'Alto's Odyssey': How the team behind 'Alto's Adventure' came up with one of the best smartphone games ever made

Snowman

Alto's Adventure is a game full of colour.

• The sequel to the critically acclaimed "Alto's Adventure," called "Alto's Odyssey," released this month after almost three years of development.
• The game builds on its predecessor's mechanics, but expands on them significantly while still maintaining the soul of the original game that players fell in love with.
• The resulting game, "Alto's Odyssey," might just be the best iPhone game around, if not the best mobile interactive experience outright.

When "Alto's Adventure" was first released in February 2015, expectations among its developers weren't high, and there was little beyond hope that their hard work would pay off.

But that hard work did pay off, with glowing reviews from the press and a deluge of positive comments from players of all kinds.

That's why Team Alto - the group formed by people from the Toronto-based developer Snowman and others like the British artist and programmer Harry Nesbit - faced a much bigger challenge when it came to doubling down on that success with a sequel.

Business Insider talked to Team Alto about "Alto's Odyssey," the saga's second chapter, which launches on iOS devices and the Apple TV on February 22, to get a sense of what the three-year journey was like, and the story behind it:

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