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Nuclear Throne owners to receive giftable copy in January
The gift-giving season will last until at least January 1, the day that developer Vlambeer intends to give one free copy of Nuclear Throne to "every single person that has ever bought [it]," according to Vlambeer's Rami Ismail. As Nuclear Throne's community has gotten "too damn good at this video game," the extra copies are meant to attract new, novice-tier players to help diversify the feedback Vlambeer receives from the game's community. The announcement video's text description explains that this will be a one-time gift and that date or timezone-related exceptions will not be able to be made due to logistics. Further terms and conditions will be tied to the gift, which Vlambeer will spell out in a future blog post (presumably for future posting to Nuclear Throne's Steam newsfeed). Nuclear Throne has received 57 updates since its arrival to Early Access, though Ismail noted that version 1.0 will "hopefully" launch sometime in 2015. [Image: Vlambeer]
Nuclear Throne update adds titular seat, final boss battle
After 33 weekly updates, Vlambeer's self-described "action roguelike-like" Nuclear Throne now contains an actual nuclear throne. According to the developer, the throne can be found at the game's climax, after players have battled their way from a lowly campfire, through the wilds, into the Palace, and past its many opulent, yet deadly foes. As you can see at the 2:50 mark of the above video, once you arrive in the nuclear throneroom, you'll find the throne occupied by a skeleton. Blast that pile of bones into dust, and you're faced with the game's final boss, the throne itself. Though the showdown with the throne marks the end of the game, Vlambeer claims it's only halfway through development on Nuclear Throne. Vlambeer offers no solid release date for Nuclear Throne, but reiterates that the game will appear on PC, Mac and Linux, before arriving on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Vita platforms. If you'd rather not wait, you can try Nuclear Throne's Early Access version on Steam or by visiting the Humble Bundle website. [Image: Vlambeer]
You can now buy Nuclear Throne straight from Twitch
Developer Vlambeer is offering the option to purchase its latest game, Nuclear Throne, through Twitch, a first for the video game broadcast company. Purchasing Nuclear Throne through Twitch gives players access to the game via Steam Early Access, specialty Vlambeer emoticons, and a subscription to the official Vlambeer Twitch.tv channel, which offers exclusive streams and subscriber-only chat throughout the week. "If you're interested in learning about game development, this is where you should buy the game. 60 percent of revenue goes to us," Vlambeer's website says. Gamasutra points out that the revenue split through Steam is 70 percent to developers, while 90 percent of revenue goes to game makers when titles are purchased via GOG.com. Vlambeer continues to evolve its latest release. During PAX East the developer added a two-player co-op mode, which co-founder Rami Ismail said was "so crazy and insane that we're not so sure it's a good idea to have four." The crazier, the better!
Vlambeer mutates Nuclear Throne with co-op live from PAX East
From the show floor at PAX East 2014, Vlambeer has unleashed an update that adds co-operative multiplayer to Nuclear Throne. The game is currently available via Steam Early Access for $12.99. "We launched it about an hour ago, I'm uploading it from the show right now. We're updating the website to make sure it's ready. The goal for now was two players, and we're looking into the possibility of more than two players," Vlambeer's Rami Ismail tells Joystiq. "At this point two players is so crazy and insane that we're not so sure it's a good idea to have four." Ismail says that his team thought Nuclear Throne would be a fun single-player experience, but the community clamored for a multiplayer component. "We've been live streaming, we've been really open about our development, but we were worried about multiplayer. Since it was such a big deal though, we decided to do it between the live streams we did. When it was done, we realized it was good. Local multiplayer for two people. The build will be available in just a little while." [Image: Vlambeer]
Xbox One same-day launch clause nudged Nuclear Throne to PS4
Indie developers in the Xbox One publishing program, ID@Xbox, get two console development kits, a Unity license and the opportunity to self-publish their games – in return, Microsoft asks that the games launch same-day on Xbox One and other console platforms. Launch parity, rather than exclusivity. Building a game for multiple launch platforms can be hazardous for indie developers, transferring energy from building games to bureaucracy, Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail tells Joystiq. When Vlambeer learned about Microsoft's launch parity clause, it immediately contacted Sony to set up launch exclusivity on PS4 for its next-gen game Nuclear Throne. "Microsoft was doing reach-out to certain developers back in the early days of ID@XBOX, and we discussed potentially bringing Nuclear Throne to Xbox One with them," Ismail says. "There had been mentions beforehand that there was a launch parity clause in the contract, with the exception of games that were already signed to another platform during the announcement of their self-publishing program. Thus, before we signed with Microsoft, we e-mailed Sony that we quickly wanted to sign Nuclear Throne with them with a month of exclusivity."
Vlambeer's 'Nuclear Throne' available now through Steam Early Access
Vlambeer's latest game, the "action roguelike-like" game Nuclear Throne, is available now through Steam's Early Access program. In its current build state, the $13 game from the studio that created Ridiculous Fishing and Super Crate Box, includes four playable worlds, seven characters, two boss battles and lots of weapons, skills and "randomly generated goodness." The final version will include at least four more worlds, "an undefined number of secret worlds to explore," more skins, sound effects and be shiny like a copper penny. OR ELSE! As with all Early Access games, it's best not to play unless you're willing to be part of the bug crushing process. And these are bugs created by fallout, so watch out!
Vlambeer's Wasteland Kings now Nuclear Throne
Vlambeer (Super Crate Box, Ridiculous Fishing) has changed the name of its upcoming project from Wasteland Kings to Nuclear Throne. Beyond being a better name, Wasteland Kings had the potential of getting confused with inXile Entertainment's Wasteland 2 and even Tribute Games' Mercenary Kings. In fact, inXile politely reached out to note the possible confusion. "We've been through a lot of trouble with people riding on things of ours, and we understand that American trademark law is pretty strict in that not defending a trademark weakens it," wrote Vlambeer founder Rami Ismail on the studio's site. "Although we aren't sure Wasteland Kings and Wasteland are confusing enough for this to be an issue, both us and InXile really don't want to spend development time on arguing over trivialities." As noted, Vlambeer has had its share of intellectual property issues, most famously for having Ridiculous Fishing cloned, with a similar incident happening again with the studio's Luftrausers. Vlambeer is livestreaming the development of Nuclear Throne to give greater transparency to the development process. Nuclear Throne is planned for PS4 and VIta in the future, but is scheduled to be available as part of Steam Early Access and Humble Store in early October for $12.99.
Wasteland Kings slithers onto PS4 and Vita
Wasteland Kings, the next game from Ridiculous Fishing developer Vlambeer, is coming to PS4 and Vita next year, Sony's Shahid Ahmad announced during the company's Gamescom press event today. Wasteland Kings is an action roguelike that tells the sordid stories of mutants fighting to control the Wasteland throne, inspired by 60s to 80s sci-fi novels. Its characters gather radioactive waste to evolve (or devolve, depending on your perspective) and gain new abilities, and it allows players to explore unique approaches to numerous hostile situations. Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail told Joystiq that Wasteland Kings combines aspects from all of its major games: Luftrausers, Super Crate Box and Ridiculous Fishing. "Wasteland Kings feels like the way I think about Vlambeer," Ismail said. "A happy place where weird shit happens all the time." Vlambeer will launch Wasteland Kings on Steam Early Access after Gamescom, complete with a livestream of the game's development.
Wasteland Kings is Vlambeer's next big little game
Wasteland Kings crawled out of Vlambeer's adorably twisted hivemind during Mojam earlier this year, and since then developers Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman have been polishing the three-day action roguelike for wider release. It's mutated over the months – and its characters have, too. "It's a post-apocalyptic world inspired by 60s to 80s science fiction books," Ismail tells Joystiq. "It's a bunch of mutants and there's this trophy Wasteland throne that they all want to capture, and they fight about that. That's what they do on Tuesdays or something." Currently Wasteland Kings has eight power-hungry characters running around Vlambeer's prototype, but there will be more. They mutate throughout the game by gathering radioactive waste, with powers partially based on the character type and partially up to the player, Ismail says. The game itself is chaotic, with numerous approaches to the same problems. It's a mix of every major Vlambeer game to date – unique play styles as in Luftrausers, random level generation as in Super Crate Box and a clever narrative as in Ridiculous Fishing. It's a happy game. "It feels like Vlambeer," Ismail says. Luftrausers, as an opposing example, is rough around the edges and it feels like it comes from a darker place, he adds. "Wasteland Kings feels like the way I think about Vlambeer. A happy place where weird shit happens all the time." Wasteland Kings can also be described as a mix of other people's games: FTL, Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac, Ismail says. It will be playable at PAX Prime as part of the Indie Megabooth, and it's headed to Fantastic Arcade in Austin, Texas in September. Vlambeer will livestream development of Wasteland Kings after Gamescom, and the game should show up on Steam Early Access around the same time. Every major Vlambeer game to date has been cloned, making a pre-release livestream seem counterintuitive – but the sooner people know that this is Vlambeer's game, the quicker the clone problems die down, Ismail told us in June. He hopes to stream twice a week and receive feedback from followers – and also have some fun.%Gallery-196078%
