I’m gliding down the mountain, just about to hit full speed.
I feel the snow carving under my board, while gravity propels me downward
through the lush white of the forest. I spy a strikingly beautiful sunset
beyond the neighboring mountain, but I have little time to admire it as I
barrel toward a ramp in the slope. If I time my jump right, I just might be
able to pull off that double backflip. I speed up as the jump approaches, a
flock of birds scatters out of my path. I hold my breath as I hit the jump and
fly off into the abyss. Coming down brings with it a calming silence as I nail
the double backflip and stick the landing.
I’ve never been on a snowboard in my life, but I imagine the
feeling of zen-like tension that I get from playing Alto’s Adventure is an
accurate approximation – albeit a minute one – of the exhilarating feeling one
gets from being on the slopes. A skilled skier, runner, surfer, or racecar
driver might also understand the feeling. Alto’s Adventure is an endless runner
of sorts created by developer Snowman that released on February 19th
for iOS.
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| Photo courtesy altosadventure.com |
Alto’s Adventure is not what you might have expected from my
description above. It’s not a complex snowboarding simulator for next-gen
systems, nor is it an arcade style, trick fest. Alto’s Adventure is neither of
those things, but it is exactly what the developer wanted it to be – a
stylized, trance-inducing ride. “As snowboarders ourselves, we weren’t
satisfied with any of the snowboarding games in the App Store,” wrote Director
Ryan Cash on the company’s blog. “We wanted to capture the essence of
snowboarding. That feeling of a great flow. Something fluid, fun, and natural feeling.
That feeling you get when it’s just you against the mountain, alone in nature.”
In my conversations with Cash, I get the sense that he’s a
very methodical, detail-oriented creator. Snowman started in 2012 and made its
name releasing productivity apps for mobile platforms, such as the surprisingly
successful Checkmark, an alternative to Apple’s Reminders app. He seems like
the kind of person who would make productivity apps – a hard-working, well
organized, businessman with an appreciation for style.
However, when it comes to game design, he recognizes that
games can’t be built from a purely logical, right brain perspective. “With a
productivity app, there’s a specific task you’re trying to achieve, so it’s
more concrete.” He tells me via email. “You have to figure out the best way to
do it, while making something pleasing to use, etc. With a game, it has to be fun. That’s probably the hardest
challenge in making a game… Games are a lot more creative though, and a lot
more fun to make.”
The team was inspired by Ustwo’s Monument Valley to price
Alto’s Adventure at a premium of $1.99 as opposed to utilizing the freemium
model that’s so popular with mobile developers. The game currently hosts around
132 thousand users on Game Center. Numbers don’t seem to bother Cash, as he
seems far more concerned with having made a great game than squeezing as much
revenue out of it as possible. “There’s no doubt that we would make more money
if we added in-app purchases, like coin packs, or silly hats, and that kind of
stuff, but those kinds of things never sat well with us. If we ever add any
in-app purchases, it’ll be in the same vain as Monument Valley’s ‘Forgotten
Shores’".
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| Photo courtesy itunes.apple.com |
It’s unusual to see games releasing at premium price points
on mobile right now. Even widely acclaimed mobile games like Crossy Road have
utilized a free-to-play approach that can be highly lucrative, but often at the
expense of the original vision for the game. Cash insists that Alto’s Adventure
is remarkably close to their original concept design, despite the fact that it
seems like the game was on the cusp of being free-to-play, with unlockable
characters and skills that could’ve easily acted as purchasable items. Cash insists
otherwise, however. “Honestly, not much [has changed]. Not much at all
actually. When we started out sketching ideas, they were essentially the same
things you’re seeing in the game today. There were additions along the way, but
the core concept never really changed.”
The team wanted to create a game with its own unique style
that evoked the feeling of setting off on a solitary adventure. Cash cites the
film Into the Wild as influence. The film follows a young man who leaves
civilization to survive solely on nature in an attempt to find meaning in his
life. That may seem strange for an endless snowboarding game, but the
comparison makes sense when you’re whooshing through a serene portion of the
forest and it’s just you, the birds and the tall pines in the dark of the
mountain. By committing to a premium model, Snowman was able to achieve those types
of moments exactly as they had envisioned.
Yet, what makes Alto’s Adventure special, and the reason I’m
writing about it now, is that after playing it for three weeks straight and
unlocking almost everything the game has to offer, I’m still playing it. It’s beautiful
and artistic sure, but Cash understands that a game needs more to find success
with any consumer base, let alone the notoriously fickle app store audience.
“It can’t just be fun for a minute… it has to keep drawing players back into
it, otherwise they’ll just play something else instead, especially with a ton
of great free games available at their fingertips.”
I’m not a prolific mobile gamer. I prefer to play on console;
games like Journey and The Last of Us are my bread and butter – the former,
from which Alto’s Adventure borrowed some very clear inspiration. It feels more
like a console product – a refined, specific experience designed to elicit a
certain emotion. Alto’s Adventure does that remarkably well. Despite a
simplistic trick system that initially seems too restrictive, the game
eventually becomes a complex ballet of backflips, speed boosts, jumps, and
grinds that defies its accessible controls; tap and hold the screen to
backflip. That’s it. Somehow, the team at Snowman devised over 50 levels of
goals for players to achieve. After roughly twenty hours with the game, I’ve
only reached level 42. If you can appreciate the game’s subtle systems and
zen-like energy, it’s more than worth its asking price.
So what’s next for Snowman? Cash isn’t saying. Alto hasn’t
seen release on Android platforms yet, and Cash isn’t committing to anything,
responding to my inquiry with, “Nothing to announce, but the demand is definitely on our radar.” And as for future
games? His passion for the medium is clear, and I get the sense that Cash has
hit a turning point in his career where he’s realized the potential and
excitement of game development. Let’s hope that whatever Snowman does next is
as inspired and exciting as Alto’s Adventure.
Alto’s Adventure is out now on the iOS App Store for $1.99.
As you might have guessed, I highly recommend it.
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