Oct 1, 2019

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! - Nap

Sup y’all?! We’re back! Some would say, BACK IN THE GROOVE!! Did we use that joke already? It’s hard to keep up! We hope you’ve all been keeping funky while we’ve been working on rolling out these console updates.

CONSOLE UPDATES? Where are they? You said September! ...we did, and we apologize for not hitting that deadline. Extreme World was pretty easy to polish up and get ready as it’s just some simple number and balance changes, but keeping the console versions from not crashing during Endless World was more of a challenge for our small team than we expected. We are developing simultaneously for multiple platforms with a team of less than 5 people now, and your patience is much appreciated. But the good news is, they are absolutely ready now and they should all be rolling out this week!!!

As always you can get caught up on the changes for Extreme and Endless Worlds in our previous update here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1578116861/toejam-and-earl-back-in-the-groove/posts/2553797. We highly recommend reading this if you plan on completing Extreme World, which contains over 100 fan requested balance changes. Some information that has changed in this post are the issues listed in the beginning, they have been ironed out already and we have changed Endless World from unlocking by reaching Extreme World Level 15 to unlocking at Level 10 based on player feedback. If you’re still having a hard time unlocking Endless try playing with a friend or hopping online to meet some new homies!

Greg has said that if anyone can beat Extreme and Endless Worlds and provide proof he will gladly sign your copies of the game. So if you’d like to attempt that madness feel free to email us at support@humanaturestudios.com with your proof and we will hook you up with some signed copies of our Limited Run Games PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch physical releases!

Other than these new modes coming here is a list of small changes and fixes we have added in the meantime between 1.4 and 1.5.

New Extreme Mode
New Endless Mode
Fixed softlock that occurs when picking up a telephone while rolling a hat
Players loading into the game will be temporarily immune to damage for a few seconds
Fixed present menu breaking enemy aggro
Prevent searching for 2 seconds after immediately opening a present (prevents accidentally searching)
Fixed NPCs not Amping/Fixing present when they reward you
Fix broken effect on presents overlapping player models
Fix Latin American Spanish button in language screen
Always freeze presents when in elevator
Join network game has public tab first
Swap Bodies swaps difficulty as well
Fix searched presents getting stuck in midair when inventory is full
Make telephones trigger smaller
Make telephones add grace if triggered from elevator
Fix Earthlings popping back up in the air Wile Coyote style before falling off a level
Fix Earthlings getting stuck on hills
Network: Fix elves being shaken out and disappearing on clients
Remove Hula Girl and UFO from the Good Earthling present
Fix telephones from presents making no sound
Fix invisibility paint not working against Troll and Tourist
Fix Santa dropping Sushi
Backer credits fixes
In-Game Manual fixes
In-Game text fixes

These changes will bring the console versions more in line with the Steam version now. We are considering adding the ability to see the level below to console versions as an option for players who prefer to see it over having optimal performance. What’s that? MORE UPDATES? Yup, we are hoping to keep this train going as long as we can. The game is doing well enough that we can continue at the pace we’re currently chugging along at. But the better the game does the longer we can continue to support it.

Which brings us to our next big announcement, we are dropping the price from $19.99 to $14.99! Obviously this is less exciting for all our loyal fans who already have the game. We wanted to bring the price down because we noticed a lot more sales around this price point during out previous sales. If you haven’t been able to find homies to jam out with online nows the time to hop back in with a friend and get funky!

Speaking of funky, check out our new trailer here:

PLUSHIES AND MERCH

Where are those plushies, when are they coming?! The answer is very soon. We have approved the final designs for them and The Yetee hopes to have them available by the end of the year. We love how they look so far and we hope you love them as much as we do! In the meantime, be sure to check out the rest of their ToeJam & Earl collection here: https://theyetee.com/collections/toejam-and-earl.

Due to popular demand we have added the individual Rapmaster Rocket to our Funkotron Shop at just $14.99 with free shipping. Speaking of our Funkotron Shop, we are nearing the very end of our inventory and we will be closing it very soon. Stock is extremely low on the remaining items. We plan on doing one final push around Black Friday but no promises they won’t sell out before then.

Have you picked up the Genesis Mini yet? The reviews are in and we are proud to have the very first ToeJam & Earl game included on “the best Mini Console to release yet!” If you haven’t picked one up yet we hope you do soon and get to experience all the funky nostalgia of these amazing titles.

Follow us on all social media!

Discord: https://discord.gg/QrkcPGe
Twitter: twitter.com/toejamandearl
Facebook: facebook.com/toejamandearlofficial/
Instagram: instagram.com/toejamandearlart/

Got a bug report or a feature request? Submit it to our canny at: https://tjande.canny.io

Also check out our super funky merch!

Fangamer: fangamer.com/products/toejam-earl-shirt
The Yetee: theyetee.com/collections/toejam-and-earl
The Funkotron Shop: thefunkotronshop.com

Thanks for your time y’all! ONWARD TO FUNKOTRON!!

Love always,
ToeJam & Earl

Aug 25, 2019

Extreme & Endless on Consoles, Upcoming Merch, Events, Contests and more!

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! - Nap

Yo, wassup faithful Earthling fans! How y’all been? Sorry we been a bit quiet lately but rest assured we have been hard at work on a bunch of new things!

Extreme Mode & Endless Mode for Console (1.5)

It turns out getting 1,000 levels to work on consoles wasn’t as easy as it sounded... but we are very close to having these ready for release! The Switch edition needs one more round of testing before we can officially move into cert, and then PS4 and Xbox versions will follow shortly. We were able to launch these on Steam last month in a beta state since it’s the quickest and easiest to patch, and since then we’ve been able to get it fully functional by August and then switched gears over to the console versions.

We hope to have the console version out by the end of September. Thank you for your patience console homies, we promise it’s coming very soon and we hope you enjoy it! For those of you wanting to catch up to what Extreme and Endless has to offer, be sure to check out our July update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1578116861/toejam-and-earl-back-in-the-groove/posts/2553797

CONTEST! Time to Win!

We have a special contest going on right now where you can win a Limited Run Games PlayStation 4 Collector’s Edition! Check here for more info: https://gleam.io/MKnu3/win-a-toejam-earl-back-in-the-groove-limited-run-games-playstation-4-collectors-edition

Events: PAX, TGS and TJ&E in Japan!

We’re doin’ meetings at PAX and TGS. If you are gonna be there, hit us up! We’ll bring some stickers. We’ll also be releasing the game in Japanese before the end of the year! Wow!

TJ&E Merch: Shipping costs & PC Limited Edition

WAKE UP! We’ve got another update on the Funkotron Shop! We’ve heard the feedback that the shipping costs were too high, so we decided to bite the moldy bread and offer free shipping to anywhere in the US and severely reduced the cost of shipping overseas!

In regards to the PC edition, we understand some backers' concerns that these were intended to be backer-exclusive items and we apologize for not conveying that these are only extras that we had to make to fulfill a factory minimum.

When moving into production we had to order a minimum number of units to fulfill our promises, but we only needed a certain amount to reward to our backers, we are just selling off the extra that we needed to purchase. These are not restocks of the items, and we will NEVER restock these after they have been sold out. So if you want them, make sure you put on your Hitops and move quickly, because this is the absolute last call for them!

Speaking of merch, we have finally approved the designs for the plushes and upcoming vinyl repressing of our soundtrack. Stay tuned for more info shortly. We also have a super funky jacket coming from Nerds (Nobody Ever Respects Dorks Society) Clothing.

Don’t forget we are on the Sega Genesis Mini releasing September 19th! Relive all that beautiful nostalgia when you grab one and launch the first-ever ToeJam & Earl game released in 1991! We are gonna do some fun contests around this release! Keep an eye out!

Lastly

We have a ton of upcoming announcements, possibly some new content to be added into the game before the end of the year, new merch and tons of giveaways. Huh, what? Did we say new content and new merch… uhhh maybe. You’ll just have to stay tuned to find out what that’s about!

Thanks again for believing in us, and helping the game sell over 101,000 copies in just 5 ½ months -- we’re on the road to break-even, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without all of our backers, fans, and funklords.

Let’s keep on jammin’!!!

Love,

ToeJam, Earl, Greg and everyone at HumaNature Studios.

Jul 11, 2019

Best Buy, Nintendo Sale, Collector's Edition, and Funkotron Shop!

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! - Nap

Best Buy Switch Release
Greetings again, all our Earthling fans! We just wanted to stop by and drop a few updates on our upcoming merch. First off, we wanted to let everyone know that our friends over at Limited Run Games have partnered with Best Buy to release a variant cover of the Switch version if you missed out on the release from their website, which had the exclusive holographic cover.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/toejam-earl-back-in-the-groove-nintendo-switch/6355663.p?skuId=6355663

If you already own the game and are just interested in the Best Buy variant cover you can order just the cover directly from Limited Run Games here:

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/cover-sheets/products/toejam-earl-back-in-the-groove-best-buy-exclusive-cover-sheet

Nintendo Switch Sale

Next, we wanted to let everyone know that our game is currently on sale on the Nintendo eShop for the lowest price it’s ever been! Pick up an extra copy for Switch to take on the go with you or tell a friend! If digital ain’t your thing don’t forget you can always get the physical at Best Buy as mentioned above!

Collector’s Edition
We’re excited to say that people have been receiving shipping confirmation on their Limited Run Games Collector’s Editions! Thank you all for your patience while we made this the best product it could possibly be, we hope you enjoy setting up the board with all the diorama pieces, be sure to Tweet us @toejamandearl with your funky designs!

Funkotron Sale

We will be having a sale on https://thefunkotronshop.com on the 15th of this month! Some of the original Kickstarter items will be on sale and this will probably be your LAST CHANCE to get them, and at new low prices!

We will also be adding 2 new items to the shop our leftover PAX Promo TJ Chain T-shirt and Kickstarter Backer Boxes. Both these items will be discounted during our Summer Sale!

We currently have less than 50 TJ Chain T-shirts and less than 500 Backer Boxes and once they’re gone they aren’t coming back. So get ‘em now while they’re discounted or you may never get the chance again! Please spread the word, we don’t want anyone missing out!

Future things!
In case you missed it, we will have a vinyl reprint and plushies coming soon! We have approved designs for the vinyl so those should be on their way and we are still working on the prototypes for the plushies to make sure they are ready for release. We hope you enjoy them when they’re ready!

In the game zone of things, we just released version 1.5.0 on Steam which included Endless and Extreme! Once we get a few things ironed out we will be ready to release on consoles. Thanks console fans for your patience as we get 1.5.0 prepared and polished for y’all!

As always you can find us:
Email: support@humanaturestudios.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/toejamandearl
Discord: https://discord.gg/QrkcPGe
Twitch.tv: https://www.twitch.tv/toejam_earl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toejamandearlofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toejamandearlart/

Jul 1, 2019

July Update with Extreme and Endless Worlds!

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! - Nap

Hey all! Time for the FUNKY JULY UPDATE with some bug fixes and Extreme and Endless Worlds!! And the good news? It’s launching tonight on Steam! Extreme Mode is ready to go but Endless comes with a few issues we would like to bring to your attention before we get started with this update:

-Infinite loading Elevators causing a softlock. Must restart game to fix.
-Closing the game will remove your entire inventory. This can be prevented by dropping your inventory on the ground before you save and close.
-If you get stuck in an Elevator that won't go up and won't let you out of it while playing online, you may have to kick the players in your game and have them rejoin, or Save & Quit and restart.

Since the Steam version is much easier to patch than the console versions we will be pushing 1.5.0 out onto Steam first with a warning that Endless is still in beta. Once we get all these bugs sorted out we will then push a new update out with all the fixes to Steam and consoles in the form of 1.5.1. Console players, thanks for being patient with us as we get this sorted out!

So for those of you that haven’t heard, we agreed to create two new modes just for our most hardcore dedicated players. The players that want more of a challenge that was introduced in the first game, while also keeping the pace and new mechanics introduced by Back in the Groove... THIS MODE IS FOR YOU!! We understand that some players already feel Hard Mode is Hard enough so instead of making changes to that mode all these new changes will be applied to Extreme Mode with only a few making it into Endless and only the ‘quality of life’ changes getting brought into Fixed/Normal/Hard.

First off, how Extreme World and Endless World are unlocked. Extreme World is unlocked by completing Hard World, if you have already completed Hard World you may have to complete it again for Extreme to unlock, and Endless is a reward for players who are able to get to Level 15 in Extreme Mode.

Endless World starts exactly like any Random World, but at Level 50 all your presents get un-identified and some Extreme World changes will start to be applied. Every 50 levels after that your presents will continue to be un-identified, so be careful! Endless World has infinite Promotions as well, so your character can go beyond Funklord! This means in Extreme World the enemies are OP but in Endless World YOU’RE going to be OP!

When you get to the character select screen in Extreme you may notice the characters have been rebalanced a bit for this mode, here are a couple of the buffs and nerfs they have received:

All characters have been given a special focus on what makes them unique. We have also increased a bunch of their stats to hopefully help you max out one or two during your Extreme playthough. Players felt that even though they are achieving Funklord rank, that none of their skills would ever get maxed out. Because of this we have introduced the auto search feature that occurs at Max Search rank to begin around Rank 6 Search Skill instead of only applying on Max. This means that when you search there is a very small chance that items will automatically pop out of their surroundings. This chance increases the more your Search Skill increases.

Earl & Old Skool Earl have had their speed, health and inventory size increased. Both Earls have been given reduced Damage to Broken Presents (trust us, you’re gonna need it in this mode!) Regular Earl has been given an increase in Search Skill specifically, while Old Skool Earl is now buffed in Present Skill. Flo gets similar buffs to both Earls but with a focus on support. We have kept Flo’s passive increased Hi-Five health (especially with Earl!!) but also given her increased heal on Good Food. Earl gets a small health increase when he picks up bad food and Old Skool Earl still gets his 2 for 1 Sushi, but we have increased the health of Sushi in this mode. So essentially Old Skool Earl is given a tiny pocket heal he can carry, while Earl gets his extra healing from bad food on the floor, YUCK!

We have increased GeekJam’s speed to be on par with his cousin ToeJam while also making him a great scout character as he gets a larger detect radius when he searches and he also has a chance to Identify a present on pick up. Of course he retains his random stat boost when opening a School Book present.

Latisha and Lewanda are now really skilled with presents, Latisha having a higher present skill and much more deadly tomatoes and Lewanda having more Luck and extra ability to Fix a present on pickup. Latisha is now very good at clearing out a level for safe searching, while Lewanda retains her free coin meters (coin meters have also been given a bit of a buff).

Peabo has been given buffs to his stats but also retains his slow movement speed making him more of a ‘Hard Mode’ character. Due to his small size though we have given him a new passive, he is less likely to be noticed by Earthlings! So although Peabo is small and slow there is more of a chance of you sneaking around an Earthling to secure those extra presents and bucks lying on the ground.

And now for some disappointing news… we have decided to hit ToeJam with some nerfs in this mode. We know, we know, we love our homeboy TJ too, but he has been the dominant choice in the game since the first one. So we have decided to reduce his movement speed by one, keeping the ‘Jam family (Old Skool form and his cousin GeekJam) the fastest characters in the game. In order to do this we had to reduce Latisha’s movement speed by 1 making her more in line with all the other characters while keeping TJ’s family the fastest. We also removed the double time to both ToeJams on their mobility presents (Hitops, Rocket Skates and Spring Shoes) as we felt this provided too much of an advantage to just blast through levels.

Instead ToeJam is given a chance to Amp a present on pick up (based on Present Skill) and Old Skool ToeJam is given increased speed with Hitops. ToeJam is still the most viable character in the early game, which is really useful for gathering presents before the game starts to get tough, but most other characters only need to roll 1 speed upgrade to catch up to him.

Earl
Increased Speed by 1
Increased Life Bar Size by 2
Increased Search Skill by 4
Increased Inventory Size by 1
Increased Luck by 1
Add new passive: Reduced damage from broken presents

Old Skool Earl
Increased Speed by 1
Increased Life Bar Size by 2
Increased Present Skill by 2
Increased Search Skill by 1
Increased Luck by 1
Add new passive: Reduced damage from broken presents

Flo
Increased Life Bar Size by 2
Increased Present Skill by 2
Increased Search Skill by 2
Increased Inventory Size by 1
Add new passive: Good Food heals more
Adjust Hi-Five passive for chance of super heal

GeekJam
Increased Speed by 1
Increased Life Bar Size by 1
Increased Present Skill by 3
Increased Luck by 1
Add new passives: Increased detect radius and increased chance of identify on pickup

Latisha
Decreased Speed by 1
Increased Life Bar Size by 2
Increased Present Skill by 1
Increased Search Skill by 1
Increased Inventory Size by 1
Increased Luck by 1
Add new passive: Tomatoes do much more damage and have more range

Lewanda
Increased Life Bar Size by 1
Increased Present Skill by 2
Increased Search Skill by 2
Increased Inventory Size by 1
Add new passive: Increased chance of fixing a present on pick up

Peabo
Increased Life Bar Size by 1
Increased Present Skill by 1
Increased Search Skill by 1
Increased Inventory Size by 2
Increased Luck by 1
Add new passive: Reduced chance of being noticed by Earthlings

ToeJam
Decrease Speed by 1
Increased Life Bar Size by 2
Removed passive: Double time with Spring Shoes and Hitops
Add new passive: Chance to Amp present on pickup

Old Skool ToeJam
Decreased Speed by 1
Increased Present Skill by 2
Increased Luck by 2
Removed passive: Double time with Rocket Skates and Hitops
Add new passive: Increased movespeed with Hitops

All Extreme Mode Balance Changes:
Increased chance of Broken Presents 40%
Reduce chances of finding presents and food from bushes and trees 40%
Increase chances of bad food and bowling balls by 50%
Reduced presents and money spawned on the ground by 50%
Reduced Wizard, Opera Singer, Mad Inventor spawn rate by 30%
Reduced Wiseman spawn rate 40%
Wiseman will no longer be walking around the map after Level 18. (Wiseman still has a rare chance of being spawned from bushes after Level 18)
Wiseman is no longer on every level
Decreased Santa spawn rate by 30%
Reduce Sunflowers by 60%
Reduce chance of a present spawning on Backer Island by 50%
Backer Island now has a chance to spawn bad presents on it as well as all mobility presents (Spring Shoes, Hitops, Rocket Skates, etc)
Disabled Power Hats
Disabled Santa Presents
Disabled Level 0
Removed all Starting Presents
Removed Presents from Level 1, except on the secret ‘Present Island’
All Earthlings are now their ‘Deadly’ variant from Level 2 onward
All Earthlings have increased damage, notice range and speed. These stats have been individually adjusted per Earthling.
Replaced all Dolphins with Sharks
Starting lives reduced from 3 to 2
Removed the level cap on when Good and Bad Presents would appear, all presents available from Level 2. (Previously presents like Extra Life and Promotion wouldn’t appear until Level 6)
Decrease chance of finding Promotion present 25%
Decrease chance of finding Extra Life present 25%
Decrease chance of finding Duplicate Present present 25%
Increase chance of finding Total Bummer present 25%
Increase chance of finding Major Randomizer present 25%
Increased chance of Broken Presents exploding on you
Decreased chance of Identifying or Fixing a present automatically on pick up
Decreased chance of Luck stat keeping you alive after a fatal blow
Movement speed in water reduced 50%
Movement speed in water is now capped for all aliens (it would scale on Speed rank)
Increased rate health drains in water by 30%
Decreased chance of Rhythm Matching Dance games spawning by 30%
Rhythm Matching Dance games capped at 1 use instead of 2
Enemies are now allowed on Ice during Ice levels
Reduced movement speed provided by Ice
Reduced healing provided by Good Food 30%
Increased damage provided by Bad Food 30%
Increased damage of Bowling Balls 15%
Removed the aggro break that would occur after opening a Broken Present
Reduced chance of Golden Mailbox spawning by 30%
Reduced chance of Normal Mailbox spawning by 20%
Decrease XP rewarded by Bad Presents to 175 XP
Increase XP rewarded by Good Presents to 350 XP
Limit Cosplay Nerds to 3 rolls
Change Cosplay rewards to $2-5
Decrease chance of NPCs offering you free items by 75%
Capped Ship Piece cash bonus at $2-5
Increase damage of Rain Cloud 15%
Removed default Flashlight from Dark Levels
Added ability for Auto Search to happen at Search Rank 6 (chance increases with rank)
Fixed XP not being rewarded by resources revealed from Auto Search
Fixed a few enemies being able to hit you while Present Menu is up
Increase health provided by Sushi by 25%
Remove ability to use Change, Duplicate, Amp presents on Broken Presents
Duplicating a present now only duplicates the base present and does not duplicate Amped effect
Decreased Coin Meters from spawning 30%
Capped Coin Meters chain at 6 uses
Increased chances of Coin Meters paying out Money, Good Food, Presents
Removed Bad Food from Coin Meters
Decreased chances of HFZ, Secret Doorway and Devil spawning from Coin Meters
Limited the presents spawned from Coin Meters to either be REALLY good or pretty bad
Increased cost of Coin Meters to 20 cents
Removed HFZ from spawning on the ground, it can only be accessed from Coin Meters now
Made Secret Level and North Pole more evil
Reduce Telephones spawning by 10%
Increase time Telephones ring for by 10 seconds
Increased damage of Tomatoes and Slingshot (to better deal with the harder enemies)
Removed Aggro Break from School Book present
Removed Aggro Break that occurs when sleeping
Caveman will now aggro you if holding Tomatoes, Slingshot or Tomato Rain
Removed free Elevator Teleport that occurs in 3-4p games
Amped Amp 5 now Amps 6 presents instead of 8
Increased Health of Opera Singer to withstand 1 bowling ball hit (pops when hit by 2)
Increased Health of King Tut to withstand 2 bowling ball hits (pops when hit by 3)
At Level 15 all Earthlings get a 5% speed increase
At Level 20 all Earthlings get a 10% speed increase

We can’t wait to hear what you all have to say about our new modes. We made all these changes based on user feedback so we are very excited to get them into the hands of all players.

We are glad to see backers are starting to get their PC Physical Collector’s Edition delivered. If you missed out on this we will have a few of these on sale on our Funkotron Shop at a later date, we will update when those are live. We created only 2000 of these and 1600 are going to backers which means there will only be around 400 or so going up on the store. Don’t miss out! Also the Limited Run Games Collector’s Editions are due to ship out this week and should be arriving shortly. Thanks for your patience on these items!

Funkotron Shop: https://www.thefunkotronshop.com/

And our Steam Summer Sale discount is now live at 33% off which is the low price of $13.39 all to get funky with some alien homies, whoa!! Be sure to tell a friend that’s been waiting for the perfect moment to join the party, because this is it!

Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/GNjXpxS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/toejamandearl
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toejamandearlart/
Tune into our streams every Tuesday and Friday at 4PM PST/7PM EST at: https://www.twitch.tv/toejam_earl

Thank you all for your support and taking this journey with us to get the game just perfect for ToeJam & Earl history!