Hi everyone! Besides updates, we've been working on RIVE's marketing recently, trying to get the word out to a larger group of gamers. So far, we've reached a core group that's very enthusiastic (you!), but we hope to find a broader audience in the coming months.

You can help us a lot by filling out the RIVE Marketing Questionnaire[docs.google.com] we've prepared. Hopefully this will give us some insights into how to talk about the game better. Completing the form should only take a few minutes, so don't hold back :-)

It would also help us a lot if you'd share the above link with your friends and relatives. It doesn't matter whether they're familiar with RIVE, or have played it or not. We'd just like to get as much input as possible!

Thanks a bunch!

Two months after RIVE's release, we're pushing out a major update featuring Challenges, Battle Arenas and a new Normal campaign difficulty level. Also, as we've previously said, RIVE is Two Tribes' last game, and we felt that this would be a good time to give you a status update.

RIVE came out a little over two months ago, and it's been a wild ride. Players loved it, which is reflected in the amazing 95% "very positive" Steam user review score. Reviewers dug it too, calling it “A heart attack inducing crazy nostalgia rollercoaster”[gamerlaughs.com] featuring “Some of the most memorable moments in a shoot-em-up in years”[www.gamespot.com]. It was “The perfect combination of bullet hell and platformer”[www.gameblast.com.br] and “An awesome game from start to finish”[3rd-strike.com]. All in all, “A very serious candidate for the title Surprise Game of 2016”!

We got totally addicted to watching people play RIVE on YouTube and Twitch, often late at night due to differing time zones. We saw people set unbelievable Speedrun times and even complete the entire Single-Credit Mode (without ever dying), something we didn't really think was possible!


People are having a ton of fun with our final game, so it's no surprise that the feedback we get most often is: it should go on longer! We totally understand, especially as the existing extra modes (Speedrun and Single-Credit) focus on hardcore players who want to refine their RIVE skills.

For this update we wanted to add more real content, but new levels with the production value of the main campaign just weren't an option (more on that at the end of this post). Ultimately we found a great way to extend RIVE and provide more variety with the new Challenges and Battle Arenas.

Challenges has something new for you every day, in bronze, silver and gold variations. We challenge you to complete special tasks in familiar backdrops, with a cumulative difficulty level. Essentially, there will be something to do every time you return to RIVE.

Battle Arenas, on the other hand, offers endless fighting, begging the question just how long you could possibly survive. We've taken three popular scenes from the game and extended them forever… or until you inevitably crash and burn. (Active Steam players were able to playtest this idea in the temporary Skywhale Survivor special mission.)


There's another oft-heard piece of feedback. While RIVE met our goal of making a hardcore game for fans of classic shooters and platformers, some people just find it too difficult. A few even called us “sadistic”! Although, to be fair, we also had a guy complaining the game was “too easy”…

Many people told us RIVE is "the hardest game of the year", often as a compliment, but sometimes as a complaint too. Well, it's impossible to please everyone, and trying to do so will often result in something shapeless and bland. But let's just say that now that we've reached the hardcore, we want to make RIVE a bit more fun for all of you less hardcore players too.

We already tweaked the game's difficulty in earlier updates, but for v1.1 we've really gone in to polish some of the tougher parts. The in-game statistics helped us a lot as we could see where people died the most. On top of that, we added a Normal difficulty level to the campaign and separate missions.

We still feel Hard is the way RIVE is meant to be played, but for those who need it, Normal comes with stronger bullets, less damage from enemies and stronger health pick-ups.


Full release notes are in this Discussions topic.


So what else is going on at Two Tribes? We said last summer that RIVE would be our last game[www.twotribes.com], and that we'd support it as well as we could.

Today, Two Tribes is a bare-bones version of what it once was. Co-founder Collin just left for Vietnam, the first stop on his world trip, and artist Meinte has been working at MediaMonks for a while… So we're just co-founder Martijn and writer Niels now.

However, the above is still true. We're not working on any new projects, and we hope this new update shows that we're committed to making RIVE the best possible version of itself. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to get in touch!

In case you're wondering about ports: yes, other versions of RIVE are still in the cards, but we're not ready to announce any details, and they won't happen this year. If you want to enjoy RIVE now like many others are, your best chance is playing it on PS4 or Steam!

We're curious about how far you got in RIVE, and if you quit what your reason was to quit.

Sound off in the comments so we can make RIVE an even better game for you and others!

Thanks!

The Two Tribes Team

Hi all!

We just updated the game to v1.03 with the following changes:

New mode
Skywhale Survivor is the first challenge in the new Special Missions mode we've added. Battle an infinite torrent of Super Skywhales while avoiding magma waves... until your inevitable demise! Can you top the Leaderboards? (Hit Follow in the Community Hub to get access.)

New achievement
Channel your inner Chuck Norris and survive for three minutes in the new Special Mission.

日本語
RIVE can now be played in Japanese as well! We can't read it, but it looks really cool!

New beard
Cryo mode had unexpected results for space truckers with facial hair. We upgraded the freezer for all you wannabe Han Solo's out there.

Fixes and tweaks
We're constantly tweaking the game based on your feedback and the in-game statistics (if you let us, of course). Thanks everyone!

Enjoy!!!


The Two Tribes Peeps

Hi there,

We will be adding a "Special Missions" section to the game soon! The first special mission will be the Skywhale Survival mission. Test your survival skills in an endless version of the Super Skywhale boss!

Over time more special missions will be added in this section!

To access the Special Missions, simply follow the RIVE Community.

We expect to update the game soon!

Cheers,

The Two Tribes Peeps.

Heya RIVE player! Reviews on Steam are important, and we could definitely use some more out there. Feel free to drop a review to let people know you dig what we've cooked up!

http://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/recommended/recommendgame/278100

Thanks in advance!

The Two Tribes Team

Hi all!

We just released the v01.02 version (build 25769.9900) into the wild!

We listened to your feedback and tweaked the game to perfection! The following was added (ADD), changed (CHG) or fixed (FIX):

ADD: Choose from two more controller styles, with the left bumper and trigger switched for less analoggy jumping.
ADD: We put in an extra few game over messages, because why the hell not?
CHG: You can now switch game modes from within the Leaderboards screen.
CHG: The freshly tweaked Mission 9 rising lava level demands a tad less perseverance.
CHG: Soft Mode is offered earlier… and the game asks you again, except if you tell it not to.
FIX: We think we've squashed the bug that sometimes made the game crash between level switches!
FIX: Sometimes the music would go missing after restarting the mission. Making us sad because we like the music.
FIX: In Mission 10, avoiding and shooting DLL (like a real speedrunner would) caused you to get stuck.
FIX: Various bad checkpoints were steered towards a better life.

NOTE: After updating you will have to restart the mission you were currently playing.

Enjoy!!!

The Two Tribes Peeps

RIVE is now leaner and (slightly less) mean, thanks to you! We listened and tweaked a lot of things you were asking for. Here is the full update log:

Revision 25683.9898
ADD: More health is added each time you die at same checkpoint (max 10 points).
FIX: Checkpoint save delay now default 3 seconds (was 2 seconds) to combat unfair checkpoints.
FIX: Mission 11 pit of death incorrect checkpoint.
FIX: Mission 8 potential pit of death incorrect checkpoint.
FIX: Mission 5 sleeping whales fight missing checkpoint at very end of fight.
FIX: Mission 5 bathtub fight you could get stuck potentially. Not anymore.
FIX: Saving keybindings. (tnx CrunchyBiscuit)
ADD: Rank 1 in leaderboards now also displays total number of entries.
FIX: Borked leaderboards submission/fetch on Linux (and possibly Windows/Mac as well). (tnx [GOL] LiamD)
FIX: (Single Credit) When restarting campaign from ingame menu, while player is still alive, the progress wasn't properly reset. (tnx +/- Will)
FIX: Don't remove conversation when conversation is in paused state (e.g., in menu). (tnx +/- Will)
FIX: Potential crash bug in OSX HTTP layer.

So this is it, RIVE is out!

http://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/278100/

Our final game, and it's the best one we've ever made! Let us know what you think here or in the forums!

Can't wait to hear what you think about the game!

Greetings from Collin, Martijn and Meinte!