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Full Steam announcements and update articles for this title.
A brand new original song has been added to the bundled song list. This one gives the vibes of running through a field of flowers in the summer, or maybe having a picnic, or, I dunno, just summer vibes in general I guess? check it out!
The game now captures MIDI volume/dynamics (CC7) data, so swells and softer passages come through the way the track was authored - a much more accurate performance.
Playable and backing instruments - and song previews - now get a natural note-release tail, a subtle reverb-like decay instead of an abrupt cutoff.
Note mapping has undergone a slight change in its holistic feel to make songs more intuitive to play. You may notice a difference if you're playing on master mode that notes require slightly less use of modifiers (L/R buttons). This cascades down to all other modes however Master mode is the heaviest impact. This should result in a much cleaner map overall.
New ambient background music on the song-selection screen.
Polished menu treatment and animations on the online menu.
A global pause control for song previews.
You can now skip the Jam Rating results reveal to jump ahead faster after a song is finished.
Fixed an issue with online jam sessions sometimes not playing the "join" sound for the host
Fixed an issue with online jam sessions sometimes not starting after a song restart
Fixed an issue with identical phrases in a song sometimes requiring different use of modifiers
Adjusted overall volume mixing
Properly implemented Steam Cloud Sync in the Steam dashboard so cloud saves should now be carried over across all machines
Several instruments have longer note release tails that have been modified from their initial default values (ocarina, brass section to name a couple). Additional tweaking will be required over time
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless Games
Very small fix to include a fix from earlier in the week that got left out of the release branch and updating the version number.
Fixed practice mode not rendering tails when the loop was very long
Fixed practice mode checkmark glyph appearing as missing when practice mode is active
Updated on-screen version number to the proper version
Big reduction in desyncs and stuck notes for remote players.
When something does go wrong on the network, you now get a clear message and smoother recovery instead of a silent hang.
Fixed the host being able to confirm a song while a client was still syncing (a classic desync trigger).
Fixed an issue where an online song sometimes wouldn't start even though everyone makes it into the song.
Squashed spurious connection errors that could interrupt a session for no good reason.
The difficulty picker now shows each difficulty's Heat rating and note count at a glance.
Note counts now also reflect your gameplay assists and difficulty, so the number you see is the number you'll actually play.
Tweaked difficulty animations to pop a bit more.
Fixed notes occasionally getting stuck - on trills, right before a song starts, or at an improv barrier.
Fixed bundled songs sometimes showing up twice in the list.
Get hyped on the title screen and when you jump into song select.
Hear a count-in as an online song is about to start.
Get called out when your combo heats up to a new energy tier.
Reactions at the end of a song based on how you played, plus a special shout when you set a new high score.
If the host leaves or the session drops, you now get a clear "session ended" message and land safely back in the online browser instead of getting stuck in some scenarios.
Backing out to the Title screen now cleanly leaves your online lobby -- hosts properly close it down for everyone.
Fixed a lobby selection issue in the online browser.
Jam Rating's end-screen reveal is smoother, and solo runs that can't be rated (tempo shift, modifiers, and the like) now show a clear "not rated" result -with the reason- instead of an empty panel.
This week I put in a decent amount of work into world tour and that work will steadily become more of a focus in the coming months.
The current goal is to have a vertical slice demo including Chapter 1 and an Escalating end-game style loop available by mid to late August so players can get a feel for how World Tour will work and give feedback.
Things are progressing smoothly, and to make things progress faster I will be changing the pace of updates. Next week the weekly update will be released as normal
After next week's update, updates will now be released on a bi-weekly cadence. Since the release in January updates have been weekly! It's a minor change, but one that I felt should be actively communicated.
Critical issues will still receive hot fixes and mid-cycle patches if necessary. I'm still very much actively developing Tomo Jam!
Status updates and sneak peaks can be found by joining the Tomo Jam Discord.
Thank you once more to all the members of the Tomo Jam community for your wonderful feedback, support, and for of course, jamming along with me as Tomo Jam expands and gets better with each passing week.
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless GamesReturn to title now properly ends the online session for host and client
Added a "Tomo Jam!" voice over clip to the title screen. Many more voice lines coming!
Jam Rating is a new skill rating system - think of it as a running measure of how well you're clearing charts, not just a single-song score.
Each chart (song + instrument + difficulty) has a Chart Value based on how demanding it is. Play cleanly and you earn Jam Rating toward that chart; your best play is what counts.
Your total Jam Rating shows up on song select, and the instrument grid can show your best JR (and Chart Value) per difficulty so you can see what you've already cleared.
You can toggle between viewing high scores and earned JR in the instrument grid by clicking the left stick (default)
After a rated run, the end screen plays a short Jam Rating reveal - stats tick up, and your total updates if you beat your best.
What's rated (for now):
Solo Free Play on official AND custom songs as long as those custom songs have a SongID i.e. they are leaderboard compatible
Amateur, Normal, Pro, and Master (not Novice)
Not rated:
Multiplayer (local or online with other players)
Practice mode
Tempo shift away from 100%
Auto mode or gameplay assists
Custom songs without a song ID
This is a beta - numbers and rules may shift as we tune it. Feedback welcome.
Most options and preferences now sync across machines via Steam Cloud (paths and machine-specific settings stay local).
Online player names on remote lanes handle long names a bit more cleanly.
Fixed an issue with fast notes sometimes getting "stuck" when playing online
Fixed an issue where you sometimes can't navigate through jam session lobbies in the online menu
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless Games
The title screen has a new tile-style menu. Press Start to open it.
Local Jam - jumps straight into Free Play.
Online Jam - takes you to song select and opens the online menu automatically when you're connected to Steam. If you're offline, the button is greyed out.
News - opens our Steam events page in the overlay.
Credits - scrolls in-panel; Cancel skips out and returns you to the menu.
Options and Exit - same as before.
Song buttons now show song length once a track is loaded.
Tempo shift is back on song select now living in the difficulty panel - adjust preview speed before you commit to a track, with a warning when you're not at 100%.
The first-run song select tutorial was expanded to walk through the new flow step by step, including the first time you confirm a song and the first time you reach difficulty selection.
Charts should feel noticeably smoother - gameplay rendering got a big performance pass (roughly 65% faster in testing), especially around note heads, tails, and hit windows and especially when playing longer songs
Other players' note tails now show on remote lanes in online jam sessions, not just the note heads. Chords and ornament notes should now also be properly captured meaning the online lanes should look 1:1 compared to what that player is actually playing.
Fixed the online menu Host and Join buttons sometimes not highlighting when you open online play from the main menu.
Normal mode remote lanes in online play now display correctly for other players.
Fixed local multiplayer setlist panel navigation when the panel is opened over the instrument grid.
It gives me so much joy to hear folks' feedback about the game, good and bad! If there's something you'd like to see in Tomo Jam or something you're really enjoying, let me know in the Discord! I try and action on any received feedback as quickly as I can to make the game better, more accessible, and more polished. Thank you so much to this wonderful community we've built so far <3 We're just getting started. As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless Games
Browse the song list
Song buttons got a visual refresh, including a slide-out instrument drawer when you hover or focus a track so you can see what’s in the chart at a glance.
There’s a new rotating high scores panel that cycles through top leaderboard entries per instrument (when connected to Steam).
Hold Up/Down on the song list and navigation speeds up after a brief moment, which helps when you’ve got a big library.
Get more details about the song you were just looking at
The active song panel slides in and gives you a clearer look at the track you’ve got selected before you commit to an instrument. You can still browse the song list from this state.
Pick your part
Leaderboard appears in this mode, you can no longer browse the song list, you are committed to this song. Cancel button backs you out to detailed view
using the L/R buttons cycles between the difficulties so you can see the heat updated in real-time as well as the leaderboards
Pick your difficulty
Difficulty selection uses a new banner-style picker with updated difficulty icons and smoother animations.
lock in and launch (or add the song to your setlist)
The setlist builder is wired into the new layout - the panel slides alongside the active song panel and shimmers when setlist builder is active so building a set feels more integrated.
The previous difficulty icons while fine didn't feel like a cohesive family of icons and also didn't easily communicate what they meant. The difficulty icons now follow a similar pattern and have hints into their mode that should make them easier to recognize at a glance
Novice
Amateur
Normal
Pro
Master
Fixed normal mode icons using amateur icons for online player lanes
This overhaul has been a long time coming. Many of the early builds featured quick and dirty implementations, with this new flow being much easier to change and extend so any future additions should be much easier to slot in. Feel free to let me know what you think!Thank you to the community for all the feedback and support thus far. Big things are coming!!
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless GamesNormal is a new 4-button difficulty that uses:
Right / Down
X / B on Xbox-style controllers
Normal also uses shared icons with Pro mode, so moving up to Pro later should feel a little less jarring.
Modifications to the button colors in options carries over to normal mode controls so customize away!
The goal here is to give players a better stepping stone between the very approachable Amateur charts and the more demanding Pro charts.
You can see in the above example the same section in normal mode is simplified to only use 4 buttons as opposed to pro mode's 8 buttons
All songs work with Normal mode.
Scores on other difficulties are unchanged.
Normal mode scores are uploaded to the leaderboards
Fixed an issue with the popup tutorial flow loading the wrong song and instrument in some cases
Fixed an issue with difficulty select being swapped on the L/R buttons on some controller configurations
Further tweaking to audio levels, it should be more balanced now
Changed the end of song screen to default to "Continue Set" button when playing a setlist
I’m currently working on a major overhaul of the song selection scene, which should land next week.
The goal is to make song select:
Cleaner
Snappier
Easier to navigate
Less overwhelming for new players
This has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to get it into players’ hands soon.
Work on World Tour mode is continuing at a steady pace.
More updates on that as the systems keep coming together.
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless Games
Players can now add their own custom soundfonts to Tomo Jam.
This allows another layer of customization for how every track in the game sounds. Want a song to sound more retro, more orchestral, more synth-heavy, or something totally different? You can now set that up with your own .SF2 files.
The metadata editor has been updated with a new Song Style field.
For now, authors can choose from four styles:
Generic
Retro Chiptune
Synth
Orchestral
The selected Song Style represents the intended sound for that song. If the player has a soundfont assigned for that style, Tomo Jam will automatically use it.
You can configure Song Styles in:
Options > System
There are now four soundfont path fields, one for each style:
This is auto-populated and packaged with Tomo Jam.
It uses the current default soundfont, GeneralUser-GS, and will act as the fallback if a song is set to a style that the player has not configured.
Intended for chiptune-style tracks.
Intended for synthesizer-heavy or electronic-focused tracks.
Intended for orchestral tracks.
These names are only suggestions - you can use any .SF2 file in any slot, including the Generic slot.
Bonus update: all fields in Options > System now have a "file picker" option so you don't have to copy the path if you'd rather use a native windows file browser
In song selection, you can now cycle between Song Styles using:
L / R on controller
Q / E on keyboard
This lets you instantly hear how a song transforms with different styles, as long as you have those styles configured in Options.
Soundfonts are not included as part of Online Jam Session content sync.
That means when playing online, you will always hear your own locally configured Song Styles.
So if the host has a custom orchestral soundfont and you do not, you will hear the song using your local setup instead.
The title menu now includes a World Tour button.
It is currently disabled, but it is there as a small sign of things to come.
Coming Soon™
Scrolling titles have been reintroduced for song buttons when the song title is longer than the available text field.
This should make longer song names easier to read again.
This patch also includes a few gameplay and presentation tweaks:
Cleaned up the difficulty fonts slightly
Stay tuned for more difficulty-related updates in the near future
Tweaked volume normalization
I’m very interested in feedback on this one, since it can be a bit subjective depending on your setup
Tweaked note hit judgements to be slightly more forgiving, especially in dense passages
World Tour mode is still heavily in development.
Many systems are currently in-flight, and I’m working hard toward a vertical slice where players will be able to play through roughly a week of the campaign.
And yes, it includes a calendar system :p
More details soon.
Thanks to the community for the feedback, testing, and support.
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless Games
This week’s update is focused heavily on getting the Setlist Builder.
There’s also been some nice progress on Venue Mode, with more systems now feeding into Vibe Match, especially for custom songs that don’t have a defined genre.
The Setlist Builder is now available in Online Jam Sessions.
That means players can now build out multi-song sets online instead of treating each song as a totally separate performance. This is a big step toward making online sessions feel more like actual shows instead of disconnected picks.
Additional song parameters are now eligible for Vibe Match in Venue Mode.
This is especially important for custom songs that do not have a defined genre, since previously there was less information to work from when evaluating how well a song fit a venue.
When Venue Mode is toggled on in the Setlist Builder, a venue will be selected at random.
Each venue currently has:
a name
an energy
liked genres
disliked genres
A venue’s energy can be:
Low
Medium
High
This relates to the BPM range that venue prefers.
Choosing songs with a BPM closer to the venue’s expected energy level will give you a better Vibe Match score.
For songs with no defined genre, energy is weighted much more heavily since there are fewer other defining features to evaluate.
These are the genres the venue prefers.
Choosing songs with those genres will increase your Vibe Match score.
These are the genres the venue would rather avoid.
You can still pick them, but your Vibe Match may increase less, or in some cases even go down.
There is a lot more planned for venues in the future, and many more venues will be added over time.
Future venue considerations will include things like:
song tags
note density
instrument spread
and more
So while Venue Mode is already functional, it is still just the beginning of where this system is headed.
This patch also includes a lot of polish work on the Setlist Builder itself:
Added fancier animations
Hardened the UX flow
Added some placeholder art assets to Venue Mode
Setlist songs can now be re-ordered
Setlist songs can now be removed individually instead of having to clear the full set
Filling the setlist no longer starts the set immediately
Once the setlist is full, the UI now updates to tell you to press and hold Start to begin the set
These changes should make building sets feel a lot smoother and more intentional.
Setlists are one of the core systems planned for the world tour mode. When you play shows in world tour, they will be majority setlists, and will performed in venues. So while the system is a just-for-fun thing at the moment, it's being added to free-play to give you a taste of one of the core gameplay mechanics.
In the future, set order will also become part of the equation.
When making setlists in venues, some venues may prefer:
a steady pacing across the set
songs that get faster over time
alternating pacing like slow / fast / slow
A few other useful improvements made it into this patch as well:
Song Selection UI slightly modified to accommodate the new setlist panel
Song preview pause / resume has been moved to Right Stick Click by default
Heat levels now update in real time, allowing players to see the heat for whichever difficulty is currently selected
Initial run tutorial was slightly reshuffled to accommodate the new UI layout and one additional gate was added explaining difficulty selection note that players will likely see these 2 difficulty popups one time as they won't have those flagged as complete yet, you can just skip past them
This update also includes a number of fixes and additional hardening:
Fixed an issue with content sync sometimes getting confused when certain file paths contained duplicate songs
Fixed a number of issues with the Setlist Builder getting stuck
Additional hardening of the online join flow
This is a pretty important step for both online sessions and the longer-term World Tour direction.
Thanks to the community for the feedback, testing, and bug reports!
As always, keep jammin~ Frank, Restless Games
This week’s update adds two pretty major pieces: a new Band Score tab for multiplayer results, and the first version of the new Setlist Builder for single player (online version coming soon).
Both of these are laying groundwork for bigger things to come, especially as more of the upcoming World Tour systems start coming online.
A new Band Score tab has been added to the end-of-song screen.
This tab shows:
each player
their individual score
their contribution to the overall band score
The top panel also shows the total Band % for the whole performance.
This should make multiplayer results a lot easier to read at a glance, while also giving a better sense of how each player contributed to the overall performance.
In single player, you can now build a setlist with up to 5 songs.
Instead of returning to song selection after every song, players can now play a full set of songs back-to-back.
This is a pretty big step toward a more structured performance flow, and it will become increasingly important as future systems come online.
This will be available in online jam sessions soon, just needs a bit more testing!
The Setlist Builder also includes an optional Venue Mode.
When enabled, you’ll get a random venue with its own likes and dislikes.
Choosing songs that match the venue’s preferences will increase your Vibe Match. The higher your match, the better your end score will be.
For now, this is mainly a fun scoring layer - but it will expand in the future and is planned to be a core system in the upcoming World Tour campaign mode.
At the end of a set, you’ll now get:
a total set score
and, if Venue Mode is enabled, a Vibe score
This gives the full set a stronger sense of cohesion and makes the venue system more readable from start to finish.
This update starts pushing Tomo Jam a bit more toward structured performances rather than isolated single-song play, and it’s a meaningful step toward where things are headed next.
Thanks as always for the feedback and support.
As always, keep jammin! -Frank, Restless Games
This week’s update is a lighter one on the player-facing side, but it includes a few nice usability improvements, some behind-the-scenes work for feedback and debugging, and additional hardening for online flow.
I’ve also been spending a lot of time getting the foundations of World Tour mode into place, so while this patch is smaller, a lot of work is happening in the background.
A new Main Menu has been added to the song select scene.
Instead of having to remember which button opens which menu, the left menu button (traditionally the Select button) now opens a simple menu that contains:
Options
Online
Submit Feedback
Quit
There are no changes to the underlying menus themselves - this just provides a clearer, more unified entry point.
A dedicated Sound Effects volume slider has been added under:
Options > Audio
This controls miscellaneous sound effects such as:
Favorite sound
Combo meter sounds
Other interface / feedback sounds
When submitting feedback through the game, the game log will now be sent along with the written feedback.
This should help a lot when tracking down complicated or inconsistent issues where a clean repro is hard to capture.
So if you run into anything strange, don’t hesitate to send feedback - it’s even more useful now.
This patch also includes various fixes and hardening for the online join and sync flow.
Nothing especially flashy here, but continued work is being done to make online sessions smoother and more reliable.
A lot of my focus lately has been on getting the underlying systems for World Tour mode in place.
That includes work on:
A fully modular dialogue system
A task / quest system
Fame and money progression gates
Setlist creation
Song moods
Bandmates
A calendar system
And quite a bit more behind the scenes
So while this week’s patch is fairly light on visible changes, a lot of important groundwork is being laid right now.
I’m hoping to have a vertical slice of World Tour mode ready to release soon™.
First up will be the Setlist Selection which I am starting to work on this week. I should have this released by next week's update.
Thank you everyone for the feedback, bug reports, and continued support.
As always, keep jammin! -Frank, Restless Games
A new Random Song button has been added to the top of the song list.
It does exactly what you’d expect: pick a random song from your list and jump in.
A small feature, but a nice one for when you can’t decide what to play.
The Jammin' combo meter now has audio effects to go along with the new visuals.
This helps give the meter a little more punch and makes those moments feel more satisfying.
In online Jam Sessions, there is now a new full-screen effect when it’s your turn to pick the next song.
This should make the handoff a lot clearer, especially in busier sessions.
There is now a dedicated Online tab in the options screen.
This includes the following settings:
Players take turns picking songs in online Jam Sessions.
If disabled, song picking returns to host-only.
If enabled, players will have a timer to pick the next song.
When 30 seconds remain, a visual countdown will appear on screen.
If the timer runs out:
a song will be chosen at random
the picker will not be able to back out of instrument selection
To avoid awkward failures, the game checks whether the chosen song can actually be played by the current lobby before locking it in.
Sets how much time players get to choose a song if the Thinking Timer is enabled.
Range: 10 seconds to 180 seconds (3 minutes)
This patch also includes a few fixes and additional online improvements:
Fixed rubber banding issues in online song selection when clients were picking songs
Additional hardening of the join / content sync flow
Thanks you to my wonderful community for all the feedback, testing, and support!
As always, keep jammin~
Frank, Restless Games
Other players’ note lanes are now visible during online jam sessions.
This gives online play a much stronger sense of actually performing together, since you can now see what other players are doing in real time instead of only getting the simplified status panel view.
If you’d still prefer a more focused experience, you can disable this in:
Options > Gameplay > Focused Online Status Panels
That will return online play to the simplified status panel setup.
A new queueing system has been added for online lobbies.
If a session is currently in an unjoinable state, for example:
a performance is already in progress
the lobby is temporarily unavailable
you can now queue up to join, and you’ll automatically enter once the session returns to song selection.
This should make joining active online sessions a lot smoother.
A new built-in song has been added:
“You Know My Name” A bluesy original work by Zak
Big thanks to Zak for the track.
This patch also adds a few new bits of visual feedback:
New effects when hitting multipliers on the local player’s note lane and Jammin’ meter
A new emoji animation for the remote lanes
These changes help add a bit more energy and readability during performances, especially online.
This update also includes several fixes:
Timpani is now actually unlocked
Looks like it didn’t get unlocked properly last time, so... definitely unlocked now. Sorry about that!
Fixed some issues with note modulation
Fixed an issue where the online status panel sometimes would not appear for some players
Fixed an issue where Steam avatars could sometimes show a placeholder “?” instead of the correct avatar
Online play keeps getting better week by week, and this update is a big step toward making sessions feel more alive, connected, and chaotic (in a fun way).
Thanks for the feedback, bug reports, and continued support.
As always, keep jammin~
Frank, Restless Games
As mentioned previously, this is a lighter update this week - just a couple of smaller improvements and tweaks.
A DSP buffer size slider has been added to the Audio tab in the options menu.
This should give players a bit more control over audio behavior depending on their setup.
Note that a game restart is required to apply the setting.
The volume of the player join chime for online hosts has been lowered.
A small change, but a welcome one, hopefully no more jump scares :D
Next week will be a MUCH juicier update.
As always, keep jammin~ Frank,
Restless Games
Players can now choose from 32 emojis to add to their emoji wheel.
The emoji selection will definitely continue to expand over time, and this is going to be a major area for future unlockables. The same goes for things like alternate hit effects.
To be clear, I’m not talking about microtransactions here - think more along the lines of in-game currency, achievements, and other progression-based unlocks.
Online lobbies now use a rotating song selection system.
The host picks the first song
Then the next player picks
Then the next, and so on
For the entire session, the host’s song list is used as the shared library.
This should help online sessions feel a bit more collaborative and give everyone a turn to steer the jam.
Timpani has been re-enabled for player selection.
It is still fairly untested, and things may get a little strange with timpani rolls in particular, but for now the instrument is unlocked and available again.
This is something I want to keep refining in a future update.
This patch also includes a number of fixes and improvements:
Bug fixes for online play syncing during song selection
The player join chime will now play while in the lobby
Previously it only played if the host was in song browsing mode
Emojis can now be used all the way through the end score state
Previously, once the song ended, emojis could not be sent until returning to the lobby
Fixes to the ornamentation system
Some ornament notes were being swallowed by the chord collapsing system, causing strange behavior
Fixes to pitch modulation in the background orchestra
In some cases this could fail if the MIDI used a different pitch bend method
If the host skips the score roll-up, all players will now skip as well
This one isn’t very visible on the player side, but the hit effect system has been refactored to be more modular and more performant.
This work lays the foundation for future custom hit effects for things like:
Perfect/Good/Bad/Miss word art
Hit Spark (currently it's a circular pulsing effect)
Particle effects
So while this patch doesn’t add those options yet, it moves things in that direction. This is another area where in-game unlockables will likely be introduced.
I'm keen to hear the community's thoughts on progression. The current idea is to implement a "Performance Points" like system similar to Osu. This way, players have a more concrete way to track their personal growth over time.
In an upcoming patch I'll be adding a feature to improve the online presence of other players via miniature lanes complete with notes and slimmed down hit effects. Currently, you don't see the other players' notes, which takes away some of the fun and chaos of a multiplayer jam session. Look forward to updates on this front!
I’ve also been experimenting with custom soundfonts quite a bit. They won’t be in this patch, but I think this is very likely the next big feature coming to Tomo Jam. I’m currently targeting May for custom soundfonts.
Thanks as always for the feedback, bug reports, and continued support.
As always, keep on jammin~ Frank,
Restless Games
A new built-in song has been added to the library:
Tomo Jam! Main Theme
Yo dawg, I heard you like Tomo Jam, so I put Tomo Jam in your Tomo Jam so you can Tomo Jam while you Tomo Jam
The Emoji Wheel can now be used during gameplay.
A small change, but a fun one - now you can react in the middle of a performance without waiting for the results screen.
You likely won't notice much a difference here, but to keep things up to date I swapped to the very latest version of the General User GS "General MIDI" sound font. Custom Sound Fonts should be implemented very soon, stay tuned!
Heat scores have been recalculated across songs for better accuracy.
This does not change gameplay or chart difficulty. It simply means songs should now display a more accurate heat level based on their actual difficulty.
This change is in an effort to have more reliable difficulty benchmarking to open up the door for an overall progression system in the near future (think Osu! Performance Points).
A few improvements have gone into the online flow this week:
Added a join chime when a client enters a Jam Session
Only the host hears it
Hardened the lobby join flow / sync gates
This should help ensure players stay properly synced when joining sessions
Fixed some animations in the online player status panel
Online play continues to get refined week by week, thank you for the feedback and bug reports and for hopping into online sessions with friends (and with me!)
More updates soon, and as always, keep jammin'~
Frank,
Restless Games
Players can now communicate without needing voice chat or a shared language. This is only in the Song Selection scene for now but this feature will be expanded going forward.
Hold Right Trigger and use the left stick to select an emoji
Keyboard players press the X key (by default) to toggle, then press a number key
The selected emoji will appear on your player badge
Everyone in the session will be able to see it
This is a small subset of emojis and will be expanded and customizable in a future update
This should make online play feel a lot more expressive, even with players from around the world.
Added the host name to each session list item when browsing online Jam Sessions
This should make it easier to identify who you're joining.
Clear Search is now a hold of Left Trigger
This change was made to free up Right Trigger for the new emoji wheel
Pause/Play song preview is now a hold of the Start button
The online menu remains a tap of Start
This helps prevent input conflicts while navigating online.
Fixed an issue where the lobby state would not return to Song Selection if the host backed out of a song
Sessions cannot be joined while in the Preparing state, so this fix should prevent lobbies from getting stuck in an invalid state
Thanks again to everyone helping test online multiplayer so far - the feedback has been super valuable, and these improvements came directly from real online sessions.
As always, keep on jammin` -Frank,
Restless Games
Huge update this week!
Online multiplayer has finally arrived in Tomo Jam with Jam Sessions!
This is an extremely large feature and bugs are expected. Please report any issues via Discord or the in-game feedback form.
You can now play Tomo Jam with others around the world in real-time.
Jump into a session, pick your instrument, and perform together 🎹🥁
Custom song support extends into multiplayer:
Clients will sync to the host’s custom song library if that host has custom songs
Players can choose to cache songs locally
Cached songs are saved to disk
Rejoining a session won’t require re-downloading everything
Access the online menu from song select using the Start button (or your controller equivalent)
Create sessions with:
Custom session names
Optional password protection
Search for sessions by lobby name
Jam Sessions support up to 16 players
Jam Sessions cannot be joined if:
They are full
A performance is already in progress
A song has already been selected
Additional details:
Jam Sessions display whether the host has custom songs enabled
Host controls song selection (for now)
Player rotation / shared control planned for a future update
Each player selects their own:
Instrument
Difficulty
Just as in local co-op, a part can only be selected by one player
Online Jam Sessions keep the familiar Tomo Jam feel while adding a shared performance layer:
You hear all players performing together in real-time
You only see your own staff/UI
Unselected instruments are performed by the background orchestra
A new panel shows the status of all players in the session:
Displays Steam avatars and current performance %
Visual feedback for key moments (with more to be added later):
❌ Miss - player flashes with miss judgement
✨ Improv - spotlight effect
🔥 On Fire - max combo animation
This panel is a heavy work in progress and will likely be overhauled in a later update
Scores remain individual per player
All scores are still valid for leaderboard submission
A Band Score system is planned for a future update
Local multiplayer is disabled during online sessions
This is just the beginning for online play - more improvements and features are already in progress.
If you try out Online Jam Sessions, please share your feedback - it will directly shape how multiplayer evolves!
As always, thank you for your continued support as Tomo Jam evolves <3
Keep on jammin'
Frank,
Restless Games
The Instrument Grid UI has been updated to support instrument-specific sprites.
Over 50 unique instrument sprites are now available
Sprites are displayed based on the instrument parts being used
More sprites will continue to be added over time
This helps make each instrument feel more distinct and readable at a glance.
Replaced the generic “note” player indicators with the actual playable instrument
Your instrument is now more clearly represented during gameplay, helping reinforce the performance feel.
Online multiplayer is getting close 👀
Planned release to the unstable branch next week
Current progress is looking very promising
Additional time is being spent polishing the UI and overall experience
Before moving to the main branch, multiplayer will remain in the unstable branch for at least one week for testing and feedback.
The UI has received a small glow-up to prepare for upcoming visual improvements.
General polish across UI elements on the instrument grid
Groundwork laid for instrument-specific sprites
Sprites for (almost) every instrument are currently in progress and should start rolling out next week.
Fixed a minor hitch when the crowd cheer sound effect loads for the first time
Fixed an issue in Master Mode where rapid press/release of modifiers could cause unintended misses
Fixed an issue where difficulty up/down buttons didn’t work after selecting an instrument
(Left/right navigation was still functional, but now both methods work as expected)
A lot of development time is currently going into online multiplayer.
The goal is to have an early version available on the unstable branch as soon as:
Next Friday, or
The following week depending on progress
More updates coming soon - including instrument sprites and the first look at multiplayer.
Thanks as always for playing and for all the feedback!
Keep on jammin' 🎶
Frank
Restless Games
Big update this week!
The Standard Drum Kit is now playable in Tomo Jam!
Drums work a little differently than other instruments and introduce a new note layout designed to better match drum patterns.
Shoulder buttons now produce notes in drum mode (instead of acting as modifiers)
DPAD and Shoulder buttons appear on a second row above the normal note row
Face buttons appear on the bottom row
In Master Mode, drum charts may occasionally require pressing two buttons at the same time.
However, notes that share the same row will never occur simultaneously, so you’ll never be asked to press the same input twice at once.
Example:
A kick + hi-hat may appear as UP + A and must be pressed together.
In Pro Mode, drum charts will combine notes into a single button press without ever having to play more than one note at a time. There is a priority system involved which will still allow notes in the top row to appear if presented alone. All notes will still sound out regardless of button presses.
In Amateur Mode, there is no top row, the player will be able to play the drums with the same 2-button system that normal instruments use.
In Novice Mode, just like in the normal Novice mode, all notes can be played with any button
⚠️ Note: This is the first version of drums, and there may be issues with some custom songs. If you notice anything strange, please report it so it can be improved in future updates.
A new option has been added to the Customize panel allowing players to adjust the width of the Judgement Line.
Important note:
This does not change the actual hit timing location
The hit target has always aligned to the right edge of the judgement line this has not changed
This option allows players to visually tune the lane to their preference without affecting gameplay timing.
Fixed an issue where ornament notes placed very close together sometimes failed to ring out correctly.
Fixed a long-standing issue where normalized scroll speed could change during songs with shifting tempo.
When Normalized Scroll Speed is enabled:
Scroll speed will now remain constant regardless of BPM changes.
More updates are on the way as Tomo Jam continues to grow. Thank you to everyone playing, testing custom songs, and sharing feedback!
As always, keep on jammin'~ Frank, Restless Games
Keyboard players can now fully customize their controls.
You can rebind the keys used for gameplay directly in the settings, allowing you to tailor the layout to whatever feels most comfortable.
This also means keyboard play is now fully supported in Tomo Jam.
You can also now switch control modes without loading into the calibration menu, making it much quicker to jump between play styles.
This is an extremely wide-reaching change and may introduce bugs I didn't catch. if anything feels off, please let me know in Discord, the Steam Community discussions, or the in-game feedback form.
Searching for songs should now be smoother, especially on keyboard and Steam Deck.
Opening the song search UI in keyboard mode will no longer trigger the in-game on-screen keyboard, just press the bound key to open search and start typing
On Steam Deck, the native Steam keyboard now opens instead
Nested subfolders now sort to the top of the list instead of the bottom, making it easier to navigate large music libraries.
More options have been added to the Customize panel so you can better tailor the note buttons to your preference.
You can now:
Change the size of the icons inside note buttons
Force the left keys to use the same directional backgrounds as the face buttons
Display arrow indicators instead of the bound key on the left notes
These options should make it easier to create a layout that works best for your setup and play style.
Fixed several grammar and typo issues in tutorial dialogue
More improvements are on the way, and many of these updates came directly from community feedback.
Thank you to everyone playing, testing, and sharing ideas. You are the true heart and soul of Tomo Jam.
Keep on jammin'! 🎶
-Frank, Restless Games
The backend MIDI system has been significantly optimized.
This update:
Improves overall performance and reliability
Fixes the issue where notes could occasionally not play despite scoring correctly
Resolves the intermittent crash some players were experiencing
This has been a major focus and should result in a much smoother experience across the board with hopefully zero crashes or missed note playback issues from here on out.
Tomo Jam now respects pitch bend and modulation data contained in MIDI files.
Many MIDIs include subtle pitch changes and expressive modulation that previously weren’t reflected during playback. These events will now play automatically, making performances feel closer to how the song was originally authored.
No additional input is required to trigger bends
No new UI indicators yet -- this is an experimental first step
Custom songs should now sound more expressive and authentic
On by default, but can be disabled in the Audio tab in options if you prefer no bending
This is part of ongoing work to better support the custom song ecosystem.
All UI elements have now been fully optimized for Steam Deck.
This includes layout adjustments and usability improvements to make the game feel more comfortable and natural on handheld screens.
Song selection has been upgraded to better support large MIDI libraries.
Nested folders are now displayed as collapsible elements, just like top-level folders. This makes browsing and organizing large collections much easier and cleaner.
Improved the song loading flow to reduce UI flashing while songs initialize.
The loading spinner now remains visible until the song is fully ready, preventing the instrument grid from briefly appearing and rebuilding during load.
Thanks for playing and helping shape Tomo Jam, and as always, keep on Jammin'!
-Frank, Restless Games
Practice Mode can now be enabled during a song and gives you powerful tools to improve your performance.
Scrub freely through the song
Create loop sections to repeat difficult parts
Tempo control to slow down or speed up practice
Optional hit window overlay to visualize timing accuracy
⚠️ Practice Mode is a one-way street: Once enabled, the run can no longer count as a clear. Restart the song when you’re ready for a full performance.
This mode is designed to make learning songs and pushing precision scores much more approachable.
A native Linux build of the Tomo Jam Metadata Editor is now bundled with the game:
tools/Tomo Jam Metadata Editor/Linux
MIDI scanning now recursively searches all subfolders within your selected MIDI directory but keeps the parent folder as a collapsbile allowing for organization.
Example: If your MIDI folder is set to C:/Midis, Tomo Jam will now automatically find files like:
C:/Midis/MyBand/Album1/Midi1.mid
C:/Midis/MyBand/Album2/Midi2.mid
C:/Midis/MyBand/Midi3.mid
No more manual folder cleanup needed
Tomo Jam now includes a much larger set of built-in genres to help organize and browse your growing song library.
Available Genres: Undefined Classical • Anthem • Rock • Jazz • Pop • Metal • Electronic • Country Hip Hop / Rap • R&B / Soul • Blues • Latin • World / Folk • JPOP Chiptune • Orchestral • Ambient • Chill • Groovy • High Energy • Experimental
To keep tagging consistent, any songs previously tagged Game or Anime will now automatically resolve to Undefined.
This lays the groundwork for better discovery and future filtering improvements.
Steam Deck optimizations are underway, focusing on resolving the ongoing issue where some notes may not play correctly.
Thank you for playing and continuing to help shape Tomo Jam 💛
Keep on Jammin!
- Frank, Restless Games
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Tomo Jam, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Tomo Jam statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.