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So here we are. CloudGate's first official game, launching in Early Access on Steam. Five months ago we had just gotten back from GDC where we showed off "Vive's Scariest Horror Game" we had made in under four weeks. A week after GDC we had left our jobs. A month and a half after that, CloudGate Studio would be officially formed, and after a few months of very, very hard work, we have arrived at today.
Jeremy and Mike and I are proud to announce that today you can get Island 359 via Steam Early Access, for $19.99.
There's been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears shed to make this happen. You only get one launch year for a new piece of hardware, and this isn't just any hardware. It's the Birth of VR. We couldn't miss out on being a part of the historic launch of an entirely new medium, so we hatched a plan to get Island 359 made in three months. With just Jeremy and I working on it. Two guys. Three months. It's been a lot of hard work.
While working on it we realized we could make it into something so much more than just another wave shooter. We prototyped the movement mechanic, and iterated on it at least another three times until it became the intuitive Sprint mechanic you'll see later today. That freed up the entire map to movement, which now suddenly seemed too small. So we kept re-making the map. Bigger, and bigger, and at one point it got so big we weren't sure machines could run it, but we discovered how to stream foliage, and dinosaurs, and do things with Unreal Engine 4 we didn't think we were capable of. Suddenly, we had an open world dinosaur hunting exploration title, and we realized: we can't stop now.
So, please, take some time today to check out our Twitch stream, or (hopefully!) some other Lets Players today who will be streaming it. We hope your minds are blown by the potential of the game and the love we poured into making it. We genuinely love watching people playing Island 359 and walking away with wide eyes, and fast hearts. If you have a Vive, grab it in the store, and please, share it with your friends! Have them over to play and show them how incredibly real VR can be.
Today is a monumentally huge day for us here at CloudGate, but we want you to know we're just getting started.
We can't wait to show you what's next.
