Excerpt
2 CommentsFeature Excerpt: The final, terrifying days of launching Ridiculous Fishing
By Russ Pitts on Apr 18, 2013 04.18.13
Excerpted from the forthcoming feature "Cloned at Birth: The Story of Ridiculous Fishing," publishing next week at Polygon. It is 2013. After three years of frustration and anxiety, and seeing its game cloned (to great success) by developer Gamenauts, indie developer Vlambeer is just days away from releasing its iOS game Ridiculous Fishing. The only challenge left: getting people to notice it. The Apple App Store is full of games. Imagine it as the cavernous warehouse where the Lost Ark ends up after Indiana Jones raids it, and you won't too be far off. The App Store contains thousands upon thousands of games, and more than a hundred new ones are added every single day. As a result, there are two main ways to get a game noticed: either sell enough to break the top five, or somehow...
News
1 CommentF*ck This Jam begins turning hate into games today
By Dave Tach on Nov 09, 2012 11.09.12
Fuck This Jam, a game jam that challenges developers to create games in genres they despise, began today and will run through 6:00 p.m. in all time zones on Nov. 17, according to the official website. The idea behind the jam is to make "beautiful things" by subverting conventions and rules in genres that its participants despise. Rami Ismail, co-founder of Super Crate Box developer Vlambeer, also co-founded the project, to which over 1,400 jammers have pledged their participation. The website is still accepting sign ups. A page outlining Fuck This Jam's rules explains that anyone can "participate for just two days or seven days. You can even participate for an hour (like 0hjam) or for two months. It's just that we'll organize things for the week of November 9th, only". You can check...
News
2 CommentsSuper Crate Box developers say efforts to protest clone 'weren't in vain'
By Samit Sarkar on Nov 05, 2012 11.05.12
The developers at Vlambeer, the indie studio behind Super Crate Box, don't regret calling out an iOS clone of their 2010 Flash game Radical Fishing — they believe their protest efforts effected real change in the gaming industry, according to an interview with Eurogamer. Vlambeer became the subject of a well-publicized debate on cloning versus iterating in game development last year, when it caught wind of a clone of its first title, Radical Fishing, in development at a company called Gamenauts. At the time, Vlambeer was about to ramp up production on Ridiculous Fishing, an iPhone remake of the studio's own game. Radical Fishing and Gamenauts' version of it, Ninja Fishing, were nearly identical, and Gamenauts refused Vlambeer's request to delay the launch of Ninja Fishing until R...
News
2 CommentsSuper Crate Box free today on iOS
By Alexa Ray Corriea on Oct 22, 2012 10.22.12
Super Crate Box is free on iOS today, developer Vlambeer announced on its company blog. Today marks the two-year anniversary of the game's initial release on PC. The game has since been ported to Steam for PC and Mac, iOS and Playstation Vita through PlayStation Mobile. In addition, Super Crate Box composer Eirik Suhrke has released a special edition of the game's soundtrack for $4 on digital album site Bandcamp. Vlambeer also teased a port of Super Crate Box for Commodore 64 coming in December, a venture made in conjunction with C64 port-maker Paul Koller.
News
2 CommentsSuper Crate Box was brought to PlayStation Mobile by part-time fan
By Dave Tach on Oct 03, 2012 10.03.12
A fan helped developer Vlambeer port Super Crate Box to PlayStation Mobile, founder Rami Ismail revealed on thePlayStation Blog. After Sony approached the developer about launching the game alongside PlayStation Mobile, Vlambeer began looking for help with development. "We received some great, professional applications and a single e-mail from a fan," Ismail wrote. "The fan turned out to be an avid Super Crate Box player, and an experienced programmer to boot. He made a small side-note: he would only be able to work at night, because during the day he had a job as a bus-driver. Easy choice." The unnamed fan worked with the team to translate the game's iOS-based touch controls to the Vita's hardware. Super Crate Box launched today in the PlayStation Mobile store alongside the service,...
'Adventure Time' jam yields text adventures, puzzlers, and Kinect games
By Alexa Ray Corriea on Sep 17, 2012 09.17.12
The Adventure Time Game Making Frenzy, a 48-hour development jam session themed around the popular cartoon, took place this weekend, spawning puzzles, text adventures, and action-stealth games, reports Venus Patrol. The competition, sponsored by indie game showcase Fantastic Arcade, began on Friday, September 14th at 9 p.m. EDT and ended yesterday, September 16th, at 9 p.m. EDT, with around 30 contestants working in shifts to complete their games. Results include Adventure Minute, an action title with Game Boy-reminiscent graphics by developers from Super Crate Box studio Vlambeer; Princess Textfighter Turbo, in which players set the series' plethora of princess in pit-fighting matches; Drop Ball Kinect, a motion-controlled lewd sports game; and Flash-based platform-shooter Slumber...
Why 'Super Crate Box' coming to PlayStation Mobile is a very big deal
By Russ Frushtick on Aug 15, 2012 08.15.12
PlayStation Mobile may be the smartest move Sony has made in years. During Sony's Gamescom press conference earlier today, the company fleshed out plans for the service, which will bring "bite-sized" games to certain Android devices and the PlayStation Vita. PlayStation Mobile is Sony's equivalent of the iOS App Store, with certified game releases that only work on a select handful of devices. From the point of view of indie developers, who have shied away from Android for a number of reasons, this is a very big deal. When PlayStation Mobile kicks off later this year, one of its launch titles will be Super Crate Box, developed by Vlambeer. Vlambeer's Rami Ismail discussed with Polygon why his two-man development studio decided to take the plunge with PlayStation Mobile. "We always...
Submissions open for the 2013 Independent Games Festival
By Alexa Ray Corriea on Aug 09, 2012 08.09.12
Submissions are now open for the 2013 Independent Games Festival, which will be held at the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the organization announced today. Applicants have until October 17th to enter the Main Showcase and until October 31st for the Student Showcase. Six finalists, expanded from the overall five winners in previous years, will be selected for each category for a chance at the festival's grand prize of $30,000. Other prizes include the $5,000 Nuovo Award for "abstract, shortform, and unconventional" games and awards for excellence in the art, audio, design, and technology categories. Winners will be announced at the Game Developers Conference on March 27th, 2013. Applicants can sign up at the Independent Games Festival website. Last year the...
Super Crate Box dev announces new game, Luftrausers
By Russ Frushtick on Apr 23, 2012 04.23.12
Vlambeer, the Dutch duo that took the indie gaming world by storm with Super Crate Box just announced a new game they're working on: Luftrausers. The game will be based off a project that the team worked on back in 2011, Luftrauser, which you can play right here. It was a relatively simple 2D dogfighting game that Vlambeer now intends to blow out of the water with a much more full-featured release. Vlambeer's Rami Ismail provided Polygon the original pitch document for the game, so you can get a better sense of what they're going for. The art was done by Paul Veer and Roy Nathan de Groot, while the soundtrack (which you can sample here) comes from KOZILEK. Vlambeer isn't announcing any platforms for Luftrausers just yet, save for its availability on Flash. The release date is also...
Feature
18 CommentsCloning Case Files: Vlambeer
By Russ Frushtick on Feb 22, 2012 02.22.12
Cloning Case Files is a three-part series examining the personal impact of game cloning in the iOS app store. Each entry details the experience of an independent developer who suffered in some way from game cloning and how they worked to overcome the effects of cloning. This is part one. Here is part two and here is part three. - Ed. It's July 2011. Northern California. In less than a month, a small game development studio is going to release its iOS baby to the world. In the high-pressure App Store marketplace, there's no guarantee that it will succeed. Every release is a major risk and could threaten the future of the company. To increase the odds of being noticed, the studio releases a trailer. That's when things get interesting. ONE YEAR EARLIER It's July 2010....
