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Alto’s Odyssey brings snowboarding back to mobile
We speak to Snowman’s director about what to expect from an Alto’s Adventure sequel.
Alto’s Adventure gets a sequel
© Snowman
When you think of snowboarding games, there are certain titles that spring immediately to mind: SSX, maybe Shaun White's Snowboarding or last year's Steep.
Big budget extreme sports games are ten-a-penny on consoles, which can often mean the smaller titles slip you by, which is a shame because some of those smaller titles are exceptional. Take, for example, Alto's Adventure, the hugely artistic mobile point-chaser from three-man indie developer, Snowman.
Both a critical and commercial success, Alto's Adventure is part extreme sports game and part endless side-scroller, tasking you with chasing combos across a variety of mesmerising stages, rescuing lost llamas and avoiding angry village elders along the way. Mix in a wingsuit, and a ridiculously catchy soundtrack, and it's not hard to see what the fuss is all about.
With a newly-announced sequel on the way, we took the opportunity to talk to Snowman's director and co-founder, Ryan Cash, about what we can expect from the upcoming Alto's Odyssey, and how the success of its predecessor took Snowman by surprise.
Alto’s success took Snowman by surprise
© Snowman
"We'd been working on Alto's Adventure for over two years," Cash explained, "And I definitely had moments of doubt, alongside moments of thinking 'this thing is going to be big'. Calling it an emotional rollercoaster would almost be an understatement.
"Alto's Adventure was the second product we started working on at Snowman, but it was the sixth we released. We definitely knew it was special, and definitely had pretty high hopes for it, but we couldn't have possibly expected the success we went on to achieve. We were pretty sure we were making something great, but we couldn't expect some of the things that came."
Reaching the top of the App Store charts was a huge boost for Snowman, but it wasn't just about personal gratification, Cash told us. "Ultimately, it's been the kind emails and social media messages telling us how the game has helped people discover play, or cope with anxiety that has really hit home for us. Seeing photos of parents playing with their children, and receiving gorgeous fan art beyond our wildest expectations has been the greatest gift of all."
You only need watch a 30-second gameplay clip of Alto's Adventure to recognise Thatgamecompany's Journey as a massive inspiration. The art-style is beautiful, and replete with the kind of epic, almost humbling vistas that the Sony-exclusive mega-hit was famed for.
According to Cash, he had never played the game before starting work on Alto, but British artist Harry Nesbitt, who produced the artwork for Snowman, was a big fan.
The game looks especially gorgeous at night
© Snowman
"Harry has a really unique and distilled art style," says Cash, "It's part of the reason we started working on the game in the first place. It was almost as if myself and Jordan [Rosenberg, co-founder of Snowman] would never have put our idea for a snowboarding game into motion had I not previously known Harry, and had his art style in mind."
The wonderful artwork is part of the reason Alto's Adventure is so relaxing – a strange thing in a genre that usually evokes tension in players. Chasing leaderboards is often fun, but rarely stress-relieving. We had to ask Cash if it was a deliberate design decision or not.
"We knew we wanted to make something calm and serene. I don't think we ever set out to create a 'relaxing' game – in terms of our original design goals – but it's something we were definitely aware of during development. As I mentioned, we'd worked on a couple of other games during the development of Alto's Adventure, and Alto was the only thing I'd play before bed to help unwind. Usually you get quite sick of looking at something you've been working on for a long time, but with Alto I'd actually play it to relax – not just for testing purposes.
"Tiny Wings was one of my biggest inspirations, despite me personally enjoying the aesthetic more than the gameplay, but we knew we wanted to achieve some of the same feeling in our game. For instance, we wanted the music in Alto's Adventure to get stuck in your head, but in a good way. There are a lot of mobile games with catchy background music that you end up singing in your head all day, but in a way that's almost frustrating. We wanted the music to be something you'd remember, and almost whistle to yourself, but in a way that made you happy and calm."
Not many point-chasers are called “relaxing”
© Snowman
When asked how they managed to nail the dual feeling of speed and accomplishment with such a simple trick mechanic and touchscreen control scheme, Cash explained that lots of refinement was the key.
"We played around with the physics for quite a while, and then, during development, Jordan and I picked up an old PS2 that we found on Craigslist, and a bunch of old Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. We grew up playing that game together, and it really nailed the feeling of tricks and combos. We knew we'd have to simplify things to make it work on mobile, but I definitely think we managed to distil a little bit of that Pro Skater nostalgia into something that fits in your pocket."
But who has the highest score in the Snowman office? "That's a great question," Cash laughs. "I honestly can't remember. I believe my personal high score was something around 428,000 points. A lot of our friends and family were getting pretty competitive during the beta testing period, and I remember staying up late at night just to try to beat a friend's score. Nowadays though, I'm afraid I've become to busy with business to chase high scores late into the evening. But I'll be back with Alto's Odyssey."
While there's no firm release date or details on the upcoming sequel besides a brief reveal trailer, Snowman's "internal mandate" is to make something "as great as the first game". Having been brainstorming ideas since 2013, Cash is quick to assure us that, despite the next game returning to the slopes and maintaining the focus on point-chasing and extreme sports, it's much more than just a re-skin of the previous title.
While Alto's Adventure originally released as a paid download on iOS, it was later ported to Android devices for free, a move which caused some controversy despite the reasons behind it, such as the differences between Apple and Android framework, and the higher rate of piracy on the latter. Although Snowman are still figuring out those details, the 20 million-plus downloads on Android speak for themselves. "The fun thing about being free is that you can reach a much larger audience," Cash admits, "But having said that, Alto has always been something we've really cherished as a premium experience."
The Journey inspiration is clear to see
© Snowman
Market models aside, Snowman have learned a lot from Alto's Adventure that they can bring to the table with the sequel – although following success with success is never easy. "The hardest part is making sure we try new things, while still leaving the core experience – what people love about the game – intact," says Cash.
"We also have quite the reputation to live up to, so there's definitely pressure from that front as well. The easier things are more on the back-end side. We had to build a goal recognition system, figure out saving and cloud synchronization, and do all the technical things in the first game. We'll definitely be able to reuse a bunch of that, leaving more room for exploration on the creative fronts."
Does that extra experience mean we might see the Alto series on home consoles one day? We can only hope. Recent releases such as Olli Olli have certainly proved there's a market for simple, effective sports games on PS4 and Xbox One, but Cash is reluctant to go into any details, only confirming that while the focus is on making Alto's Odyssey as good as it can be right now, they do have a lot of ideas.
"It took a while to really figure out what Snowman was," he explained candidly, "I think now we have a pretty good understanding of what that is. Snowman is a company that wants to be at the centre of artful experiences. We're definitely focused on games at the moment, but we're really interested in any medium that blends art and technology together.
The tiny atmospheric details are amazing
© Snowman
"We really like the idea of making things that can be appreciated by almost anyone. For instance, even if someone isn't interested in playing a game that we're making, we really hope that they can enjoy looking at it – whether it's one of our trailers, or even just a screenshot. I like the idea that anything we're making could work really well as a print up on someone's wall, even if they have absolutely no interest in video games.
"We have a lot of great things in store at the moment, including Alto's Odyssey, Where Cards Fall, DISTANT, and Skate City. We may have a few other tricks up our sleeves, too. We have some pretty big plans, but unfortunately they're top secret."
Anyone hoping to follow in the footsteps of Cash, Rosenberg and Nesbitt, should know that while it can be a rewarding road, it's also often a hard one.
"I think the biggest piece of advice I can give to people is don’t overlook your marketing plan," Cash said. "It's important to make a great game, but I'm amazed at how many developers I speak to just plan to release their game and hope for the best. While there's definitely an element of luck in making games, this isn't a lottery or a casino. It's a business, and it's important to treat it as such. Marketing does'’t have to be this sleazy thing that a lot of people think it is. It can be just as artful as the games you're making. That's my biggest piece of advice."
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