🎮 Ski Lines now supports controllers
We finally added full controller support.
At first, we were pretty sceptical.
Ski Lines is all about moving around a large map, selecting things precisely and, most importantly, drawing pistes. On paper, it felt like the kind of game that would always be more comfortable with a mouse.
Turns out that’s not really the case.
To our surprise, the controller feels extremely good to use.
Navigation feels natural, the shortcuts quickly become second nature, and drawing pistes with an analogue stick is much more pleasant than we expected.
We’ve actually found ourselves playing this way quite a lot.
It’s also an important step towards making Ski Lines much more comfortable to play on a Steam Deck or from the couch.
☀️ A fresh coat of paint
We’ve also spent quite a bit of time improving the game’s visual atmosphere.
Ski Lines is still deliberately designed around its minimalist ski-map aesthetic, but the world now feels much less flat.
The game now features proper shadows, sun rays sweeping across the mountains and clouds surrounding the maps.
Individually, they’re fairly simple additions.
Together, they give the mountains a lot more depth and atmosphere.
And, most importantly…
It looks a lot better than it did before.
🏔️ Welcome to Sandbox Mode
A normal game of Ski Lines is all about building under pressure.
Tools are limited.
The mountain becomes progressively harder to manage.
And, most importantly, every skier needs to make it home before 6 PM.
But sometimes, optimisation isn’t the point.
Sometimes, we just want to build.
That’s why every map in Ski Lines now comes with its own Sandbox Mode.
In Sandbox, the usual rules disappear:
every tool is available in unlimited quantities;
skiers no longer have to be home by 6 PM;
we can build and experiment without worrying about the score or the end of the day.
A tiny ski area can become a ridiculous network of pistes and lifts. We can rebuild an entire mountain, try questionable layouts or simply attempt to create the prettiest resort possible.
No pressure.
No closing time.
Just a mountain and far too many ski lifts.
⛷️ Ski Lines is taking shape
These three updates are quite different, but they all push Ski Lines in the same direction.
Controller support makes the game more comfortable.
The new visual effects finally give the mountains the atmosphere we’ve been looking for.
And Sandbox Mode offers a completely different way to enjoy Ski Lines, without having to worry about surviving another day.
Little by little, Ski Lines is really starting to look and feel like the game we originally had in mind.
The slopes aren’t quite open yet.
But we’re getting there.