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The Story Of The Game

Years before I visited Indonesia on a surf trip, I saw videos of the wave at Nias where surfers were speeding through long bottom turns and schwacking good hard turns off the lip, 3 or more hits on every wave. When I got my chance to go there, I thought, “I want to do that.” After getting there, on the trip of a lifetime, and surfing there for a few days, I was doing the turns just like the surfers were doing in the videos. It was insane. But actually, what I found was that I preferred doing a hard turn under the lip and pulling in for a tube ride instead. Wouldn’t it be great to have a video game where you could surf how you like in these different ways?

When making The Endless Summer Surfing Challenge I wanted to recreate that kind of real life surfing feeling in the game. Controls could be simple, but the surfing should be a simulation the way surfing is in real life, and allow for a wide variety of surfing styles.

After experimenting with different surfing models, a simplistic approach, using only left and right turning, while letting water physics do its thing, provided the most realistic surfing feeling and freedom of surfing expression.

The mechanics are simple. Small left and right turns let you pump for speed, while big turns let you keep speed, sharp turns like cutbacks and tail slides slow you down, just as would be expected in real life. Interaction with the wave is where the physics take effect and realism is achieved. Get onto a flat area and you will slow down, but the steepness of a wave will make the board go faster. This forces you to surf and read the wave the same as you do in real life surfing.

Best of all, you can surf using only two buttons. Catch the wave (yes you have to line up, paddle and catch it), press a button to stand up, turn and ride the wave. Once up and surfing, you only need to use the left and right buttons to do carving turns, bottom turns, swooping cutbacks, and to pump for speed.

Of course if you want to surf at the level in the Nias story, you will need a way to turn sharper, smack the lip harder, as well as launch airs. All of this is accomplished using only one other button. If you are going sideways hold the button and you will cutback sharper. If you are going vertical and want to slide the tail, hold the button. When you get speed and want to launch an air, hold the button. The longer you hold it the more the effect.

Why the same button for all these moves? The reason is that it makes the surfing more about reading the wave, rather than about memorizing button presses. When you ride a wave you need to know if the wave is steep enough to do an air or slide the tail, or if the wave is slow you need to know to cutback or extend your bottom turn, if the wave is running off, pump for speed or do a carving turn. After a little practice and familiarity with a spot you may even get to know when you can slash under the lip and pull into a tube ride.

There are a couple of other buttons to use while surfing and paddling, but they are more straightforward and somewhat less often used. There is a stall button, which slows you while surfing for speed control mainly for tube rides, a bail button to jump off your board, and a duck dive button to get through waves. And finally the often used “cheat” button that will return you to a great spot to take off. You will wish you had that one in real life.

Testimonial Story From A Happy Early Adopter

I’ve been surfing about two years now and though I feel I am pretty average in ability, I have an occasional moment of surfing glory on a good day. I consider myself a casual gamer and tried The Endless Summer Surfing Challenge surfing video game for the first time last week. I found it to be a little bit tricky to learn, and moved on to the challenge levels a little too early. After returning to the tutorial level and becoming familiar with the wave catching and turning, I got how the surfing works in the game and moved on to give the challenge levels another try.

Now I am able to use the wave and pump for speed, do cutbacks and I got really good at “schwacks” which is what they call off the lips in the game. My plan is to get really good at surfing before I invite my friends to play two player contests with me.

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Limited Play Free Days

Announcing The Endless Summer Search For Surf play free days.  Now you can try out the two player open world surfing game at no cost for a limited time.  Times will be announced through Steam or on the Instagram account. Wishlist the game on Steam to get notifications.  They will also be announced on Instagram.  See the links on the top of this web page’s home page.  You will need a Steam account to play but it’s free.  The free play days will last 24 hours and be randomized for different days on different weeks.  Comment to request a day.  If there are enough requests a free play will be set up for that day.  Get a no obligation chance to try the game, and if you like it, buy it and play it all the time, with a friend too.  Two player remote can be accessed through Steam, and only one player needs to own the game.
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A Really Detailed Description Of “Search For Surf”

This game is the only 3D open world physics based two player surfing simulation video game on the market today. At it’s core it is a surfing game, and has elements of adventure role play, and sports with a competitive option.

The game starts off with the player on a small tropical island. They wander around and get information from players and surfers on how to surf, where to go, and what to do.

There is a surf break at the start of the game which is an easy beginner wave where the players can learn the controls and get better at surfing. There are two more surf breaks nearby that are more challenging but still easy, which can be discovered and surfed.

The surfing is physics based and the waves are constant, and the game gives you a simulation realistic experience of surfing, including paddling out, lining up with waves, paddling for and catching waves, and surfing. The wave pushes the surfer, the surfer must catch the wave, and players use the energy from the wave and from turning to ride the waves.

The surfing simulation aspects of the game are great for players to experience surfing, and give off a really cool surfing feeling as the player progresses at surfing, but the concept of surfing is difficult for beginners to grasp. Players often have no experience getting or catching waves. To make it easier, a far away camera view was added so a player can more easily orient themselves. A cheat button was added to move the player to a great spot to catch a wave, and other surfers were placed at the breaks to know where the waves are breaking and to give tips on how to surf and catch waves. The player still must paddle to get waves, duck dive to get through waves, and get in the right spot to catch a wave.

There is a wave score for each wave. A menu can be called to see the details of the wave score. It’s based on wave size, ride length, wave difficulty, and number of schwacks, which are how many hard turns you do at the top of the wave. Keep an eye on wave scores and you can see how well your score and surfing improves over time. Your accumulation of wave scores over time is your star score. Star scores are used on leader boards to post the best surfers of all time for all players to see.

The player can take a jet ski and look for new breaks. Waves are different at each break and part of the fun is finding new breaks and learning the breaks and figuring out the best way to surf them. There are set waves that break outside of the regular waves, fast waves where you have to pump for speed to keep up with them, steep waves, and waves of different sizes. Check with the surfers at each break for advice, comments, and information. Tricks such as 360’s, aerials, and tube rides, are possible but rely on the physics and wave shape in the game to achieve a trick.

It’s especially fun to play with a friend. Two players can play on a split screen, so they can learn to surf and explore together. They can surf at the same spot, even on the same wave together, or go separately and explore or surf or watch each other. They can also initiate a contest and try to beat each other in a contest where the players can set the time and amount of waves that count. It can be set up like a professional contest where wave scores are calculated and the best two waves during the time period count toward the final score.

As mentioned above there is a far away camera view for beginners. This view allows the player to see further to the sides and more of the wave, so it’s easier to play. As a player improves, there is a regular camera view and pro camera view. These views are more difficult to play but allow more precise surfing because you can see the wave better. The pro cam view is a nearly first person view, that really brings the player into the action. The camera follows the player at eye level and gives a view that matches the view seen by actual surfers.

The game can be played on PC or Mac and it’s being tested for Xbox. An Xbox controller can be used or keyboard and mouse. Two players can play on a split screen on a local computer. On Steam two players can connect as friends to play two player remotely.

The ultimate way to play is to have a two player contest competing against each other to get the best waves. Have both players using the pro cam, so that the players have the most realistic surfing view. Don’t use the “cheat” button. The players should paddle through waves back to the takeoff spots, and have to lineup and catch waves themselves. If you use a setup like this, then you will experience the most realistic surfing experience the game provides, and it’s really fun too.

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