Hi! Fresh on the tails of a similar update to The Spy Who Shrunk Me; you're getting the soundtrack to Taphouse VR by Antti Luode to your Steam library!

Read on to get some more info about whatever happened with this game, the non-existent sequel and what the team moved to next.




Taphouse VR's soundtrack isn't an OST - it was actually composed by Antti Luode using his Antti's Instrumentals songs that he released to the world, royalty-free. So technically, we haven't "released anything", we just used those. I took the liberty of adding the name of the tavern the songs appear in, but that's it - track names correspond to the royalty-free ones!

All 9 tracks are available through Steam's neat soundtrack system - so it'll appear in your Steam library under "Soundtracks". It's free - as a thank you for playing the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2704080/Taphouse_VR__Soundtrack/


As most of you know, Catland is long dead. The game IPs were bought out by the CEO & creative director Tomi Toikka (me, the one typing this post) in order to preserve them even after being lost during all the winding-down-a-company hustle. I really think Taphouse VR and The Spy Who Shrunk Me deserve to be enjoyed by gamers long after the company is gone - so I've been preserving, discounting and nurturing them since we wound down operations.

Let me take you back on a history lesson.




We made Catland during a business incubator called Nordic VR Startups (after branded as Nordic XR Startups). It was just three founders back then; me (Tomi), Anssi and Tommi (both programmers).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/591680/Taphouse_VR/

Virtual reality was still in its infancy. Here's the very first prototype video of Taphouse VR I could find.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_x5Wj_CSx0

This prototype got us to many places - including the incubator program. We even got to show off the game at Slush 2017! It was all thanks to our mentors in the program, who helped us turn a hobbyist weirdo project into an actual videogame. They helped us also with funding the thing and getting our team up and running.



This picture from October 2017 shows off the incubator program's companies and mentors. It feels like ages! Probably the most I've learned of anything in my life in such a short timespan. Keep in mind; this company was formed by three random people meeting in a bar in Forssa.

Here's us showing the game off in a XR event. The logo is still the coolest thing I ever made.




Some of the first things I did (I made the first prototypes all by myself in Unity and VRTK) was the meme-filled labels on the drinks in the bar. I got some friends of mine (thanks Whitby and the other Tomi) to make me glass models and dwarf clothes. But I'm most proud of the labels, which were just in-jokes and memes from back in the day.



In fact, I gathered them to a PDF for you! Here you go: https://tomitoikka.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TaphouseVRLabels.pdf


The most hilarious thing was when the Finnish press branded the game to be a gay bear bar simulator. That was a nice phone call from Mom when I was on the front page of Ilta-Sanomat. Here's a translated link if you don't know Finnish.

https://www-is-fi.translate.goog/digitoday/art-2000005366313.html?_x_tr_sl=fi&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US


The phrasing "The customers of the current version of Taphouse VR look strongly like teddy bear men based on classic gay aesthetics. According to Toikka, these are the elves or dwarfs of the game's own fantasy world." will be on my tombstone. Lmao.

The reason most of the dwarves in the screenshots didn't have shirts was because we had numerous clipping issues with the t-shirt models at the time...but I get it. It was hilarious.

For some unknown reason then, soon after the article, we released the Ladies Night content update with new diverse drunks to make sure we've got an adequate balance of colorful characters!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/591680/announcements/detail/1571059408646102833


There's a retrospective specifically for this part here!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/754850/announcements/detail/6968819156365318616




Taphouse 2 was a project we announced that got shelved very early into development and our development effort went to Starship Saboteur's prototype instead - which we also shelved. Catland stopped existing shortly after, sadly, due to funding running out.

Taphouse 2 was meant to have new patrons (goblins), new interactables such as a new machine to play, new complex recipes and both PC and VR support. We simply didn't have the motivation or the skillset to actually do a proper sequel to the game back then, and in many ways the first prototypes of Taphouse 2 were vastly inferior to the original - trust me on that.

You can see some in-progress screenshots here.

https://www.igdb.com/games/taphouse-2-the-taphousening




We took the death of Catland pretty hard, but all of us stuck to the gaming industry. I started a new company called Makea Games, of which I'm the CEO, Founder & Creative Director of.

For Taphouse VR, I made the first prototype, most if not all non-assetflip textures, marketing art, the taverns itself, all UI and much more I can't remember anymore.

For The Spy Who Shrunk Me, I did marketing art, the entire UI, wrote and scripted the cutscenes and story, made the initial prototype and came up with all the gameplay features.

Anssi, one of the founders and programmers, went to work on games like Surviving the Aftermath from Iceflake Studios and other projects, and is now founding a new game company!

Tommi, the other founder and programmer, went onto Iceflake Studios as well to work on Surviving the Aftermath and other cool titles.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/684450/Surviving_the_Aftermath/

Many of the rest of the development team moved onto my next venture. Out of the team, Ville (programmer at Catland who helped us with "liquid physics shader", now CTO at Makea Games), Bea (environment artist at Catland, now founder at Makea Games) and Pyry (all-around guru, now game designer at Makea Games) joined me at Makea Games.

If you're interested in what we're working on - we are making the ultimate parkour party game called Supermoves! You can check out some of the revealed stuff at https://supermovesgame.com. Put it this way; if you like Tony Hawk's, Mirror's Edge, Fall Guys and Minecraft - boy do we have a game for you.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1959580/Supermoves/


Is there going to be a sequel/prequel/any followup for Taphouse VR?

We tried to make a sequel called Taphouse 2 but ran out of funding. We used to have a saying "Everyone loves Taphouse" which still holds true to this day. It always makes my day to see people still enjoying Taphouse VR!! But probably not. A remaster? Maybe, if I can find a developer for it.

Are you ever going to update or bugfix Taphouse?

I'm way too busy with my new company to do that, unfortunately. I'm not a programmer, but I would love for someone to migrate the game over to OpenXR from the VRTK it has now. Get in touch through Steam if you can handle it.

Could you release the source code for Taphouse VR?

Yeah, technically I could. This was however one of the first projects we ever worked on, so the codebase is really, really horrid. I'd rather get a programmer or two to remake it to work on newer VR headsets.

Will Taphouse VR stay on Steam?

Yes, as long as I am able to host it somewhere. I've been using my friend's company Adjective Animal for the games - the sales from the spinner go directly to funding the upkeep of stuff like accounting and business costs. I might make my own holding company someday to host it, it's no biggie.

Check out Adjective Animal's games (like the Smash-like topdown hockey game Puck Buddies) here.

Can I use the music in the soundtrack in my videos or streaming content?

It's CC BY 3.0!

Whatever happened to Starship Saboteur?

It didn't get funded. It was a neat concept though and I really learned a lot from it.

Will Catland ever make a return?

It was my first company and will always be in my heart. That logo I made in 3 minutes (and which required 3 hours to have the eye blink using CSS) is still the best damn logo I ever made. Maybe I'll keep hiding the logo around in my future endeavors to keep the spirit of Catland alive. But no, as a company and a studio, we've all drifted apart to our own ventures - we do keep a DIscord server up for catching up from time to time :) We used to have a saying; "from this poker table, we leave as friends". I hope people remember Catland fondly and give it the love it deserves. That's what we all want. Avenge us! ːsporobarː

I'll keep the games nice and tidy in the Steam store so people can play them. Feel free to keep on playing Taphouse VR and The Spy Who Shrunk Me, grab a copy for your friends. I will keep doing discounts and general maintenance. If you really enjoyed the games and want more from the developers, I'll have some news about my next game soon as a separate announcement.

I can't really say how thankful for I am for all the players who've enjoyed Taphouse VR all these years. Thank you so much for having fun with the game! I wish all the best to you.

Tomi Toikka
Former CEO
Catland

Introducing the one and only Scorpion Queen, Sammu! Win her heart to boost your team and secure flawless victories in battles.

CODE:


REWARD:
Gem x300
Summon Ticket x5
4-star Hero Soulstone x60
Period: 1 Jan 05:00 ~ 8 Jan 05:00 EDT

Keep an eye out for exclusive bundles in the Shop to level up your game.

This is a limited event - Don’t miss the chance to add the sexy and powerful Scorpion Queen to your harem!

Scorpion Queen - Sammu Valhalla period: December 31st, 05:00 ~ January 28th, 05:00 EDT



The King of Kinks team

Hi everyone, get Necesse for 50% off during the Steam Winter Sale! Build, quest, and conquer across an procedurally generated world. Establish a settlement, explore dungeons, fight monsters and bosses, mine rare ores, craft equipment, and more!

Check out this game and Hooded Horse's other published games during the Winter Sale until January 4.

❄❄❄Hello to the community of the game Blockade.❄❄❄

Dear Players! On behalf of the Project Administration and the Developer team, we hasten to congratulate you on the New Year! We wish you only the best and brightest in the New Year. We wish that your cherished dreams come true and your goals are achieved! Good health to you! May the passing year leave with it everything bad and unpleasant. Let all problems and worries remain in the past year!

As you all know very well, every year around this time the warmest update of the year comes out! Here you will find snow on the maps, themed music with Easter eggs, and much more...

Innovations:

• All players were given gifts: 50 Coins, 100 SCULLS (event currency), 24 M61 Grenades, 2 days of Premium, 24 MK3 Grenades, 24 M202 Grenade Launchers, 24 First Aid Kits L, 24 Mortars, 24 Mines;
  
• A festive themed event has started in the game, in which you can receive a “NEW YEAR 2024” badge as a reward and a choice of weapons (COLT M1911, HK MP5SD, AK74, SVD, MINIGAN, WINCHESTER M1887 from the new edition “ICE”), masks (LADYBUG, RED NOSE, BULL, DRAGON, GLASSES WITH HORNS), hats (SNOWMAN, GAS MASK HAT, BEAR, RUDOLF, TV), badges (BOW, BELLS) and skins (ZORRO, DRAGON). Overall, players liked the new event format, so this time it will remain the same, but with minor changes. You have the opportunity to farm the event currency “SCULLS”, for which you can already buy items of your choice not only from this year’s event, but also old themed or unique items. The event is divided into 2 parts. To complete the entire event, you need to make purchases in the event store using the new currency “SCULLS”. It is not necessary to buy all items. To complete the first part, you need to buy 10 out of 12 items, and to complete the second part, 15 out of 18. When you complete each part, you will receive unique ZORRO and DRAGON skins as a reward. The second part of the event, by the way, will not be available immediately after purchasing the required number of items. To unlock it you still need to wait until January 7th. All “SCULLS” will disappear after the event, but don’t worry. After completing the event completely, you will have access to the ANTIQUE SHOP. The new event currency is farmed by completing quests or killing players and zombies on servers. The event will last until January 28 (23/59/59 Moscow time);
  
• The event store "ANTIQUE SHOP" this time has been replenished with an assortment of winter themed goods, as well as unique goods. You can only buy items in this store using “SCULLS”;
  
• New themed skins have been added to the game: ZORRO, DRAGON, ALP, ALPINA;
  
• ZORRO Skin: Receives 3% less damage from melee weapons. Deals 3% more damage with melee weapons;
  
• DRAGON skin: Receives 3% less damage from bullets, 5% from melee weapons and 50% from fire;
  
• ALP skin: Receives 5% less damage from bullets, 3% from melee weapons and 20% from explosions;
  
• The ALP skin can be purchased for “SCULLS”;
  
• ALPINA skin: Receives 5% less damage from bullets, 3% from melee weapons and 20% from explosions;
  
• The ALPINA skin can be purchased for “SCULLS”;
  
• For a long time, players have been asking us to add black and white weapon skins to the game, so, at the request of our community, “ICE” edition weapons have been added to the game: COLT M1911, HK MP5SD, AK74, SVD, MINIGAN, WINCHESTER M1887;
  
• All weapons in the “ICE” edition do not differ in characteristics from their fully upgraded basic counterparts;
  
• Some weapons from the ICE edition have their own set of modules;
  
• The ICE edition will be available for purchase with SCULLS in 1 year;
  
• Unique weapons have been added to the ANTIQUE SHOP that cannot be purchased for other currencies: AK-12, UZKON UNG-12, CZ805 BREN;
  
• Weapons from the “WINTER” edition have been added to the game: STECHKIN, TYPE99, VEPR-12, SCORPION EVO3, FN SCAR, M1A1 CARBINE;
  
• The “WINTER” edition gives a bonus to the stock of weapons in both stock and upgraded states;
  
• All weapons in the “WINTER” edition have similar characteristics to their basic counterparts, with the exception of stock;
  
• Weapons from the “WINTER” edition can be upgraded;
  
• In order to use the bayonet on the TYPE99 machine gun, you need to press the “V” button;
  
• Some weapons from the WINTER edition have their own set of modules;
  
• The WINTER edition can be purchased with coins and SCULLS;
  
• The NEW YEAR edition has been expanded with new items: BERETTA 92, M1A1 THOMPSON, FG-42, MAC M1924, SVT-40, STRIKER;
  
• All weapons in the NEW YEAR edition do not differ in characteristics from their fully upgraded basic counterparts;
  
• Some weapons from the NEW YEAR edition have their own set of modules;
  
• The NEW YEAR edition can be purchased with coins and SCULLS;
  
• Thematic masks have been added to the game: LADYBUG, RED NOSE, BULL, DRAGON, GLASSES WITH HORNS;
  
• Thematic hats have been added to the game: SNOWMAN, GAS MASK HAT, BEAR, RUDOLF, TV;
  
• Thematic icons have been added to the game: BOW, BELLS;
  
• All new items from the event will be available for purchase after 1 year;
  
• For the duration of the event, the “SNOWBALLS” and “INVASION” modes have been launched;
  
• Weapons added to sale: GLOCK 18C, MACMILLAN CS5, M60;
  
• Old themed items from previous years have been added to the sale;
  
• In the "ANTIQUE STORE" you can buy CARAMEL and LOLLYPOP;
  
• In the "ANTIQUE STORE" you can buy items from the "CHRISTMASS" edition: WALTHER P99, DESERT EAGLE, MGV-176, UZI, FN F2000, FAMAS, HK21, SKS, L96A1, BENELLI NOVA;
  
• All weapons of the “CHRISTMASS” edition do not differ in characteristics from fully upgraded basic analogues;
  
• Some weapons from the CHRISTMASS edition have their own set of modules;
  
• Added Animal Easter Eggs and two types of classic Easter Eggs. Easter eggs will be in the game until January 7 (23/59/59 Moscow time). There is no use searching on private servers!
  
• The chance of Easter eggs appearing depends on the number of players on the server (key values are 5, 8, 10, 12 players on the server). Minimum chance of appearance with 5 players. Maximum chance of appearance with 12 players or more;
  
• The chance of Easter eggs appearing from 4% (with 5 players on the server) to 20% (with 12 or more players on the server);
  
• The chance of large Easter eggs appearing from 4% (with 5 players on the server) to 20% (with 12 or more players on the server);
  
• The chance of small Easter eggs appearing from 10% (with 5 players on the server) to 50% (with 12 or more players on the server);
  
• Mechanics of Easter Egg Animals - one of the players turns into an Easter Egg, and the rest begin hunting for him! The transformed one's task is to survive in order to receive a reward of 250 coins. If you fail to survive, the reward will be divided among the hunters in proportion to the damage caused. You have 5 minutes to hunt. If the map changes during the event, no one receives a reward. Easter eggs will spawn in all modes except Zombie mode;
  
• Mechanics of Big Easter Eggs - disappear 60 minutes after their appearance, and the reward of 500 coins is divided between players in proportion to the damage caused. Whoever kills the Easter egg will receive an additional bonus: 20 grenades, 20 bumblebees, 20 mk3, 20 m202! Easter eggs will spawn in all modes;
  
• The mechanics of Little Easter Eggs - they disappear 30 seconds after they appear, and you can get from 5 to 15 coins from them. Easter eggs will spawn in all modes;
  
• Easter eggs are not tied to a time frame, as was the case in past years, when Easter eggs could appear exactly at 00, 10, 20, etc. minutes of every hour. Different types of Easter eggs can appear on the same server at the same time, but Easter eggs of the same type cannot appear more than once every 5 minutes. Easter eggs cannot appear if there are less than 5 players on the server. The chances of occurrence are indicated above. The time between the appearance of Easter eggs is calculated randomly;
  
• Promotions have been launched for the purchase of coins and items from some seasons until January 28 (23/59/59 Moscow time).

Changes:

• The design of the game has changed to festive. The background in the game menu, as well as the loading screen, have been updated. Snow has fallen on the servers, and pleasant music is playing on the menu. M61 grenades and command blocks were replaced by Christmas decorations and gifts;
  
• After the introduction of the new mechanics of damage from distance, the effectiveness of some weapons turned out to be excessive. We are talking about individual “shotguns”. Shotguns like the SPAS-12 and those similar in gameplay have become overly effective at extreme range, which is at odds with their game concept. At the request of players, it was decided to revise certain characteristics for a number of shotgun class weapons. We decided to significantly reduce the firing range and increase damage. Thus, these types of weapons will become more effective at the distance stated in the characteristics, and will not be too effective at the maximum distance, and their overall effectiveness will remain within the limits of what it was even before the introduction of new mechanics;
  
• Statistics from the last event showed that players do not have enough time to complete all available tasks to receive “SKULLS”, so we decided to double the reward for completing them;
  
• The crossbow has been sent for bugfixing.

Corrections:

• The characteristics of the SR-25 Snow weapon have been corrected;
  
• Fixed operation of the consumables. Testing;
  
• Other minor fixes.

In the coming days, several small updates with corrections and improvements are possible.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Hello, players!

As the year draws to a close, we want to take this moment to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you. It's been an incredible year filled with adventures and fun, all thanks to your ongoing support and passion for our game.


We are thrilled to announce that our end-of-year event is now available on the mobile version of the game! This event is our way of celebrating with you, bringing joy and festivity.

• Festive Christmas Skins: Dress your characters in exclusive themed skins and get into the holiday spirit!
  
  
• Fully Voiced Story Event: Dive into a special Christmas adventure with an engaging, fully voiced storyline.

For those who haven't yet tried, our game is available for free download on Android. Join the fun and participate in this wonderful end-of-year event!

And there's more! Early next year, our game will be available in Early Access for PC, exclusively on Steam. Get ready to elevate your gaming experience!

As we bid farewell to 2023 and welcome 2024, we look forward to sharing even more exciting moments and amazing news with all of you.

🎄 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Red Studios! 🎉

• A construction bug introduced in the previous hotfix

The new multiplayer mode "Rescue" is now online with the latest content update:

In this original new multiplayer mode, you'll have to rescue and escort a multitude of important agents out of the combat zone with your team. But be careful! Your enemies have the same intention for different purposes, so protect them at all costs and avoid ambushes.

The team that reaches the objective or achieves the most exfiltration will be victorious.

Be sure to relaunch the game and Steam to launch the update.


What's new? - Fixes and changelogs :

• New multiplayer mode: Rescue.
  
• Map expansion to Ishtar Hotel now encompassing both hotels: "Hotels".
  
• Slight bots improvement in-game. Added logic for Rescue mode.
  
• Additions of 6 interactive elevators, 2 large for Palestine Hotel and 4 standard for Ishtar Hotel for rooftop warfare experience.
  
• Fall damage implementation (obvious with the previous point).
  
• Addition of weapon drop on death, weapon swap and ammo grab possibility from drops.
  
• Snipers' max damage distance expanded.
  
• Fixed kill reticle remaining on screen after killstreaking.
  
• Minimap is now synced to late joining players.
  
• Optimized lobby logic.
  
• Additional map details added.
  
• Opening of new paths in Palestine Hotel.
  
• Addition of a few trees.

Stay tuned by wishlisting the game or why not diving directly into the early access experience by playing WAR OPERATION™: Full Contact.

Don't forget to report any bug in Discussions or directly in our http://discord.waroperation.com

1. New achievement: Transaction (completed after operating at 50%)
2. New core: Speculator (unlocked after completing "trading" achievements)
3. Fix the bug where upgrade rewards lack quantum damage
4. Fix a bug where the crew can be placed on the core through malicious operations
5. Fix a bug where the crew can be placed on other crew members through malicious operations
6. Fixed a bug where maximum health can be reduced to negative numbers. Now, the maximum health cannot be reduced to a minimum of 1 point
7. Optimize the description of the recycling bin, changing the original "can collect space gems" to "can collect dropped items (space gems, healing batteries, item treasure boxes)"
8. Attribute tips decimal point display, modified from displaying 3 decimal places to displaying 2 decimal places

VERSION 0.4.0

Mouse / Keyboard Changes

• Added optional 'turret mode' which allows you to aim weapons independently when enabled.
  
• Key binding added to toggle turret mode, defauled to Z.
  
• Keys for strafing now change to turning when in turret mode.
  
• Reverse is now bound to S and stabilize is moved to X by default.

Controller Changes

• Remapped all controls, firing is now on shoulder buttons, right stick can be used to aim weapons, etc.
  
• Added an aim assistance cursor when using a controller to play.
  
• Optional control binding added for reverse, not set by default on controller.

New Features / Content

• Double tap strafe (in strafe mode when using mouse / keyboard) to dodge in that direction.
  
• Added setting to disable double tap strafe to dodge.
  
• Optional control binding added for dodge left and right, not set by default.
  
• Thrusters now have a reverse stat which is slower than other directions.
  
• Enabled cursor color option in accessibility on steam deck for controller aim assist.
  
• Added new control binding prompts to the tutorial.
  
• Custom control bindings have been reset due to new control mechanics.

Balance Changes

• Removed armor and resistance from difficulty selection as they ruin gameplay.
  
• Rebalanced values for each difficulty to account for removal changes.
  
• Improved strafe speed on all thrusters to match acceleration and make it more useful.
  
• Players now gain +1 cargo space every time they level-up.
  
• Reduced Frigate turn speed to 200 from 300.
  
• Reduced Destroyer turn speed to 175 from 275.
  
• Reduced Cruiser aim speed to 125 from 175.
  
• Reduced Cruiser turn speed to 150 from 250.
  
• Reduced Battleship aim speed to 150 from 175.
  
• Reduced Battleship turn speed to 125 from 200.
  
• Reduced Boss aim speed to 150 from 200.
  
• Reduced Boss turn speed to 125 from 200.

Quality of Life / Accessibility

• Added play shortcut key for controllers to difficulty select and sector generation.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issues where some controller bindings would display incorrectly on pause menu.
  
• Rescue ships now hyperjump away when encounter is complete.
  
• Weapon tags no longer animate with scan line when scanning items.
  
• Upgrade tooltips now correctly explain why you can't add points to a locked upgrade.
  
• Rapidly hitting escape in mothership no longer results in the wrong cursor displaying.

Another update with a lot of fixes. Shattering finally doesn't cause any lag spikes anymore and also a bunch of other things have been cleaned up around the freeze mechanic. Also I'm trying out a new option for players that have been struggling with the zoomed-in over-the-shoulder aiming setup. You can now press C and the aiming view will switch between the default one and a new centered view that gives more overview to the surroundings to avoid ambushes easier. Hope it helps.
Also I changed some things with the default shotgun. To make it more appealing again it starts with 3 projectiles now.

I wish everyone a happy new year 2024!

• Removed performance bottleneck when enemies were shattering from the Ice Bucket of Dread skill card
  
• Mammoths don't slide anymore after freezing and execute the run animation properly
  
• Improved mammoth's freeze animation
  
• Fixed bug that caused frozen enemies to slide towards the player after spawning
  
• Fixed coins being rewarded for the first level the character starts with
  
• Fixed boss behavior that caused them to never attack when the player stayed too far away
  
• Removed placeholder item and skill cards from the deck that aren't unlockable yet
  
• Fixed bug that could stop shields from spawning again in the level
  
• Gems from shattering Undead Vultures drop to the floor now
  
• Cleaned up explosives from respawning enemies like boars, vultures and mammoths
  
• Boars, vultures and mammoths also start the projectile bounce from the Light Chain skill card

• Reverted change from 1.1.0 that divided coins for time survived by 3. Now the reward is back to 1 second equals 1 coin to improve pacing of progress.
  
• Minigun base damage reduced to 30 for balancing
  
• Ducks and Stars don't spawn from presents within the first 90 seconds anymore when they were not as useful

• Added the option to switch the aim camera view between classic over-the-shoulder and a new centered view
  
• More of a change than something new, but I just wanted to highlight it here: The shotgun starts with 3 projectiles now that have a combined base damage of 90 (30 per projectile), which also means the total number of projectiles it can get to with the Caramel Liqueur skill card has been raised to 11.