Snowman, the studio behind Alto’s Adventure, debuts wingsuit game Laya’s Horizon exclusively with Netflix

techcrunch.com:

Snowman, the mobile game studio behind Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey, has launched its latest title called Laya’s Horizon exclusively with Netflix. The wingsuit game sees players mastering the art of flying, diving off mountains, weaving across forests and gliding over rivers to unlock new abilities as they explore a vast and peaceful world. Laya’s Horizon is now available on iOS and Android via Netflix Games.

Snowman CEO and founder Ryan Cash told TechCrunch in an interview that the studio began working on Laya’s Horizon back in May 2018. Cash said Snowman is passionate about making games that let players escape somewhere beautiful, typically in nature, where they can get into a zen zone.

“The idea for the game was something we had been thinking about for a long time,” Cash said. “I think everyone on the team has their own inspiration that they bring to the game, but for me, I grew up fascinated with airplanes. Flying has always been a big part of my life, but also I’ve always dreamt of flying as almost every kid does. If we’ve done our job right, we’ve given people the ability to get the sense of what it might be like to fly. We wanted to make something that was accessible and available to people at all times.”

The studio sees Laya’s Horizon as its most ambitious game yet. Snowman’s previous games, including Alto’s Adventure, were procedurally generated, while Laya’s Horizon is handcrafted. Cash noted that every tree you see in the game was placed by a person on the studio’s team.

Jason Medeiros, the studio’s lead designer and developer, told TechCrunch that players will notice a difference in action gameplay when comparing Laya’s Horizon with Snowman’s other titles, as it takes players into the third dimension.