Ski Challenge

Ski Challenge
Studio	Greentube
Erstveröffent- lichung	Ski Challenge 2005: 2004 Ski Challenge 2016: November 25, 2015
platform	Microsoft Windows (from XP), Mac OS X (up to Ski Challenge 2013: 10.5, from Ski Challenge 2014: 10.7)
genre	Sports simulation
Subject	Skiing
medium	Download
language	German
Current version	Ski Challenge 2016 (November 25, 2015)

Ski Challenge was a 3D computer game from 2004. It was developed by the Austrian game developer Greentube in cooperation with the Austrian ORF . Until the Ski Challenge 2011, ORF was the central organizer of the online competition in Austria. Other international media partners from television and the print world were also involved in the various versions.

The Ski Challenge is a realistic simulation of numerous downhill routes of the Alpine Ski World Cup . In 2011 Super-G courses were also run, and in 2014 the parallel slalom in Munich was added as a bonus event. Participation is free of charge, but includes the advertisements of numerous advertising partners of the respective media partners, most of whom are embedded in the advertising space of the racetracks and therefore do not disrupt the game. Controls and perspectives were deliberately kept simple in order to enable even inexperienced players to get started quickly. The game can now also be played directly online via the web browser and via mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones .

The further development of the game was officially stopped on September 19, 2016. An open source publication is currently still being examined. However, a continuation project from the community appeared under the name “Offline Challenge”.

Gameplay

The game itself is a simulation in which you have to drive to the finish line as fast as possible with a virtual driver. The aim of the game is to drive the route in the shortest possible time, without leaving it (goal mistake) or falling. The weather plays an important role in races. There are only three weather situations (sun, snow, ice), but there are certain differences in the nature of the ground, which leads to a slightly different driving style and different times. That's why you can choose from all three weather situations in the qualification phase, which means you can quickly notice the differences. There are different ski presets (beginner and racing skis), whereby the beginner ski is only a jump start thanks to better handling and slower speed. Since the 2007 version, you can also choose the values ​​of the skis yourself.

To improve your own abilities, you have the option of showing the best drive of any player (including your own) as a so-called "ghost". There are numerous types of leaderboards and ski clubs can also be founded, which then also have a team-internal leaderboard. The game has been released annually since the 2005 version.

The Ski Challenge offers relatively limited options for configuring and changing perspectives in order to create equal opportunities for the players. The game is controlled via the keyboard or a connected gamepad . You can switch between the back perspective (standard) and the first person perspective.

stretch

Over the years, many routes have been integrated into the game, which were driven in the different years. Only the classics from Kitzbühel and Bormio were included in all versions. The following table provides an overview of all routes and whether they are included in the current version.

route	country	Type	2014	2015	2016
Pista Stelvio , Bormio		Departure	Yes	Yes	Yes
Streif , Kitzbühel		Departure	Yes	Yes	Yes
Saslong , Val Gardena		Departure	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lauberhorn run , Wengen		Departure	Yes	Yes	Yes
World Cup downhill, Åre		Departure	No	No	No
OK slope , Val-d'Isère		Departure	No	No	No
Kandahar run , Garmisch-Partenkirchen		Departure	Yes	Yes	Yes
La face de Bellevarde , Val-d'Isère		Downhill / Super-G	No	yes (bonus)	yes (bonus)
Birds of Prey , Beaver Creek		Downhill / Super-G	Yes	Yes	Yes
Whistler Mountain		Departure	No	No	No
Planai , Schladming		Departure	No	yes (bonus)	yes (bonus)
Rosa Khutor , Sochi		Departure	Yes	yes (bonus)	yes (bonus)
Olympiaberg, Munich		Parallel slalom	Yes	Yes	No
Corviglia , St. Moritz		Departure	No	No	Yes

Versions

Ski Challenge 2005

In 2004 the first version of the Ski Challenge appeared. The game consisted of two individual downloads, each with a track (Kitzbühel and Bormio), which were made available shortly before the race. There was a choice between beginner and classic skis. At the SC: 05 only Austria competed. The game had 800,000 downloads at the time.

Ski Challenge until 2010

• SC06: In 2006, Ski Challenge already included the system for automatic updating, which meant that changes could be submitted later. There were four different ski types, including beginner skis and three racing skis (Classic, Race and Extreme). The game covered the routes from Val Gardena, Bormio, Wengen and Kitzbühel. Participating nations were Austria and Switzerland. In addition to the individual evaluation, there was also a ski club evaluation and a federal state evaluation. This version has been downloaded around two million times.
• SC07: 2007 was added to the four routes from 2006 Åre. As in 2006, there was a choice of beginner, classic and extreme skis, and it was also possible to adjust the properties of the ski (gliding, edging and turning) yourself. The 2007 version did not get off to a particularly good start, as some bugs had appeared in the start-up phase, some of which could be fixed by updates within a week . However, it was also necessary to reset the qualification scores with the update. The season started with Austria and Switzerland as organizers, and Germany was added shortly before the first race in Val Gardena. Norway entered the racing scene with Bormio and Sweden followed in Kitzbühel. So five nations were at the start. In the end, there were a total of three million players worldwide. On February 17th, 2007 the first world championship of the Ski Challenge took place in the Viennese event location Goleador. The top 3 drivers and wildcard drivers from all participating countries were entitled to start, which means that a total of 20 drivers took part in the world championship live in front of an audience. The participants first drove a preliminary round in four groups of five, each group being given a route and a specific weather. The best two drivers in each group advanced to the final and competed for the world title. The special thing about the world championship was that, unlike the online races, there was only one attempt available - this represented a completely new challenge for the participants, as not only speed but first of all safety was important.
• SC08: In 2007, a closed beta test for the SC08 took place for the first time at the end of September, with experienced players taking part. The start of the SC: 08 was on December 4th. Since there was no real race in Åre this year, the descent from Val-d'Isère on the Oreiller-Killy slope was instead included in the racing calendar. In 2008, too, new countries joined the Ski Challenge: Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Norway were there again, and Slovenia , Croatia and Canada were new . The start of the season for SC: 08 went much better than last year, probably also due to the fact that they were not aiming for a completely new development of the game, but rather continued to develop the previous year's version. The physics of the game was completely revised together with the ski settings, and the largely unpopular "jerking technique" was removed from the game. There were also no problems with bugs and program errors worth mentioning. The Austrian crossover band Excuse Me Moses with Godzilla Killa (Superhero) provided the soundtrack for the game .
• SC09: In the following year the SC: 09 also came up with some innovations, for example the route in Val Gardena was completely revised, Garmisch-Partenkirchen was part of the SC for the first time and Val-d'Isère was no longer on the OK slope this year but to La Face de Bellevarde, where the Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 also took place. It was also the first ski challenge that could also be played on Apple computers. The Austrian band Morton provided the soundtrack for SC: 09 with Started to run .
• SC10: The SC: 10 contained 2 new slopes. One was Beaver Creek and the other was the Whistler Mountain Olympic course . The Austrian pop band Herbstrock provided the soundtrack with Spring for your life .

Uniquely drivable routes

World Cup downhill, Åre (2007)

Whistler Mountain (2010)

Ski Challenge 2011

The Ski Challenge was launched on November 23, 2010. Media partners from the following countries acted as organizers of the game: Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Romania. In addition to a graphical revision of the game, an achievement system was integrated directly into the game, the group race feature was functionally expanded, and a game mode was created with the hardcore mode in which the player was directly in the 1st person perspective without fading in HUD elements (time, speed, jump distance) the race can compete from the perspective of a real racer. For the first time, the mobile version of the game was available as an iOs app.

2011 version special routes

World cup

La face de Bellevarde (Super-G), Val d'Isère

Ski Challenge 2012

The Ski Challenge 2012 started on November 29th with media partners in Switzerland and France. For the first time, the online gaming platform GameTwist also appeared as a media partner for the international edition of the game. In addition, this season the Ski Challenge could be played directly in the browser using a plugin for the first time. The game was also available as a mobile version (iOS and Android app).

Ski Challenge 2013

The Ski Challenge 2013 started on December 4, 2012 with an international version sponsored by GameTwist, and there was also another media partnership in Switzerland. Schladming was added to the racing calendar as a new downhill run. The minimode can be used on all routes. The Austrian band Black Copper Marans provided the soundtrack. The mobile version (iOS and Android app) was also offered this year.

Routes and competition dates

World cup

Saslong , Val Gardena

December 14, 2012 - December 16, 2012

Pista Stelvio , Bormio

December 28, 2012 - December 30, 2012

Lauberhorn run , Wengen

January 18, 2013 - January 20, 2013

Streif , Kitzbühel

January 25, 2013 - January 27, 2013

World Championship

Planai , Schladming

February 15, 2013 - February 17, 2013

Ski Challenge 2014

The Ski Challenge 2014 started on November 26th, 2013, available as a desktop version for PC / MAC and as an iOS and Android app. The online gaming platform GameTwist again acted as an international organizer, and there was again a media partnership in Switzerland. In addition to a complete graphical revision of the GUI, the game for the first time included the parallel slalom from Munich and the Sochi downhill course, as well as so-called mini modes, which should give the game additional options and provide more variety. These mini modes have names like black ice, arcade, time bomb etc.

World cup

Birds of Prey , Beaver Creek

December 6, 2013 - December 8, 2013

Saslong , Val Gardena

December 20, 2013 - December 22, 2013

Pista Stelvio , Bormio

December 27, 2013 - December 29, 2013

Lauberhorn run , Wengen

January 17, 2014 - January 19, 2014

Streif , Kitzbühel

January 24, 2014 - January 26, 2014

Kandahar run , Garmisch-Partenkirchen

January 31, 2014 - February 2, 2014

Additional races

Rosa Khutor , Sochi

February 7, 2014 - February 9, 2014

Parallel slalom Munich

Olympiaberg, Munich

Ski Challenge 2015

The Ski Challenge 2015 started on November 25, 2014, available as a desktop version for PC / MAC and as an iOS and Android app. Just like in the previous year, the online gaming platform GameTwist appeared as an international organizer and there was again a partnership with Switzerland. Innovations were the personalization options for the skier in the desktop version as well as the extension of the mini modes, which are called bonus races in this version, to the mobile versions. The game again contained the parallel slalom of Munich as a route, as well as the minimodes with names such as lightning ice, arcade, time bomb etc.

World cup

Birds of Prey (ski slope) , Beaver Creek

December 5, 2014 - December 7, 2014

Saslong , Val Gardena

December 19, 2014 - December 21, 2014

Pista Stelvio , Bormio

December 26, 2014 - December 28, 2014

Lauberhorn run , Wengen

January 16, 2015 - January 18, 2015

Streif , Kitzbühel

January 23, 2015 - January 25, 2015

Kandahar run , Garmisch-Partenkirchen

February 27, 2015 - March 1, 2015

World Championship

Birds of Prey (ski slope) , Beaver Creek

February 6, 2015 - February 8, 2015

Parallel slalom Munich

Olympiaberg, Munich

Bonus courses

Planai , Schladming

La face de Bellevarde (Super-G), Val-d'Isère

Rosa Khutor , Sochi

Ski Challenge 2016

The Ski Challenge 2016 started on November 25, 2015, again available as a desktop version for PC / MAC as well as an iOS and Android app. Just like in the previous year, the online game platform GameTwist appeared as an international organizer. There was a new competition on the bonus courses, the bonus cup. The parallel slalom on the Olympiaberg in Munich was no longer included.

World cup

Birds of Prey (ski slope) , Beaver Creek

December 4, 2015 - December 6, 2015

Saslong , Val Gardena

December 18, 2015 - December 20, 2015

Pista Stelvio , Bormio

December 28, 2015 - December 30, 2015

Lauberhorn run , Wengen

January 15, 2016 - January 17, 2016

Streif , Kitzbühel

January 22, 2016 - January 24, 2016

Kandahar run , Garmisch-Partenkirchen

January 29, 2016 - January 31, 2016

Corviglia , St. Moritz

March 18, 2016 - March 20, 2016

Bonus courses

La face de Bellevarde (Super-G), Val-d'Isère

December 11, 2015 - December 13, 2015

Rosa Khutor , Sochi

February 12, 2016 - February 14, 2016

Planai , Schladming

March 4, 2016 - March 6, 2016

Offline challenge

From the 2016/17 season, modified versions of the Ski Challenge 2016 were published by the community. The players have the possibility to upload their own results via an additional program and to download the results of other players.

Feedback and awards

In 2007 the game received the jury award at the Austrian Gamers Choice Awards. This prize is awarded for special achievements by an Austrian developer or an Austrian idea in relation to computer and video games. Another special award for the Ski Challenge was the Golden Award of Montreux in the web area for an extraordinary cross-media implementation of the 3D game.

Web links

• Official website of Ski Challenge

Individual evidence

1. ↑ End of the Ski Challenge (Facebook)
2. ↑ GT is looking for SC: 08 testers
3. ^ SC: Community. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 20, 2008 ; Retrieved December 17, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ SC: Community. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 1, 2013 ; Retrieved December 17, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ www.skichallenge.at ( Memento of the original from November 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ The Ski Challenge 15 starts again. In: www.gamers.at. November 25, 2014, accessed December 11, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Offline Challenge: Desktop Edition and Mobile Edition