Yeeps: Cover and Search is an App Lab sleeper hit that the builders say reached 360,000 monthly-active customers, even earlier than its debut on the principle Quest retailer this week. Chatting with Highway to VR, the studio shares the impetus of the venture and the place it’s headed subsequent.
Created by Trass Video games, Yeeps: Cover and Search was developed over an eight-month interval, culminating in a Closed Alpha launch in February 2024. The sport formally launched on App Lab in March, and simply this week launched on the principle Quest retailer.
The event group, consisting of co-founders Jack Southard, Nathan Jew, and Steve Shockey, created Yeeps by means of a collaborative course of. Because the builders clarify, “The three of us, Jack, Nathan, and Steve, pitched three totally different sport concepts. We took components from every, then consolidated them into Yeeps.”
Yeeps prominently options arm-based locomotion, a system popularized by VR titles like Gorilla Tag. The builders acknowledge the inspiration. “Now we have a number of admiration for Gorilla Tag and the arm locomotion system they pioneered. We knew it was the way forward for VR locomotion, at the least within the social playground style.”
Nonetheless, Yeeps goals to distinguish itself by means of further options. “We added extra depth to [the locomotion] with devices like bombs and gliders,” the group explains. “We noticed how video games like Fortnite have advanced the battle royale style with enjoyable playful gadgets and knew we may do the identical with Yeeps in VR.”
A key focus of Yeeps is user-generated content material (UGC), pushed by the previous expertise of the group. “As youngsters, we sunk hundreds of hours into social UGC video games like Minecraft. We knew the ability of those expressive constructing methods and got down to construct a VR-native one with Yeeps.”
Since its App Lab launch, Trass Video games experiences vital consumer adoption. “Since we launched on App Lab on March 14th, 2024, Yeeps has grown to round 360,000 MAU,” the group says. With the [launch on the main Quest store], we’re assured the participant base will proceed to develop quickly.”
The sport has additionally garnered a major variety of consumer opinions. In response to the builders, it was simply three months after its App Lab launch that Yeeps surpassed VR basic SUPERHOT to change into the tenth most-reviewed VR sport of all time, whereas managing to exceed SUPERHOT’s common overview rating. The sport presently has greater than 31,000 rankings to SUPERHOT’s 18,000. Granted, Yeeps is free-to-play whereas SUPERHOT is priced at $25.
Trass Video games has outlined plans for normal content material updates to Yeeps. “We’re dedicated to frequent content material updates that add new devices, blocks, sport mechanics, and even biomes. We’re particularly excited to additional develop the social UGC facet of Yeeps and empower creators to construct and share whole worlds with the complete group,” the group says.
Trass Video games was based in 2022 by Jack Southard and Nathan Jew, who say they met of their freshman yr of highschool in 2015 and started constructing video games collectively. They are saying they constructed 30 small sport initiatives collectively earlier than discovering VR of their senior yr of highschool.
Their first VR venture was Overboard, launched on Steam in 2019, a “ridiculous VR sport about combating bloodthirsty and more and more lethal sharks utilizing makeshift weapons.”
When the pandemic hit in 2020, they change into compelled to construct a multiplayer VR sport. That led them to construct and launch Gods of Gravity in 2021, which was pretty properly acquired on Quest.
The studio says that Gods of Gravity gained the eye of the enterprise capital agency A16Z, which invited Trass Video games to its Speedrun accelerator, an early-stage funding program centered on sport growth. This system invests $750,000 in taking part firms.
Following the accelerator, Trass Video games doubled its group from three to 6, bringing on new artists with the purpose to “take all the things we had realized from making Gods of Gravity and make a brand new free social sport that was larger and higher in each approach.”
Regardless of getting a head-start with the A16Z Speedrun program, the studio says it doesn’t plan to take further funding. “Whereas we plan to slowly develop our group, we’re assured in our capacity to scale Yeeps as a small, environment friendly group. As such, we don’t plan on taking any funding,” the studio tells Highway to VR.
