For Grown-Ups

Dear Grown-Up,

When I was a kid, my dad, sister and I used to take walks in a forest close to our home. We had found this clearing just a few meters off the beaten path where we usually stopped and played for awhile. In the middle of the clearing stood an old stump. It was like a meeting point in the middle of a town square. Once, we found a small piece of wood resembling a small person that we put on the stump. It would sit there greeting us every time we came back to the clearing, forever untouched by anyone else. We usually took the same path to reach our little hideout, but one time we decided to go the other way around. Coming from the other direction we soon found that the clearing was almost impossible to find as we had come to rely on certain distinguishing marks to know where to look. We realized the clearing would always stay our own secret.

In Toca Nature we want to convey the wonders of nature. Big and small, there are many experiences to be had in the wild. It could be finding a stick that resembles something else, or seeing a live animal for the first time. Toca Nature does not aim to replace the experience of going into an actual forest; instead we want to amplify the mysteries and magical moments that COULD be experienced in the wild. And some that you could only wish would happen… In Toca Nature the forest is in your hands – you create it and you explore it. From big to small Toca Nature simulates a world that is alive in itself but dependant of your care.

Go nuts!
Mårten Brüggemann, Play Designer

How to play

Toca Nature consists of two main interactions, creating a world and exploring it:

Creating
You start in the creation mode seeing your world from a birds-eye perspective. You can spin the world around by using the globe control in the lower right corner. There are also a number of different tools that will help you sculpt the world to your liking. All tools are used by pushing them in the interface and then dragging your finger across the world.

The tree tool is used to paint out trees in the world. There are five types of trees to choose from. Push the tree tool once to select among pine, birch, spruce, alder and oak.

The axe is used to cut down trees.

The mountain tool raises the ground to create mighty mountains. Raise them high enough and they will even have a bit of snow on top.

The water tool will dig into the ground, eventually creating water-filled holes.

The magnifying glass is used to take a closer look and even zoom in on any location you’ve created in your world.

You may notice small animal icons on the tools as well. Every nature type has a specific animal tied to it. Paint enough trees or mountains and these animals will start moving into your world! The available animals are: bear, hare, fox, woodpecker, deer, wolf and beaver.

Exploring
When you’ve used the magnifying glass to zoom in on your world you may end up standing in the middle of a forest you’ve just created. Drag your fingers on the screen to move around and use the globe to turn and face another direction.

Besides the animals that have moved in in your forest you will also find different types of food growing in environment. These can be picked up by touching them. They will be gathered in the interface at the bottom. From there they can be dragged out to be placed in the environment again. The food can be used to feed the animals that you come across. Can you figure out who likes what food?

There is also a photo feature in the zoomed-in view. Push the camera icon in the lower left corner and the photo framing will appear. Pushing the cross in the middle of the screen will snap a photo. These photos are then saved to the camera roll of your device.

To talk about

Toca Nature is based on the wildlife of a forest. You might not have a forest where you live, but can you recognize the animals in Toca Nature? Or even the trees? It’s not often that you come across animals like these in real life. You would probably act differently in real life than how you act in Toca Nature. Maybe you’ve mostly seen wild animals at the zoo? How do you think they act differently in their natural habitats? In Toca Nature we wanted to simulate the wild, so don’t expect the animals to be totally reliable! Because animals have their own wills, right?

In Toca Nature things are connected. What is the structure of the circle of life? Well, in Toca Nature we’ve tried to connect things in a way that encourages exploration of the different environmental types. Nature seems to adapt to its current conditions. What animal lives in what forest? And does a fox living in the snow have a different appearance? Animals also like different kinds of food. Some are meat eaters and will only eat fish which you can gather from the lakes you create. Other animals only eat acorns. All types of food have specific growing conditions. The acorns can be found in a forest of oaks for example. Can you figure out where the others grow? This is part of the puzzle of testing what animal likes what food. Animals will hint at what food they like the most. But what happens when you feed them their favorite food? And what does the fox say?

Also, be on the lookout for other objects in the environment. Who knows what you might find?

Settings
In the Settings panel of your Apple device, there is an icon for Toca Nature. If you open it you can toggle snapshots to “off” and no photos will be saved in your camera roll. There are also options for showing the “Toca News” and “For Grown-Ups” buttons on the start screen as well as an option for toggling the music playback on and off. Please note that some of these settings may require the application to be restarted to take effect.

Also, in Apple iOS, there is a general Privacy setting, displayed together with a hand icon in the Settings panel. If you open it and select “Photos” you can choose if you want Toca Nature to be able to access the Photo album on your device. This has to be turned on if you want Toca Nature to be able to save photos to your album, regardless of the snapshot settings described above.