, would be able to come back here a little, – he said.
But then his confidence increased, so he set about creating a pinball game, which took a fair amount of time, as he had to write artificial intelligence for it: during the chase, the opponent does not aim at the player. If it wants to catch it, but it predicts where it’s going to be based on its specific speed depending on when you get there. (The machine reacts similarly when escaping.)
Eventually, Nándor Makleit reached the point where he created not only the former Nagyerde ice rink, but also other real locations, as well as some mock versions, where the player could play out a simpler story.
His contacts helped him synchronize and test the game. According to him, he designed it to be particularly difficult, and he expressed it this way: You have to cross your fingers so that someone can do the tricks.
The game has already been released to the general public, as it was recently released on Steam under the title Freestyle Ice Skater It can be downloaded for free.
