TINYSKATE
TinySkate pixel-art skater in a crooked grind on The Mall rail with the text 7 GRINDS. ONE THUMB.

7 grinds, one thumb: how picking a grind works in TinySkate

TinySkate has seven grinds: 50-50, 5-0, nosegrind, crooked, boardslide, smith and feeble. Each one has its own balance feel, and there's a little balance needle above your skater's head that tells you how close you are to slipping off.

There was just one problem. For a long time you couldn't really pick which grind you got.

The problem: swipe = air trick

TinySkate is played with two thumbs. The left thumb is your body (push, pump, balance) and the right thumb is your board (ollie, flips). Flips happen in the air, so a swipe in the air means a trick.

So when you came flying toward a rail and swiped to choose a grind, the game did exactly what it was told: another air trick. You'd get a nice kickflip and then land in the same plain 50-50 every time.

The fix: aim the grind on the way down

Now you aim your grind while you're falling onto the rail. Line it up on the way down and you lock into the grind you picked. Once you're on the rail you can switch it up, so a long rail turns into a chain like 50-50 into nosegrind into crooked, and every grind adds to the combo.

Each grind balances a little differently, so keep an eye on that needle. Hold it in the middle and you can ride the whole rail.

Where to practise each grind

  • The Park: the rails along the graffiti wall are perfect for 50-50, 5-0 and smith. Link a flip into the first rail and keep switching.
  • Schoolyard: the schoolyard rails for 50-50s and boardslides.
  • Indoor Park: short boxes and rails for quick 50-50 to 5-0 links.
  • The Mall: long escalator rails, the best place to chain nosegrind into crooked and try a feeble.
  • Construction: gap into boardslide, the final exam.

Smith or feeble?

Honest confession: at TinySkate's tiny pixel size, smith and feeble still look almost the same. In a smith the front of the board dips down below the rail, and in a feeble the nose sits up over the far side. Can you tell them apart in the Short? Watch it here and tell me in the comments: My indie game has 7 grinds, but you couldn't pick them

Better animations for those two are on the to-do list.

Play TinySkate free in your browser at tinyskate.com.

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