Curious about TotF2? Here's the story so far...

[Ian (Sealost)]

tl;dr: The project had a very rocky start and basically reset in Jan 2023 when I started working with Halfbrick. It's been going smoothly since then, but just needs time to complete. We don't have a planned release date yet, but you will hear more about the game this year.

The background here is that I'm not a career game dev. I made TotF1 solo and had no experience building a studio, leading a team, or working on more complicated projects.

The TotF2 project officially started in Jul 2020, but I had no employees on day one, and it took me WAY longer to hire than I had ever imagined. It turns out that big companies were hiring like crazy and throwing tons of money at high-end engineers back in 2020/2021/2022, and my company was a no-name garage indie that nobody was interested in working for. I was able to get a talented programming contractor right away, but it took me until August 2021 to even find my first on-staff programmer, and I still needed a second one. I went through two different recruiters (who both ended up giving up) and tried working with multiple codevelopment firms, but they just didn't have the right people available to work on such a complicated project.

Meanwhile, the project was still inching forward, and we were able to at least prove out ideas for some of the harder technical challenges we needed to tackle. However, I was spending too much time trying to build and run the studio and wasn't able to be as hands-on with the low-level design details as I needed to be. The game was getting made, but it wasn't coming together as well as it needed to.

By mid-2022 the project was progressing enough that it looked like we could technically have something to launch by the end of 2023, but we weren't really happy with what we were making. I also had concerns with my small team being able to support the game well after launch.

Around that time, I happened to connect with Halfbrick's CEO, who was a huge fan of TotF1. I liked his personal views on business and making games, so I suggested the possibility of Halfbrick taking over development of TotF2. We both did our due diligence to make sure this was a good idea and that Halfbrick could handle the project, and then decided to go for it.

I began winding down the Sealost side of things and Halfbrick started winding up the Halfbrick side of things, and they got started in earnest in January 2023. We initially hoped Halfbrick could pick up where the Sealost team left off and that with the extra hands we could get the project to a state we were happy with while still releasing in 2023, but as the Halfbrick team got hands-on on the project we realized there wasn't a lot there that we wanted to salvage. We ended up starting a new project and treating the old project as a big chunk of R&D we could pull from as needed.

Since then, everything has been going smoothly. The team at Halfbrick is fantastic, and I get to give the game the attention it needs instead of having to deal with as much business stuff. For the last several months, we have had weekly team fight nights on our dev build, and we enjoy and are proud of the game we're making.

As far as the game itself, it's not TotF1 with more stuff tacked on. It's a completely new game built from the ground up with a goal of trying to replicate boxing as realistically as we can in VR. The focus is mainly on the fighting itself and trying to make it feel as natural and authentic as possible. Multiplayer is the marquee feature, but we also hope to improve the single player AI far beyond what is in TotF1, and to include some actual useful training that teaches you how to play the game and the fundamentals of boxing.

We don't have a release date yet, but you will hear more about the game this year.

[Conyo]

It's so hard to wait. I hope it'll be released in 24 years

[Zorro_X]

Sounds very good!!! Can't wait to see it released! if you need testers you can count me in!!!

[aewoptoiunayr]

patiently waiting, you have many fans and supporters, I would gladly help pass any data you need from your customers

[ChaosTao]

This sounds awesome! I am delighted to hear this. I love using TotF for my training and eagerly anticipate TotF2. Will you guys have a Beta before launch? Looking forward to more updates. Happy to hear this is being worked on :D

[Nika]

I'm looking forward to it! You will succeed!

[32042029]

In TotF2...

I'd like to fight Michael Tyson.
I can equip a custom skin?
(I'm using a translator, so there may be some character errors).

[0Dd1]

Looking forward to it! All the best for the remaining development!

[{VG}Virtual-Joker]

Dam dude, this game was all done by yourself and was a MASTER PIECE itself, it was spot on accurate to the punch, I wish you just added to the game if it was possible, hopefully you get to release it before im in old folks home, im 54 now, and its been 4 since, time is ticking.. GL

[IPunchedYourFamily]

Adding uppercuts as a differentiated punch, and adding a southpaw option in the settings would be advantageous.

I understand that the way TOTF1 works is that the 'front' hand will get detected as the jab but a good boxer working from a tight high guard won't hang a hand out in front like they're impersonating Queensberry rules.

The game is constantly assigning higher power numbers to my jab because it thinks it's my cross (tested extensively against the bag) and this seems like the kind of thing that could be dealt with using a checkbox.

[Sori the (il)legal Waller]

Can`t wait. I was wondering why the game never got an online mode. Hopefully it will be available on quest 3 on launch. Good luck to you and your team. I`m sure the game will be massively popular.

[CharlieKongo]

can not wait ! thank you for all your hard work and best of luck

[Gamer Mickey]

Originally posted by Sori the (il)legal Waller:

Can`t wait. I was wondering why the game never got an online mode. Hopefully it will be available on quest 3 on launch. Good luck to you and your team. I`m sure the game will be massively popular.

The latest information from the Devs is that the launch version will be on Quest. PCVR version will follow later

https://www.uploadvr.com/thrill-of-the-fight-2-teases-release-date/

[ymzk666]

I have become healthier through this game. I am grateful for it.
I have both the Quest2 and Steam versions, but I'm waiting for information so I can decide which one I want to play next.

[Grizzly]

Wishlisted on Meta!!! I'm super happy this has come to fruition! I can't wait to get back in shape again. It will be another great journey, I'm sure. If you need any beta testers, I'd be super happy to help out! (Quest2/3 or Vive Pro) Congrats Ian! This is wonderful news!

[Duke]

You've obviously put a lot of work into both the first game and the second one, and we're all very grateful for your efforts.
If I was to offer advice, it would be to at least have a steam page for the sequel so people can wishlist it and stay up to date with news and development.
I didn't even know there was a sequel in the works until I read it somewhere by chance.

Also x2: Releasing on just Meta Quest and not Steam isn't a very good idea. Speaking as a Meta Quest owner who won't be hindered by your choice, it should be available for everyone.
People don't tend to forget things like this, look at any game that released on Epic first and not Steam and it usually doesn't sell as well as it could have done, and I don't think anybody wants that to happen to your game considering how good it'll most likely be.

tbh, it's your game and your choice, I'll likely get it anyway as I really liked the first one. Just make absolutely sure the release strat you have is the best one for not just the development of the game, but also the financial side.
Wishing you all the success with the game, when it comes to Steam I'll be picking it up most likely day 1.