There were sensible ways to introduce Ski Lines.
We could have explained the mechanics, shown a few beautiful networks, and carefully pretended that everything always goes according to plan.
Instead, we went to Ski Dubai.
And decided to document the damage, one day at a time.
One run. One day. One Short.
The Ski Dubai series follows a single game of Ski Lines, with each Short covering one in-game day.
The idea is simple: every morning brings more skiers, more problems, and a handful of rewards. The resort grows, new points of interest appear, and somehow you have to keep everyone moving without the entire network collapsing under its own weight.
In theory, it's a strategy game.
In practice, you occasionally have to rebuild five perfectly good pistes because Kevin found another viewpoint twenty metres away from the first one.
Why Ski Dubai?
Ski Lines takes inspiration from minimalist management games where a very simple network gradually turns into a much less simple problem.
Ski Dubai felt like the perfect place to begin: a tiny space, a suspiciously limited amount of snow, and far too many skiers who all need to get somewhere.
As the days pass, the map slowly fills with new stations, refuges, summits, cafés, snowparks and viewpoints — while the skiers develop an impressive ability to overcrowd exactly the one piste you hoped would be fine.
The result is somewhere between a gameplay series and the diary of an increasingly questionable ski resort manager.
Several completely reasonable decisions
So far, the run has involved:
- building a black piste to reach a restaurant;
- cutting down trees because they had the audacity to stand in the way;
- placing four snow cannons we absolutely did not need, because they were gold;
- upgrading lift capacity after the queues began to resemble a matter for the British government;
- and rebuilding a large part of the resort because a new viewpoint appeared almost next to the old one.
Everything is under control.
Obviously.
A different way to show Ski Lines
The Shorts are also a way to show Ski Lines as it is actually played.
Not just neat screenshots and beautifully organised networks, but the small decisions, mistakes, improvised fixes and ridiculous situations that appear when a simple system starts getting pushed a little too far.
That's one of our favourite things about Ski Lines: drawing something that looks perfectly sensible, watching the skiers start using it… and slowly discovering why it was, in fact, a terrible idea.
The Ski Dubai series will continue for as long as the resort — and our patience — survives.
You can watch every episode in the playlist above.
And if you see Kevin, please don't show him another viewpoint.