How this Vancouver developer turned a unicycling obsession into a video game

A video game released earlier this year allows users to ride a unicycle through Vancouver-inspired cityscapes and perform various tricks, all to a soundtrack of pumping punk rock music made entirely by local bands.

Street Uni X is primarily the work of one East Vancouver resident, themselves a unicyclist, who says their creation is a love letter to the underground punk communities of the city, and the push for self-expression they represent.

It was published through a Toronto-based co-operative that says it is reimagining how video games are produced to both platform underrepresented developers and counteract mass layoffs in the games industry.

Street Uni X features professional unicyclists doing tricks in, among other places, a skatepark set along SkyTrain tracks and Metro Vancouver’s mountains and shoreline.

It’s largely the brainchild …