An idea that needed to be played
Before appearing on a screen, ALEXX SkyRider™ existed as an idea Alejandro needed to explain. His account of the project begins with more than four decades as a player: enough time to see machines, controllers, and ways of entering a game change. That experience inspired a wish to create an arcade game of his own and share some of the sensations he remembered from games of the eighties and nineties.
The challenge began with a personal question: whether a game could take shape from his ideas. The answer opened a process of creative direction. Alejandro described how movement should feel, the personality he wanted for the characters, and the moments when enemies should create pressure. He also defined the atmosphere he wanted to encounter when moving between settings.
According to his account, communicating those decisions was an important part of the process. A clear image in his mind did not always produce the expected result on screen. When an interpretation moved away from what he wanted, he preferred to stop, make the explanation more precise, and revisit the proposal. At other times, the result exceeded his expectations and introduced a possibility worth keeping.
The ideas took shape in characters, sounds, settings, and movements that could be observed during a run. A keyboard and controller made it possible to test the relationship between intention and result. For the creator, a functioning game was a starting condition; playing it allowed him to judge whether it also conveyed the experience he wanted to build.
His arcade reference included firing, but also learning to control a situation: recognizing a difficulty, making mistakes, trying again, and finding a maneuver that had previously been out of reach. ALEXX SkyRider™'s story develops through that relationship between what was imagined and what was checked during play. Alejandro participates as its creator, responsible for creative direction, testing, evaluation, and decisions about the results.
This Journal brings that story together through its ideas, changes, and documented experiences. Controls, speed, threats, Fuel and TNT, and tests on different devices reveal specific decisions within the project. Readers can approach the arcade through its rules and through the process that gave them shape.
An idea set ALEXX SkyRider™ in motion. Playing allowed it to be examined, revised, and understood in terms of what was worth keeping. Between those moments lies the journey these pages seek to tell.