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The Official Skate City Soundtrack is now here!

Since Skate City made it’s debut on Apple Arcade this past September, many of you have wanted to know; who made the music and where can you find it? Today we are happy to announce that the Official Skate City Soundtrack has been released on all your favourite streaming platforms.

The compilation features 15 of the hazy, lo-fi tracks you’ve been riding with throughout Skate City and now, you can skate to these on your own board, or simply chill out with the album at home.

Skate City aims to capture the heart and soul of street skating in a new light. Part of achieving this was making sure the music fit just right with the sense of flow and atmospheric visuals we were after. Thanks to our musicians Peer Synth, Granbar, and Buster Jenkins for helping us create this immersive experience.

Listen to “Skate City” Now: https://ampl.ink/w1pRN

Skate City on Apple Arcade: https://apple.co/2kSr34I

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Fan Art Favourites

While it’d be impossible to pick our favourite pieces of fan art, here’s a look at five submissions that really brought the world of Alto to life over the years!

This illustration of Alto and friends by Dave Hill gives each of them such distinct personalities! Thanks to a few clever details and their expressive features, it’s not hard to tell who’s who.

It blew us away to see Alto’s Odyssey reimagined by the talented Mohamed Chahin. This seems like a world you could step right into and feel the sun on your face. He even created a version for Alto’s Adventure.

This mother-daughter collaboration from @randoplatter (Twitter) stole our hearts. The pair created a mechanism behind the artwork that allows you to flip Sumara over the dunes!

In this 3D animation, Olof created a snapshot of Alto that feels incredibly in the moment. From the small particles of sand to his flowing scarf, every detail makes this scene come alive.

These Alto’s Adventure inspired llamas by acci98 on Instagram are handmade out of rubber, custom painted and given a scarf. We love the idea that while there are so many llamas to keep track of in the game, they are created uniquely and given their own identity here.

We will never cease to be in awe of the fan art that comes our way. Check out Alto’s Art Club to see what we mean! You can share your Alto inspired artworks with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the #altosadventure and #altosodyssey hashtag.

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Celebrating 5 Years of Alto

Alto’s Adventure is officially 5 years old! It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed. When we look back at all that has happened between then and now, we are so grateful for the journey we’ve been on with all of our players, collaborators and team members.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary, we have a few announcements that we are very excited to share with you...

Alto’s Odyssey is now available for Mac!

Now you can journey through the desert on your Mac.

Alto’s Odyssey for Mac supports iCloud sync, so you can sync your progress between iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and now Mac.

Download Alto’s Odyssey on the Mac App Store here.

Celebrate with a sale!

For a limited time only, Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey will be available for 80% off. This even includes Alto’s Adventure on the Mac App Store.

For players with multiple devices, both Alto games are universal apps. Purchase once, and download the game on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Your progress will sync through iCloud each time you start.

New Alto Anniversary Collection

We just launched The Alto Five Year Anniversary Collection on the Snowman Store with some brand new items! For the past five years, millions of fellow adventurers have discovered the ivory snows of Alto's Adventure and the endless deserts of Alto's Odyssey. To everyone who has been along for the ride, this collection is for you. We hope you find something you'll love.

Finally, we want to reflect on some of our most cherished memories of making and releasing Alto’s Adventure. We asked Snowman Founder, Ryan Cash, to share a bit of his own take on some of the experiences that stand out among the many highlights from this journey.

What was your favourite moment working on Alto?

Funnily enough, I think this might be after the launch. When we were working on the first game originally, things were a little more closed-off from a social perspective. Jordan and I were here in Toronto, working remotely with Harry over in the UK. I don’t believe we’d even spoken on the phone until just before the launch, and we didn’t meet in person until we all went to GDC a few weeks after the game shipped.

I’d say the best memories I have are from working on the game with such a great team and getting to all hang out and meet in person. After meeting at GDC back in 2015, we’ve all managed to meet up several times each year–sometimes at conferences, other times in our home cities. One of my fondest memories was spending a week in Harry’s hometown of Totnes in England, in the fall of 2015. It was really cool to see where he lived (and how different it was from Toronto), offering me a better idea of where his perspective as an artist might have come from.

What’s an Alto secret that no one knows about?

Some interesting things happen if you pay attention to the night’s sky long enough...

How has Alto grown in ways you didn’t expect?

For me, I think the fan art was something I truly never expected. People don’t make fan art for productivity apps–which is the world I was used to–so it was incredibly flattering to see fans reimagining and interpreting the Alto universe in their own ways. My absolute all-time favourite fan art has to be one by a young player named Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/p/BGqCDk-F4gu/

What was a monumental moment that made you realize Alto was gaining traction?

I think this actually came during the morning of our launch. We had announced that the game was coming out on February 19th about a week prior, and when I woke up that morning (around 4am) things were already pretty crazy! We had launched 5 apps prior to Alto’s Adventure, and usually on the day of our launch things took a few hours to pick up after we made the formal announcement. With Alto, people were already talking about the game around the world before we had even announced it that day! We got so busy following along that we almost forgot to announce the game ourselves.

How did the release of Alto’s Adventure cement Snowman’s goal to “create meaningful experiences that you may sit with for a short time, but that sit with you for a long while.”?

I actually feel like this became more realized after the game had launched. After some time had passed and we really got to soak in everything that had happened, we started feeling like Alto had become a bit more than just a mobile game; it was a place people visited to escape their reality, for many different reasons. One of these reasons was to seek out a moment of calm–a bit of relaxation after the end of a busy day. The more we thought about it, the more it felt like what we wanted to focus on moving forward.

What is an unexpected opportunity that came up thanks to Alto?

There have been many unexpected opportunities that have come up thanks to Alto, so it’d be next to impossible to pick just one favourite…I think seeing each game installed on Apple’s demo devices in their retail stores has been very surreal.

I managed to see the game installed on iPhones and iPads in England, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, and Australia. It was wild to think that something we’d spent so much time working on, that was at one point just an idea and a few scribbles on a white piece of paper, was now on display in such a meaningful way. If you want to keep reminiscing with us, we’ll be sharing more throughout the coming days! You can follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Happy New Year from Snowman

Reflecting on 2019, we can’t begin to express our gratitude for all that this year has brought Snowman. With two new games on Apple Arcade and an Alto community that continues to warm our hearts, we sincerely thank each and every person who has been on this journey with us.

Looking back even further, it’s been an amazing almost-decade for us at Snowman. In 2012 we released our first app, Checkmark. A year later, we reached out to artist Harry Nesbitt with nothing but ideas and rough drawings for what would become Alto’s Adventure. We could have never predicted what would become of those sketches, or that in September 2019, we would be releasing two games with incredible collaborators, Agens (Skate City) and The Game Band (Where Cards Fall), on a new service called Apple Arcade.

With services like Apple Arcade bringing new audiences into the fold and giving developers opportunities to make titles true to their vision, the future of mobile gaming is looking bright. While we still have so much to give to the worlds of Alto, Skate City, and Where Cards Fall, we’ve got some more exciting stuff to share in 2020 and beyond.

Happy New Year from the whole team at Snowman!

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Happy Holidays from Team Alto

The holiday season is upon us. Whether the snow has fallen or you’re still mowing your lawn, there is magic in the air. For many, this is a time to share a warm meal with loved ones or enjoy peaceful moments boarding across desert dunes and snowy mountainsides…

To celebrate the holidays, and for a limited time only, both Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey will be available for 80% off! This even includes Alto’s Adventure on the Mac App Store.

For players with multiple devices, both Alto games are universal apps. Purchase once, and download the game on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Your progress will sync through iCloud each time you start.

We love when folks share their Alto memories with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the #altosadventure and #altosodyssey hashtag! Have a fan creation? Show us and we’ll put it up on Alto’s Art Club.

Happy Holidays to you and yours from everyone at Team Alto ☃️🎄

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Welcome the Holiday Season with Alto's Odyssey

With the holidays right around the corner, we’re celebrating early! Alto’s Odyssey is on sale for 60% off on the App Store. So cozy up by the fire and prepare to embark on a whole new adventure.

For players with multiple devices, Alto’s Odyssey is a Universal app. Purchase once, and download the game on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Your progress will sync through iCloud each time you start.

We love when folks share their Alto memories with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the #altosodyssey hashtag! Have a fan creation? Show us and we’ll put it up on Alto’s Art Club. 

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Where Cards Fall and Skate City – Available now, only on Apple Arcade

Today we launch two games that are very close to our hearts. It’s hard to believe we are finally able to announce that Skate City and Where Cards Fall are now available exclusively on Apple Arcade.

It’s been an amazing process; we’ve had the pleasure of working with many talented people from all around the world. Skate City is a collaboration with Oslo studio, Agens, while LA-based friends, The Game Band, developed Where Cards Fall. We are so grateful to get to work with such wonderful teams of people who are masters of their craft and truly love what they do.

Being a part of Apple Arcade is an honor. This service will open up doors to people who may not have been introduced to games yet, and this is something Snowman has always cared deeply about.

Where Cards Fall The Game Band & Snowman http://wherecardsfall.com Where Cards Fall is a coming-of-age story where you build houses of cards to bring formative memories to life. To do this, you will create pathways through dreamlike spatial puzzles to navigate the insecurities and emotions of adolescence and beyond.

Find it on Apple Arcade:

https://apple.co/2kVRxCz

Skate City Agens & Snowman https://www.skatecitygame.com

Skate City aims to capture the heart and soul of street skating in a new light. Players will have the opportunity to explore and discover three unique cities based off of real-world skate locations from the streets of Los Angeles to Oslo and Barcelona.

Find it on Apple Arcade:

https://apple.co/2kSr34I

Thank you to everyone for keeping up with us during the development of these games; we are so glad to finally share them with you.

Have you enjoyed the new games? Let us know what you think!

Where Cards Fall on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wherecardsfall

Skate City on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skatecitygame 

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Skate City and Where Cards Fall on Apple Arcade

We are so happy to finally share that we have not one, but two games launching exclusively on Apple Arcade this fall; Where Cards Fall and Skate City. 

It’s been so thrilling for us to watch the world anticipate Where Cards Fall these last few months, and we can’t wait for everyone to finally play it!

Today, we are excited to announce that Skate City will be joining Where Cards Fall on Apple Arcade. 

Skate City is a creative collaboration between Agens and Snowman that aims to capture the heart and soul of street skating in a new light.

In 2014, Agens developer and skater Daniel Zeller channelled his love of the sport into the concept for a new Skate game. He reached out to us at Snowman with some questions about the game he was making, and we serendipitously connected on some fundamental levels. We all wanted our approach to a new skateboarding game to set ourselves apart from other entries. It was important to us that we create some of that magical feeling of being immersed in a place, to be truly present and lost in time. As skaters ourselves for almost two decades, we loved what we saw and couldn’t wait to get involved with such an enthusiastic, talented team. 

It’s been an exhilarating journey and we couldn’t be more proud to launch Skate City this fall, exclusively on Apple Arcade.

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Back to School with Alto (60% off!)

It may be time to go back to school but the adventure doesn’t have to end… For a limited time only you can download both Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey for 60% off its regular price! This even includes the macOS version of Alto’s Adventure. Whether you’re finishing a degree or perfecting the ABC’s, Alto and friends will be there to join you on your journey. Download Alto’s Adventure on the App Store. Alto’s Adventure on the Mac App Store. Download Alto’s Odyssey on the App Store. We love when folks share their Alto memories with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the #altosodyssey hashtag! Have a fan creation? Show us and we’ll put it up on Alto’s Art Club.

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Celebrate Canada Day with Alto!

For some people, July 1st means camping under the stars with their family or enjoying a backyard BBQ with a few friends. On this day, many Canadians take a moment to appreciate the country they call home and we, too, want to extend our appreciation by sharing Alto’s Odyssey for 60% off for a limited time. Wherever you are in the world, you can purchase the game once and download it on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Your progress will sync through iCloud each time you start. We love when folks share their Alto memories with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the #altosodyssey hashtag! Have a fan creation? Show us and we’ll put it up on Alto’s Art Club. You can download Alto’s Odyssey right here on the App Store.

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Snowman at WWDC 2019

The Snowman team will be back at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this year (June 3rd - 7th).

While our hearts are still full from last year’s WWDC, we are excited to be reunited with old friends and make plenty of new ones while we’re there again!

As if being surrounded by thousands of bright and innovative minds isn’t enough of an honor, last year we were humbled to accept a 2018 Apple Design Award along with 9 other brilliant apps. It just goes to show that you never really know what to expect at WWDC and we can't wait for what's in store this time around.

If you’ll be at the conference, come find us and say hi. If you want to follow from afar, be sure to keep up with us on Twitter via @builtbysnowman!

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Where Cards Fall on Apple Arcade

When I first met Sam Rosenthal in 2013 we both shared things that we were working on with each other that weren’t announced. For me it was Alto’s Adventure, and for Sam it was a game called House of Cards. I always knew it was going to be something special, and the more I got to know Sam in the coming years, the more I knew it was something we’d love for Snowman to be a part of in some way.

We finally got to meet in person in 2015, and we immediately got along. We kept in touch, and in the summer of 2015 we decided to start working together on the game. We obviously had to find a new name for the project, but the soul of the project was the same.

Over the years that have followed, collaborating with the amazing folks at The Game Band has been a great adventure. As we move closer to the home stretch, we couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come, or more grateful for the incredible people we’ve worked with along the way.

Today was incredibly exciting for all of us, and now we’re headed toward the home stretch. We have a powerful story to tell with Where Cards Fall, and we can’t think of a better way to share it than with Apple Arcade.

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Alto’s Odyssey Nominations

We can hardly believe it's almost been a full year since Alto and friends went out into the world on their second adventure, Alto’s Odyssey. 

Last February he traded his snowboard for his sandboard and took on the endless desert, with his mountain pals by his side.

We have been absolutely humbled by the enthusiasm we’ve received from players who have taken the time to engage with us; to offer us support, feedback and to share with us their stories of how Alto has helped them in their daily commute or as a relief during tough times. 

It is thanks to that recognition that we find ourselves where we are today, as we are delighted to announce that we've been nominated for the following awards: Best Mobile Game for the 19th annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Excellence in Visual Art and Excellence in Audio for the Independent Game Festival Awards

Best Game, Best Visual Art and Best Audio for the TapTap Game Awards 2018

To be nominated alongside our own favourite games of the year is an undeniable honour. Thank you to everyone who supported us and Alto, from the bottom of our hearts, All of us at Snowman & Team Alto

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Happy Holidays! Alto’s Adventure & Alto’s Odyssey are 80% off!

We hope everyone is having a safe and warm holiday season full of love and light. 

There is no better time to enjoy all that winter has to offer – hot cocoa, the company of friends and family, curling up next to the fire, bundled in blankets, cascading down a mountain on your snowboard, exploring the...endless desert?! Who says you can’t have it all?

To celebrate the holidays, and for a limited time only, Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey are 80% off! 

Alto’s Adventure for Mac (a separate purchase), is also on sale for 80% off on the Mac App Store.

We love when folks share their Alto memories with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the #altosodyssey hashtag! Have a fan creation? Show us and we’ll put it up on Alto’s Art Club.

Happy Holiday’s to you and yours from everyone at Snowman & Team Alto ☃️🎄

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Snowman’s Favourite Games of 2018

It’s not a stretch of the truth to say we've been spoiled these past few years in gaming, and 2018 was one to remember. 

We were on the edge of our seats during the announcements at E3, completely engulfed in excitement for what lies ahead. Many of those games (and more) saw release in 2018 and we don’t feel anything less than adoration for them all. The Game Awards this month had us swelling with pride, seeing so many Canadian studios nominated. A look back on 2018 for us is a look at the charming, delightful, thoughtful and carefully crafted games that saw their release this year. We would like to take a moment to talk about some of our favourites, and implore you to look beyond here, because regrettably there are still countless incredible games beyond our list to discover! So here’s to another great year for games, and to looking forward to what 2019 will bring!

Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn is a work of art. An outstanding follow up to Lucas Pope's stirring "Papers, Please." it makes effective use of the medium to deliver a breathtaking mystery. Its art is not only an aesthetic accomplishment on its own but is utilized to make the brutal and gruesome scenes of what you're investigating palatable. It also covers for the nature of the "Momento Mortem" device, a device that holds spiritual weight by association with “Momento Mori” and gives the game a sense of magic. With limited colours and animation, Return of the Obra Dinn remains cinematic and makes good use of its audio vignettes to bring intensity to moments of death. Pope continues to deliver on chilling, emotional gameplay that we could all learn from.

Florence

A debut title from the studio Mountains, Florence is a piece of interactive fiction that captures the tale of a woman’s first love. Captivating and moving, it had us really reflecting on our own lives. Florence is a master class on how we can design mechanics to allow players to truly participate in a narrative and put themselves in the shoes of another. Packaged with a unique art style and a beautiful soundtrack, and Florence is an experience we’ll all remember for years to come. Congratulations Mountains, we look forward to seeing what's next!

The Messenger

Without spoilers, The Messenger packs so much more complexity than you see on the surface level. It’s a game that's best left to be experienced. There's no doubt it was crafted with care and close attention to detail: it plays like a love letter to retro platformers like Ninja Gaiden. With one of the best plot twists in recent memory, a killer soundtrack and a sense of humour we could not go without mentioning this one. Bonus: a fellow Canadian studio!

Donut County

Donut County is wholeheartedly, a lot fun. Its charm and sense of humour won us over from the get-go. Its Trashopedia brought back fond memories of games like Ridiculous Fishing. It's a rare treasure to feel the same surprise and delight as if we were still kids playing a video game for the very first time, and Donut County brings just that to the table. It's whimsical and playful, and maybe we even relate to that reckless garbage hungry raccoon just a little.

GRIS

Bringing a fresh, illustrative style to 2018, the visuals of GRIS are nothing less than stunning. We found ourselves wanting to stop every other second to take a screenshot, and we believe that any frame in this game is gorgeous enough to be hung in a gallery. It weaves a story in a way only games can, and it does so beautifully, without the need for explicit dialogue. It asks the player to take its main character by the hand and walk by her side through her tale of loss. In the end this game will stay with us, and will be revisited during times of our own loss to give ourselves the space and time to process things, by the hand of a new friend.

#SelfCare

TRU LUV media debuted with their companion #SelfCare. A simple and beautiful app designed for relaxation and mindfulness. Working with neuroscientists, TRU LUV seeks to challenge your relationship with your phone in the best way imaginable – through the development of not games, not apps but companions (a fresh, long overdue, new addition to our vocabulary for describing interactive media). We find ourselves calling on this space in our phones during times of stress and anxiety or during times when we need to recenter ourselves and focus. #SelfCare lets you stay in bed all day, from the crowded commute on the TTC, to your doctors office or any moments of emotional or mental fatigue. Draw a tarot card, cuddle with your virtual cat, redecorate your room, track the phase of the moon outside or pick up laundry. One of Apple's best of 2018, TRU LUV is only getting started – and we can’t wait to see where they go in 2019.

Moss

Moss stood out to us not just for its high quality animations and charming style, but its use of ASL as a means for the main character to communicate with the player, providing deeper and richer interactions between player and character. Its “reader” role for the player gives context to some of the limitations of VR in a way that suits the style of the game, and still gives flexibility for the player to move between first and third person. You can really feel this is a game that was lovingly crafted and handmade. Thank-you Moss for showing what games can be, and we hope we see more initiatives for accessibility in 2019.

Nintendo Labo

This year we saw the release of the Nintendo Labo, and with it a whole new way to interact with a digital game and console. Designed to make full use of the technology the Joy-Cons has to offer, Nintendo Labo brings another level of tactile play to the console sphere. The joys that only come from crafting your very own toy feels like a bygone in todays era – and that comes with its own consequences. Today's kids fine motor skills are rapidly declining, and technology plays a part in that. It’s refreshing to see game companies like Nintendo including an element of tactile play to go along with their consoles. With things just getting started, we’re intrigued to see what else it has to offer in 2019.

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Alto’s Adventure for Mac is here

Ever sine we launched Alto’s Adventure back in February 2015, people have been asking us if we’ll ever bring it to the Mac.

We’ve always wanted to bring it to the Mac, but we’d always been busy working on other things on the Alto front, whether it was a new update to the iOS version (like Zen Mode), or bringing the game to Apple TV. We then had our sights on Alto’s next adventure, Alto’s Odyssey.

We’d actually started working on a Mac version of Alto last year, but it was taking us longer than we had originally anticipated to get it just right. We wanted the game to be have like a natural Mac app (not just a quick port). We’ve spent a lot of time making sure Alto feels like a proper, native Mac app (thanks Jason!). You can even play it windowed while you’re supposed to be working, or taking notes in class.

When Apple announced that they were redesigning the Mac App Store at WWDC, we knew it was time to put a focus back on this.

And so today, along with the launch of the new Mac App Store in macOS Mojave, you can now play Alto’s Adventure in all its glory on your Mac. 

Download Alto’s Adventure on the Mac App Store here.

Alto’s Adventure for Mac supports iCloud sync, so you can sync your progress between iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and now Mac.

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Alto’s Odyssey is now available on Android

Alto’s Odyssey is now available on Android!

You can download the game for free on Google Play here.