Toejam and Earl is finally back! We're goin' indie, and old skool like GAME ONE, with a fun retro-comics style, and plenty of funk!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Our Big News!!!!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 12:55:10 AM
OK we have a really nice juicy one for you - get ready!
Many of you have heard that we have a funding partner to help us make "Back in the Groove" and help us get onto consoles... so here's who our partner is:
Hi-Five!!!
Can you imagine a better partner on this planet for ToeJam and Earl than Adult Swim? Seriously. I don't think so...right? And yes, it means we are officially coming to multiple consoles. I expect there will be a flood of questions about which consoles we'll be on, and how it will work for backers... we're still figuring this out with Adult Swim and we'll be getting back to you on all this.
So... consoles for sure! That's the good news. The really REALLY good news is that Adult Swim is helping us make sure this game is going to be everything we want it to be - they have been incredibly supportive, and the game is turning out to be pretty awesome - if I do say so myself. We're laughing a lot as we play test here and that's usually a good sign. Here, check this out...
The not so great news is that to get these ports done and really polish this game it will take longer than I originally said. Feel free to yell at me, I don't mind. But trust me when I say we're pulling all-nighters here and working our butts off, and now we get to keep going and make the game I've always wanted to give you. You've waited a long time for this one - so after you get excited about what's cooking, put this on the back burner of your brain for awhile longer.
click on the image for a link to steam
Oh and I should also say that one of the main reasons we went with Adult Swim was that many of them are already big TJ&E fans. Some were even backers in our kickstarter, and they totally wanted to let me pursue my vision of what this game would be. How amazing is that? I couldn't believe it.
You may be thinking... Adult Swim? ToeJam and Earl TV series? Well, I admit it, so did I. Still, the games division is totally separate from TV. But if we really hit it out of the park with the game... well who knows. Anyway first things first.
So... STEAM... as of this morning our Steam page is up and you can tell your friends who were bummed to miss our kickstarter, to go visit Steam and put "Back in the Groove" on their wishlist. Please help us spread the word!!
click on the image for a link to steam
By the way side note: Headlander is an awesome game. I just finished playing through it with my awesome son. It's totally worth playing. Three alien thumbs up!
Here is some more fun news...
We'll have playable demos at PAX-West Sept. 2nd - 4th
Adult Swim is going all out and we'll have a big presence at this show... I apologize for this late notice - i'm sure by now you're either planning on going already or not. The show has been sold out for quite some time. Still, if you ARE going, check THIS out...
There will be a TJ&E backer mixer event Sat Night with live funk music from the game by Cody (our bass player) and Nick (our keyboard player). The mixer will be at: PAX West (Rooms 605/610 on the 6th floor of Washington State Convention Center on 9/3 from 6:30pm - 8:30pm)
Also me and Cody and Nick will be signing and giving away CD samplers of the game music that has 8 of our 26 songs.
Back in the Groove Sampler
We will be making some announcements about the complete set of Digital Music, the Music CD, and the Vinyl album, hopefully in the next month or so. I plan on releasing the music well in advance of the release of the game, so you'll have something to keep you going while you wait for the game. Backers who purchased the music will get whatever you purchased of course, and those who haven't can purchase it.
Adult Swim has also announced that they will be giving away special pins made just for PAX to people who have their photo take with Toejam or Earl and play the demo. This is what the pin looks like:
Adult Swim is actually going to be giving out 2 pins! In the booth next to us at PAX will be the new Adult Swim Rick and Morty VR Game. Does anyone else LOVE Rick and Morty as much as I do? Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are geniuses, and I totally respect their Schwifty-ness.
Hey, did somebody say.. "get their pictures taken with ToeJam and Earl"? YES! Adult Swim is having costumes made! Check out these photos of the creation process when they were just getting started. You will notice TJ is just going to be a statue in a hi-five pose for photo ops, but that Big Earl costume!! I just hope they let me wear it!
OK, well I need to dash off and get this game in shape to show at PAX. I wish you could all come to this event. I'll take photos and send out an update after the event and let you all know how it went. I expect you will be seeing things in the press as well.
Please know that I and all of us on this tiny indie team know that none of this would have been possible without you TJ&E backers. We owe you a debt of gratitude that goes way beyond the money you donated. Your faith in us means everything. I'm sorry for making you wait - we're doing our best to bring you some nostalgic TJ&E funky family fun with lots of laughs and smiles.
Comin at Ya!
almost 8 years ago
– Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 12:43:33 AM
Hey gang! I seem to begin every update with an apology for how long it's been, so to save time I thought I'd just ask you to please feel in the appropriate apology here: ____________________! (Make it a good one!)
Before I get into our update of the game I'd like to humbly ask all you devoted TJ&E fans to go and support this other Kick Started project by my funky friend Chris. It's for a digital magazine devoted to old Sega-related games and in their very first issue they are going to have TJ&E: Back in the Groove on their cover (woohoo!) and have an in depth article with all kinds of exclusive new info about our new game! If you support them, say something in the comments of this post so I can send you my appreciation vibes.
We have a funding partner and we WILL be coming out on consoles but we can't say who or which ones or when just yet. In fact, we were going to post some video of the game, but our partner has asked us to wait on that so we can have a big reveal later. Still there is no shortage of cool things we can share with you... so lets begin!
Each character has their own stats. 3 characters are locked initially.
Level 0 is in the works and we're adding some extra surprises this time.
Peabo is a playable character for sure! He's trying on different power hats!
You win a new powerhat upon completing a game - you can put them on when you get out of the elevator.
Earthilngs talk to you now, and sometimes offer you things if they are friendly.
You can choose what you want to say back to them.
Earthlings also wave and say "hi" to each other.
You can even see them chatting on the level below.
Ranking up is a bigger deal now...
You get stat boosts from the spinner every time you rank up.
And you get prizes every time you collect a new ship piece!
Rocket skates send you flying over hills and edges.
Broken presents may or may not blow up on you. It depends on your present skill.
Earthlings aren't very smart. They think you're a sunflower.
Sunflower patches are all over. Just stand still in one to hide.
This present makes it a little tough to hide.
Sleep gas puts nearby Earthlings to sleep
When you sneak past sleeping Earthlings the camera zooms in.
When you walk on roads the camera zooms out. Toejam just got flattened here. Notice the damage bar - it appears when you take damage. Segway guy is trying to impress the Hula Girl.
Flo is going for a swim
The hyperfunk zone is different each game you play but consistent within a game.
The game of course comes with dynamic split screen for 2-4 players. We'll be showing screen shots of that the next time.
In other news... we have completed most of the music for the game. We currently have 13 new songs and 13 remakes of old songs. We will be releasing the music as a CD and a Vinyl record and digitally. You may have purchased the digital music or the CD already via Kick Starter. You will still be able to purchase these (at some point) as well as the vinyl. We'll probably have all of this available before the game releases. We'll send out an update to announce it. Here are a few more samples for you to enjoy! Old School Otis (New), Hyperfunk Zone (New), Theme Refunkified (remake from game 1)
Thanks for keepin' the faith. We're working hard to bring you the VERY best game that we can.
Stay funky ya'll!!!
Mini-Update - More to come
about 8 years ago
– Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 12:26:13 AM
Hey there gang,
Get Funky Y'all
Apologies for the length of time between this Kick Starter update and the last one. For those of you who are on our forum or who have been following our FB page https://www.facebook.com/Toejam-and-Earl-352129104945409/you will have seen a fair bit of posts and info, but we've sort of let the KickStarter updates slide for too long as we've been busy getting this game built. Again sorry about that - I wanted to post some game-play video but the rate at which we've been adding features to the game also means we've been adding tons of bugs to that's not quite ready yet. We'll be giving you another update within the next week or two with some video footage of the game.
The Store: We are going to be closing the backerkit store this Monday so this is your last chance to get any TJ&E merchandise. This is the final call. Here is the link if you want it:
Recently we've been working on some really fun things like 4-player split screen (which was pretty tricky to get right) and some physics for the world so that you can go flying off hills when you have rocket skates and hi-tops on. We've also been working on amped presents, which means you can juice up any present in the game and some super effects happen. (Presents can also be broken which means they might explode when you open them). We've introduced Player Stats into the game, searching for hidden present and hidden Earthlings in trees bushes and houses, and we now and we have TON of new presents and Earthlings in, with still more to come.
Did you hear somethin' Earl?
We also introduced something new into the game that we hadn't planned on doing... now you can have very brief conversations with friendly Earthlings who may notice when you are low on life or low on presents or have fallen off a level or just come out of the Hyperfunk Zone, or about 20 or 30 other conditions, and they might offer you some money or a new present to help you out, or ask you a question which you can now answer from a short pop up menu. These don't happen all the time, it's just a little extra surprise that happens from time to time. We've also been working on the backer characters and getting them all ready to go into the game. And of course lots of new funky music is in the works. In any event, fear not - we've been super ultra busy!
We don't have a release date yet, but we expect to be making some announcements this summer. We have some nice surprises in store for you when it comes to other versions of the game, but we can't say quite yet.
As I said, I'll be posting another update sometime in this coming week or two that shows some of the game play footage. In the meantime, here is a little bit of the very latest funky music from funkmeister bassist Cody Wright and our mix master Burke Trieschmann, along with a few of our more recent additions to the game.
The Internet Troll hurls insults at you (know anyone like that?)
But if you confront him he transforms...
...into a scared teenage boy...
...and he runs away.
The geek brothers love their drone...
they get it to chase you....
...and when it hits you, it opens one of your presents at random. Like maybe,,, the Randomizer , or perhaps Expell Presents, a new present that ejects ALL of your presents onto the ground.
Hello! Recognize me?
Hoya HOOOO!!!!
Check out my moves
Don't trust this...
I'm still pretty scary
Thanks to Tomo Johnson's great idea, you can't even trust elevators anymore. You have a few seconds to hop out if you make a mistake.
This present makes it tough to hide. DOH!
More to come!!!!
Funky Music, and Maps with Tiles
about 8 years ago
– Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 11:49:08 PM
Greetings from Funkotron! Well we have been making some highly funky tunes with Cody Wright (the bass player), John Baker (the original composer from game one and two) and Burke Trieschmann (our all around audio and sound guy). We thought you might enjoy a few videos and pics from our recording session yesterday.
Cody, John, and Burke makin' some funky tunes with Greg
You might remember this song. It's called Mellow Groove. Cody plays everything you hear on the bass and on the guitar.
This is a new song called Slow Groovin. We might still add more to it.
Here are some screen shots of the game as it is right now...
Caught by the construction worker (check out the map with tiles)
Darned Hula Dancers! Well she is kinda cute.
The boombox makes everyone dance. Even the Spanish Inquisition!
Lewanda throws a tomato at the elf (hey he's not hurting anybody!
Woohoo! Icarus wings! Yeah baby!
Peabo waits to do Rhythm Matching with Big Earl
The mole is STILL terrible. I hate that guy!
Who is that shady character?
Uh.... wait a second. I don't think that's supposed to happen.
That die isn't supposed to be behind those trees!
Well that's it for now! Back to work. We have a game to make!
The Year of ToeJam
over 8 years ago
– Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 11:09:49 PM
Greetings and various appropos felictations! My name is Toejam, and this is my homeboy Big Rappin' Earl. Say 'wha's up', Earl. ..."Yo! Wha's up".
So this is the year our friends from Funkotron make their return to Earth. It won't be until fall, so it's still a ways off, but the clock is ticking. Watch the skies and listen for the thump of the megawatt speakers.
Speaking of the Rapmaster Rocketship, everyone should have received their rewards by now. If you haven't, or if you have any concerns about the rewards you've recieved, please send an email to [email protected]. Backer Kit continues to be mega super awesome, and beyond helpful when it comes to handling all of our backer concerns. (Can you tell I love those guys?) If you ever run a crowd funding campaign you should use em.
Also we've gotten quite a few requests from disappointed fans who wanted to order more merchandise but missed the boat, so we've re-opened the backer kit store for awhile. We're all out of clothes, but we still have some vinyl figures and keychains left, and of course you can still order the digital items like the game and game music.
Well we thought we'd give you a brief update - we are mainly just working our way through the present and character list. Adding in features and fixing bugs. We're definitely in heads down production mode. We're also focused right now on getting the networking code working and solid, and we've just starting in on the rhythm matching segments of the game. Here is some art work from this week...
These Cosplay Nerds will offer you a chance to roll with their dice. It costs a buck and you could win up to 7 bucks - or loose your money. Different player-characters have different "luck" stats.
One of our new characters - this Caveman is always hungry. He's a bit like the Mole from the old game. He will shake you and steal the food you are carrying. You can't really blame him, it's not really rude for Cavemen.
This is the high-school football player. His vocabulary consists of "hut hut HUT!" and he may knock you off the level. Try standing in front of an Earthling you don't like, and sidestepping at the last moment. :)
This albino Yeti only hangs out in the snow, where he's hard to see. He will poke you with his sharpened pencil and he may damage some of the presents you're carrying. He thinks it's funny. It's not funny.
This exciting piece of UI is the new Rhythm Matching meter. Test your rhythm skillz with various Funkotronians, and earn yourself some extra bucks. This meter may tell you that you're lame, but don't take it personally.
As you know, we're creating about 14 or 15 new songs for this game, and we're also revamping an equal number of oldies. Cody Wright, the awesome professional bass player whose work we've shared in the past, is coming out here for a jam session in a couple weeks with John Baker, the original musician from games one and two. How awesome is that. Here is a remake of an old song that Cody did - this is all him on his bass. Do you recognize this one?
We're still posting on the forum so if you're interested in more new pop onto there and check it out. If you have any trouble at all getting onto the forum just message me and we'll make sure you're on the VIP list to get onto the forum.
