See Baby Pics Of Tony Hawk Ride's Peripheral

After taking some time off from its usual annual release schedule, Tony Hawk sprung back on the scene with the latest entry, Tony Hawk Ride. Even if the final results weren't quite the success that Activision had hoped for, you have to give the company credit for attempting to try something new. In Ride, players skate with help from a new board peripheral designed to replicate player actions through motion and optical sensors. In spite of what your parents may have told you growing up, peripherals like these don't just pop into the world fully formed. They're the process of iteration upon iteration and plenty of scrapped prototypes.

The game's lead designer, Patrick Dwyer, recently shared insights on the development of the Ride board along with some of those failed prototypes. A photo gallery on Develop Online highlights various iterations, built from Frankenstein-like amalgamations of trackballs, decks, cannibalized controllers and more.

Even if you hated the game, it's an interesting look at how something like this comes together. (We're not sure if OSHA would have approved of some of those designs.)