A blog by Ryan Cash, founder of Snowman.
It still feels hard to believe that ten years has gone by since Alto’s Adventure landed on the App Store and changed my life forever. I shared some reflections on Twitter and wrote a little excerpt for a Snowman blog post : It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that Alto’s Adventure has been out for ten years. In some ways, it feels like we launched it just yesterday – I still remember…
Time certainly does fly. “Wow. It feels like just yesterday that I wrote this . Truth be told, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I had an idea that I was passionate about (Checkmark) but had no real plans beyond that. The idea was that I’d quit my job, we’d finish the app, we’d launch it, I’d probably go relax on a beach in Thailand for a while, and then–and then who knows. I was young, naive…
It’s been a real pleasure to revisit a game that has probably had the single largest impact on my career, and in many ways, my life. Many fond memories of our early years came rushing back and I’m really glad we’ve had the privilege of working on this series for almost 10 years now. It means a lot that Alto has stuck around this long, and in some ways it still feels like just the beginning. I…
Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City is available now, only on Apple Arcade : The Alto series has always been about capturing that feeling of getting out in nature, exploring an unknown environment and following one’s passion for discovery. At a time when we may not be able to fulfil this desire in the real world, we hope players may find some sense of adventure in The Lost City.
Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City is launching on Apple Arcade next Friday, July 16th. In the meantime, check out the teaser trailer!
Since the release of Alto’s Odyssey in 2018, Alto has been venturing through desert dunes, temples and canyons in search of his next adventure. Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City is coming soon to Apple Arcade . We can’t wait to share his latest discovery with you all!
Pok Pok Playroom is now available : Pok Pok is now available on the App Store .
Today we announced Pok Pok, a brand-new company we’ve been incubating at Snowman for almost three years now. While I don’t have kids myself, I’m extremely passionate about education and how it relates to curiosity, creativity and imagination. As someone who dropped out of college myself, I’ve always found that there are so many ways to learn things. One of the most memorable TED Talks I can…
As I mentioned in my blog post recapping the story behind Alto’s Adventure, I grew up playing skateboarding games. Not only were they a huge part of my childhood and growing up, but also part of my coming of age journey. I think Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was truly my first “real” introduction to music. I spent so much time playing that game day and night. It was my entertainment, my escape, my…
The Alto Collection is coming to The Epic Games Store, PlayStation and Xbox on August 13th. Also coming soon to Nintendo Switch!
After almost a decade since it first began in a college dorm room at USC, Where Cards Fall has won an Apple Design Award! Our hats go off to Sam and his entire team at The Game Band who worked incredibly hard and passionately on this masterpiece of a game. It truly is a special experience, and one that really resonates with me personally. If you have a few minutes, check out the interview we did…
I can’t believe how fast time flies. Five years ago I woke up at 4am after sleeping for a few hours. Before I passed out I hit the “Release This Version” button to release Alto’s Adventure into the wild. When I woke up I was in shock as there were over 500 new tweets for “Alto’s Adventure” on Twitter – and we hadn’t even announced the game was out yet! This wasn’t our first app launch either (it…
Today, along with iOS 13, Apple Arcade is finally out in the world. We’ve been working on Where Cards Fall for over four years with The Game Band, and close to as long with Agens on Skate City. Without further ado, check out the Where Cards Fall launch trailer: You can find Where Cards Fall in Apple Arcade here . And Skate City: You can download Skate City here on Apple Arcade.
Today was an incredibly exciting day. We’ve been quiet about Skate City for quite some time now, and haven’t shared much about Where Cards Fall lately either. Today we are thrilled to finally share that we have not one, but two games launching exclusively on Apple Arcade this fall; Where Cards Fall and Skate City. I had the privilege of watching today’s Apple Event live from the Steve Jobs…
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…
Alto’s Adventure is out now on the newly refreshed Mac App Store in macOS Mojave! From the Snowman blog: 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…
Alto’s Odyssey is now available for free on Google Play.
I still remember the day that Apple announced the very first iPhone. It feels like just yesterday. Every time I hear the song “Perfect Timing (This Morning)” by Orba Squara, I get goosebumps. Those original iPhone ads were just so damn good. I was working at Marketcircle , a company that, at the time, was making business software for (just) the Mac. The entire company was excited when Steve Jobs…
In what was truly a whirlwind of a WWDC, Alto’s Odyssey won an Apple Design Award . So grateful to be working with such amazing people. Congrats to all of the other winners! PS: Go watch this amazing talk about The Qualities of Great Design
Almost 3 years ago to this day we launched Alto’s Adventure, and today, Alto embarks on his next journey. Download Alto’s Odyssey on the App Store , for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.