Heya Monkeys! The summer nights are getting darker, and the fall is creeping in. I usually dread this period, post-summer depression is heavy in Sweden. But this year it’s different. We thoroughly enjoy the moment we are in. Having worked intensely during the summer’s hot (and rainy) days to prep for launch, we have now submitted the final release version of TOSS!🍌 and can take a step back - and just look at it. It’s there, it’s complete and we are counting the days until TOSS!🍌 is released upon the cloudscape playgrounds. Taking aside all the stuff that takes place in the month prior to launching a game; planning, post launch content, refining the release trailer, etc., we can finally take a moment to reflect on what we have actually made. Ours: Albin, Simon and Eddie’s culmination of 5 years of development. A three-person game studio team with some, albeit invaluable help from friends, and of course Vertigo. So before we toss ourselves into this new exciting chapter, we would like to share a few samples of what TOSS!🍌 was like, before it became the familiar bananas platformer it is today. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38317939/86b24c23a828c2f240e2ed71c503ac4eca694e28.gif[/img] The core idea of a hand-based movement mechanic came from how excited we were at the immersion level of VR-games at the time, but how unsatisfied we felt by moving around using a joystick and teleportation. So we asked ourselves: How can we make the movement in VR fun? Our first prototype was called “Hands Up!” and was a “Getting Over It”-like game where you scaled a huge skyscraper building. We premiered this demo at a convention in Sweden and were surprised to see people lining up at our booth. And they came back for a second attempt. This went on throughout the convention. Looking back, this was what made us believe in the physical aspect of VR and made us excited to make games for it. We also learned a lot from it. As an example, at the time we used an energy meter which you had to refill to be able to continue climbing. This was experienced as anti-movement, and thus anti-fun-VR-movement. We immediately scrapped that energy mechanic and continued exploring. To overcome the vertical aspect of the previous iteration - which put a strain on your neck - and to make it more replayable we made a version that featured a level design that was more geared towards tossing rather than climbing, and which was composed of musical pads generating songs as you grabbed them. But however cool this was, we felt that we explored the fringes of what a physical climbing game could be and had brought the game in the wrong direction. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38317939/e3c5d0fc6cc76f4b1f89932ae4fa9aba63efa0bd.gif[/img] Early 2020 we found what resembles TOSS!🍌 today. We introduced the monkey player character, designed the levels around dynamic obstacle courses, balanced a healthy mix of climbing and tossing, established the vibrant theme and put us in a cloudscape setting. This is where we began to invite people to the game at a larger scale and had you discover what it could become, together with us. The biggest takeaway from this event was that we no longer made a climbing game - we made a platformer game. We set out to drastically raise the bar of what you could expect movement in VR to be like. We would introduce enemies, trampolines, lasers, swings. The whole enchilada! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38317939/b078cd0757dcdff3b04235a334b01dd7c5f19d8d.gif[/img] As you can see TOSS!🍌 has grown a lot over the years. This wouldn’t be possible without all the people who have been with us along the way. And while you are too many to thank personally we want to give all playtesters huge thank you. And though it has taken some time for us to get here, we have read every single feedback received and feel that we have made it with you. You are awesome!💛 We have also grown a lot from these years. Professionally, individually and as a team. And we’re both extremely happy but also completely terrified to finally release the game. September 7th is just around the corner, and we can barely wait! Warm regards from Agera Games. All the best, Albin, Simon, Eddie & Toss