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Nine indie developers on the secret to making multiplayer magic
Ten years ago, multiplayer-only games went through a severe identity crisis. More people than ever were gaming together, but they were increasingly playing online only. The small-stakes joy of twitchy experiences like Street Fighter II and Super Off Road, games meant to be played in short sessions preferably in the same room, weren't feasible anymore. Video games have always been expensive to make, so multiplayer modes had to either come packaged with other content -- consider Halo's famed multiplayer tucked alongside its single-player story -- to flesh them out or be custom built to serve hardcore players meeting up on the internet, a la Team Fortress 2, Valve's modern-day equivalent to the easy-access multiplayer of yore.
This art dealer wants to hang an indie game on your wall
Dutch art dealership and gallery Cook & Becker has been selling fine art prints from video games for a few years now. Thanks to partnerships with companies like Capcom, Naughty Dog, DICE and BioWare, it's offered artwork from critically acclaimed titles like The Last of Us, Mass Effect, Okami, and Mirror's Edge. Now, it's wooing indie developers into its ranks with a new initiative called the Cook & Becker Indie Program. The first fruits from the effort came last month with the release of artwork from Ronimo Games' Awesomenauts, and it's signed deals with both Vlambeer and The Astronauts -- Ridiculous Fishing and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter prints are coming soon.
PlayStation Co-Op Sale: Dark Souls 2, Far Cry 3, Rayman
In the spirit of the money-saving holidays (and Thanksgiving, we guess), Sony kicked off a new Co-Op Gaming sale today that discounts games with local or online multiplayer functionality. The deals end on December 1, and PlayStation Plus subscribers get a bigger discount than other PSN users: up to 80 percent off the price of some games. Of the group, there are ten PlayStation 4 games on sale through PSN this week, among which are Awesomenauts Assemble ($5.39), EA Sports UFC ($13.99), Mercenary Kings ($8.99), Rayman Legends ($19.59), Surgeon Simulator: A&E Anniversary Edition ($6.39), TowerFall Ascension ($7.34) and Trine 2: Complete Story ($7.99). Other notable deals include Borderlands 2 (PS3, $4.54), Dark Souls 2 (PS3, $19.59), Rayman Origins ($13.29 on Vita, $9.79 on PS3) and Far Cry 3 (PS3, $9.79). [Image: Ubisoft]
Awesomenauts assemble on Xbox One, PS4 content update this month
Awesomenauts Assemble! will bring its special brand of 2D-MOBA to Xbox One consoles at some point in the future, developer Ronimo Games announced this morning. The console edition of the continuously updated PC battle arena game will feature "the exact same content" as that found in the PlayStation 4 version, with both receiving updates "as long as it's commercially viable." The PlayStation 4 edition will receive an update at the end of June (possibly early July), adding Ted McPain and Penny Fox to the mix. [Image: Ronimo]
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PSN Tuesday: Awesomenauts, Dead Nation on PS4, South Park on PS3
The PSN update this fine Tuesday includes Awesomenauts Assemble and Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition for PS4, as well as South Park: The Stick of Truth, Master Reboot and NASCAR '14 for PS3. Vita gets Hatsune Miku Project Diva F, and PS3 owners can now enjoy dragons, prohibition-era crime and the ultimate pessimistic detective with the HBO GO app. We learned about Awesomenauts Assemble late in January, and it includes seven new characters, a new map and "improved" controls, Ronimo Designer Fabian Akker said. It goes for $10 on PS4. For PS3, Master Reboot is a neon-covered, sci-fi horror game dealing with death and computer viruses, and it's $15. South Park is $60, and it speaks for itself.
Awesomenauts Assemble! on PS4 March 4
The Awesomenauts will spring into action on PlayStation 4 this March 4 and 5 in North America and Europe, respectively. The '80s cartoon-inspired 2D MOBA from Ronimo Games will be known as Awesomenauts Assemble! on Sony's next-gen platform and will be available for $9.99. "Awesomenauts Assemble! brings 7 all-new characters to the console, a boatload of skins to customize your characters, a new map, improved controls, and a lot more upcoming content," said Fabian Akker, designer and co-founder at Ronimo. That upcoming content is likely to come in the form of Starstorm, the crowdfunded expansion to the original game that is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
Awesomenauts: Starstorm brings the McPain on December 12
An early version of Ronimo Games' Starstorm expansion for Awesomenauts will be available on Thursday. The developer earned $345,835 in September on Kickstarter to fund the expansion, which will feature five new characters and a map for the arena battler, in addition to a new spectator mode and replay system. Thursday's expansion is the first of many updates for the game, and focuses on one of the five playable Starstorm characters, Ted McPain, "one of the great heroes of the first AI Wars." The pants-less character comes with a transformable weapon, which switches between a shotgun and a rapid-fire machine gun. The developer says that Thursday's early access DLC also includes the first set of custom game settings, including a new deathmatch game mode. The full Starstorm expansion is expected to be be complete by the end of 2014, and Ronimo Games will continue to launch pieces of the DLC in multiple stages over the coming months.
Awesomenauts to miss US PS4 launch, 'hoping' for EU launch
PS4 port Awesomenauts Assemble won't make the console's launch in North America after all, but Ronimo's Jasper Koning sent Joystiq word that his studio's "still hoping to make the European launch, but it's going to be tight." "Worst case we think is still one or two weeks after [the European PS4 launch,]" Koning told us when asked to clarify. "As for the Steam version, we expect to have [an] announcement sometime later this week." So it's far from a guarantee that Ronimo's 2D MOBA will make it in time for the PS4's European launch on November 29, but if it doesn't then it shouldn't take too long to show up. Whenever it hits, Awesomenauts Assemble will include the game plus all the features from the fundraised Starstorm expansion, including custom games setup, team deathmatch, five new characters, a new map, and some new tunes, too. As for the spectator and replay modes, Ronimo says they're covered by the console's streaming capability.
Awesomenauts Assemble aimed at PS4 launch
Awesomenauts hopes to Assemble on PS4 when the console launches next month, but a final release date remains TBA. Ronimo's playful 2D MOBA is priced $10 on the next-gen system, and includes the features from the upcoming fundraised Starstorm expansion. The news arrives alongside the drop of patch 1.24, which includes temporary access to Starstorm additions like Custom Game setup and Team Deathmatch mode. Those free-to-try modes will eventually be included in a separate Starstorm DLC package, available to Kickstarter backers and as a Steam purchase. Other Starstorm extras include the Replay System and Spectator Mode (both covered by the PS4's streaming capabilities, says Ronimo), five new characters, a new map, and new songs, too.
Crowdfund Bookie September 2013: The best of times, the worst of times
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. The month of September embodied the best and, arguably, the worst crowdfunding has to offer video games. On the positive side of things, September saw the birth of Project Phoenix, the month's highest-funded game ($1,014,600). The RPG-meets-RTS features an all-star crew, including Lead Composer Nobuo Uematsu, Art Director Kiyoshi Arai and Director/Producer Hiroaki Yura, each with ties to the Final Fantasy series as well as Diablo 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. September will also be remembered as the month that Ouya's Free the Games Fund left its mark on crowdfunding. One game in the program, Gridiron Thunder, was accused of unfairly bolstering its own campaign by self-funding it past the $100,000 mark in order to earn rewards offered by Ouya. The hardware company's program fell under great scrutiny before being overhauled, at which point developer MogoTXT removed Gridiron Thunder from Free the Games Fund eligibility. As an example of the discrepancy in funding, Evelend Games' action platformer Indiegogo project AdventurOS had over ten times as many funders as Gridiron Thunder (1,899 versus 183), yet the Ouya football game earned over eight times as much money as AdventurOS ($171,009 versus $21,323). Additionally, removing Gridiron Thunder from the action genre for the month takes the category's average pledge per backer rate down from $44.19 to $34.31. As seen in our latest quarterly report, it only takes a few projects like Gridiron Thunder to shape the community's perception of entire crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter. While September saw the same number of successful projects (29), the $2,211,975 raised by 40,701 funders were down by $764,575 and 23,218 people from the previous month, and were the lowest amounts seen in the last four months. It's unclear whether potential community distrust thanks to controversial projects like Gridiron Thunder or the release of big retail games, such as the recent launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 will have a bigger impact on crowdfunding in the coming months. Head past the break to see the month's breakdown by genre as well as a list of September's top five projects.
Crowdfund Bookie, September 15 - 21: Awesomenauts, Chromancer
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. This week in crowdfunding, the Kickstarter projects for Awesomenauts: Starstorm, Chromancer, Fandrafter, Piano Wizard, Stronghold 2D, Icebound and Lucid: The Awakening as well as the Indiegogo projects for AdventurOS and Choice: Texas ended. Ronimo Games' project to fund an Awesomenauts expansion generated the most interest this week, earning $345,835 from 7,496 backers. The project with the highest average pledge per person was asynchronous fantasy football app Fandrafter, which saw a mean average of $547.09 from its 56 funders. Pitched as Words with Friends-meets-fantasy football with no season commitments, the Fandrafter project's average was boosted by three backers that pledged at least $8,000. Check out the week's results, as well as our fancy graphs, after the break.
Awesomenauts Kickstarter campaign concludes at $345,835
Ronimo's Kickstarter campaign for the Awesomenauts: Starstorm expansion opened a revenue lane worth $345,835. The expansion originally had a goal of $125,000, which it achieved in seven days, and went on to tick off several stretch goals. It has already achieved goals for adding a new character, replays and a spectator mode. Since Ronimo is also taking direct PayPal pledges, the actual campaign total for Starstorm is around $408k. "Ronimo's own page will remain open for a short while longer, although all physical rewards have been removed," the company mentioned in a prepared statement. "And since Ronimo's own crowdfunding page is still open, the next stretch goal might also be met. At $415k a fifth character and third song will also be built!" As things stand now, when Starstorm eventually drops, it will include four new Awesomenauts, new map, two new songs, "full spectator mode and replay system" and custom games setup, allowing fully customizable private matches.
Awesomenauts free to play this week on Steam
Ronimo Games' 2D MOBA, Awesomenauts, is free to play this week on Steam, with the full game available for $3.39 (66 percent off) for those who like what they try. Awesomenauts will be free to play until Sunday. Different skins for the combatants are also 50 percent off during the sale, which ends next Monday. The sale and free week come as Awesomenauts' Kickstarter for its "Starstorm" expansion enters its final week. The add-on already surpassed its $125,000 goal in late August, and is currently at $208,648 with 4,539 laning up to back it.
Awesomenauts expansion funded on Kickstarter
Ronimo Games has surpassed the $125,000 Kickstarter goal it set to create an expansion to its 2D online battle arena game Awesomenauts. With 2,587 backers pledging $128,691 (as of this writing), Ronimo still has 23 days to hit stretch goals. The expansion, as of now, will add three new heroes, a spectator mode, global chatrooms, a twin-stick control scheme and more music. The next goal of $200,000, which will add a new map and more music, followed by a custom game mode and "replays and infinite spectator mode" at $270k and $380k, respectively. If you want to hear more about how the Kickstarter is going (has went, will go?), check out our Super Joysitq Podcast special from day three of Gamescom. Around 17:52, Ronimo head Jasper Koning discusses the expansion's Kickstarter, before the conversation twists into designers losing to players of their own games.
Awesomenauts heads to Kickstarter for expansion
Ronimo Games' 2D online battle arena game Awesomenauts is heading to Kickstarter for its expansion funding. The game, which has only gotten better (particularly on PC) since its launch in early 2012, is seeking $125,000 to add new characters, modes and levels. The three new heroes announced are brawler Ted McPain, tanky Sentry X-58 and assassin Skree. Developer Ronimo will also add a spectator mode, global chatrooms, a twin-stick control scheme and more music – if the company hits its goal. Ambitious stretch targets include more characters, a replay mode, level editor and AI editor. A pledge of $15 will nab the expansion when it launches, but if you've got more coin to spend the awesome will naut stop there.
The Awesomenauts assemble on PS4
Ronimo Games' Awesomenauts, centered around an elite force of alien-blastin' mercenaries ripped from some '80s cartoon, is bringing the fight to PS4. The PS4 version of the 2D MOBA will ship with all of the latest updates found in the PC version, which include an extra map, additional characters and customizable skins. Awesomenauts has recruited close to a million players on XBLA, PSN, PC, Mac and Linux already, the announcement past the break reveals. The game launched well over a year ago, though that hasn't stopped Ronimo Games from issuing continual updates and promising more to come.
Awesomenauts' imaginary 80s cartoon gets a real toy
Awesomenauts, as we've discussed, was created to resemble Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s. Now, developer Ronimo Games is trying to blur the line between the video game and its imaginary cartoon counterpart with a very real toy. Clunk, Awesomenauts' player-chomping, self-destructing tank, is getting his own figurine. The figure is available for pre-order from Game Toys for €23.99 ($30.82). The figure has to reach 1000 pre-orders before it will go into production, and is expected for a Q4 2013 release. Ronimo notes that if it fails to reach that number, orders will be refunded minus a 2% cancellation fee.
Awesomenauts boxed collector's edition headed to UK
Awesomenauts is getting physical in the UK. Merge Games is giving the PC version the collector's edition treatment, tossing in a handful of goodies with a boxed version of Ronimo's excellent 2D MOBA. The collector's edition includes the Awesomenauts soundtrack, the Costume Party DLC pack, a sticker and a an extra gift key to share the game with a friend. The Awesomenauts Collector's Edition is set to be released on June 28 for £19.95. It's available for pre-order now from Amazon UK and directly from Merge Games. Merge is currently offering a £2 discount and, incidentally, will ship the game worldwide.
Humble Indie Bundle 8 offers 7 indie Mac games for a great price
The Humble Indie Bundle is one of the higher-quality game bundles around (there are quite a few of them these days), and the eighth iteration, just announced this week, is one of the best deals we've seen in a while. The bundle features seven different games (all available on the Mac, along with Windows and Linux versions if you happen to OS that way) for a name-your-own price. You'll get Little Inferno (which began on iOS, but later arrived on PC), the excellent indie MOBA Awesomenauts, Capsized, heart-tugger Thomas Was Alone and the very atmospheric Dear Esther, along with two other titles if you pay higher than the average (currently about $5), the beautiful Proteus and the violent but very well-designed Hotline Miami. All of those games are excellent, and the fact that you can pay your own price (which you can then divvy up as you like to charity, the Humble Bundle folks or the developers) is just icing on the already sweet cake. And there's more, too: You get soundtracks for all of the games, not to mention that all of these titles are cross-platform and DRM free, so you can play them anywhere you want, too. This bundle will be available for a while, but it's definitely a great deal. If you need a few more games to play on your Mac, pick this one up for sure.
Awesomenauts uses its power, wins cosmic glory on Linux
Awesomenauts, the 2D MOBA based on a Saturday morning cartoon that never existed, is now available on Linux. We really liked the game when it debuted a year ago on Xbox Live and PSN, and now the Steam version has seen numerous updates and extra characters. You can snag Awesomenauts on Steam – compatible with PC, Mac and now Linux – for $10.
