Devlog #1
Hello everyone! TOSS!🍌 developers Simon & Albin here.
To start things off we would like to give a big thank you to everyone who played TOSS!🍌 in the Closed Alpha Weekend. Especially thanks for all the feedback you've been giving us on our Discord community and through our feedback form! We have read through and discussed basically everything you've sent us, in order to get a grip on what to do next. It's been a blast and we can't wait to keep making TOSS!🍌 a better game in every way thanks to your feedback and ideas.
Never could we have guessed that there would be an astonishing 276 playtesters trying out our game. Each and every one of you is awesome, and the reason that TOSS!🍌 is blossoming into a wonderful community.
Public roadmap
We noticed how much you like transparency, and we want to be open about how we are going to take your feedback and use it to improve TOSS!🍌. That's why we've made a public roadmap! On it, you can find issues, improvements & features based on the feedback we have received. Continuing to share the development process with you is gonna be so much fun.
For example, we will absolutely try our best to have equally finetuned support for the Vive, Index, Rift, Rift S and WMR next time we do playtesting. That includes turning around using controller, menu button support on SteamVR, framerate independent tossing, comfortable gripping + hand positioning and more. We know how important supporting all platforms properly is thanks to your feedback! 🙈
We're also fixing all the "yeet bugs" we can reproduce, looking at being able to grab with two hands, getting around to removing glitching through walls and lots more. 🍌
So don't wait another minute - take a look at our brand new public roadmap!
We've tried addressing mostly everything we've heard from you, but if you don't see your idea or an issue you reported on there please do tell us.
Note that there's no intended priority in the order the cards are placed on the board. We also do work on TOSS!🍌 that isn't reflected on this board, which includes everything from bookkeeping 😴 to super cool stuff we're not ready to tell you about yet (NO SPOILERS! 🙊).
Takeaways
Some of the feedback you've given us doesn't really translate into a road map, but we're still taking it with us. That's why we're doing our first ever devlog - do you like it? Tell us if this is a format you enjoy and would want us to keep doing!
Level design
There is a lot to say in regards of the level design principles of TOSS!🍌 as it is such a major element to the experience of gameplay next to the mechanics of movement. A bunch of you made some really on point remarks regarding the level design in particular - much appreciated! That together with the extensive amount of streams we’ve been watching as well as the analysis we could make from the measurable data in the feedback form has provided us with a lot insights. This will be added to our design guidelines and affect future level design.
- More forgiving level design - Allow recovering from falls more often. Punishment should be getting a worse time, not having to restart.
- Smooth difficulty progression - Even out the difficulty spikes and allow for everyone to ease into the skill requirements
- More alternative routes - Allow for both easier, slow but safe routes & difficult, fast but risky routes
- Taking shortcuts should be interesting and exciting - Encourage using unique level mechanics in a skilled way to pull off skipping a part of the level
- More level mechanics - Everyone loves having more game mechanics to explore. Experimental levels were fun but admittedly difficult.
- Add more longer levels - It allows you to keep your moment up and stay in flow for longer.
BREATHING MORE LIFE INTO TOSS!🍌
One of the questions we've been asking ourselves this past week is "What is TOSS!🍌, except for it's gameplay?". The question isn't unfamiliar to us as our game design documents already detail a much richer world than what you've seen so far in the alpha, but all the feedback and suggestions we've been getting on this has made it more clear than ever how important this is to give TOSS!🍌 the life and nuance it deserves.
- Improve sensation of being an ape - More interaction based audio
- Add more sky environments - Allow for a more varied aesthetic experience
- Fleshed out soundtrack - The music will of course be added to and improved upon, building onto the existing sensation of rhythm and movement
- Improved sound effects - Added to and improved sound for ambience and interacting with your environment
- Foliage - A lush greenery to add to the minimalistic design
- Birds - Not being alone in the world will definitely lively up the place 🕊
- Last, but definitely not least is the narrative - An overarching narrative goal will bring context and meaning to the gameplay of TOSS!🍌. We're very excited about this one!
Thank you to everyone that has provided us with their creativity, patience and enthusiasm. We look forward to sharing this journey with you!
Simon & Albin
Don't forget to wishlist TOSS!🍌 now, right here on Steam. We would also love to have you in our Discord community and tell us your thoughts on /r/TossVR. ❤
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