luftrausers
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PSN Store Update: Digital Pros and CoDs
We're knee-deep in silly season, so it was already a stuffed-enough PlayStation Store update. Factor in that we've just had the first Tuesday of November and therefore the PlayStation Plus slew of games, well, we've got a fair bit to get through here. First off, there are the retail releases that get their downloadable accompaniments. That's MotoGP 14 (PS4 $60, PS3 $40 and Vita $30), The Wolf Among Us ($25 on PS4 and Vita), the standalone Toy Box download for Disney Infinity 2.0 ($20 on PS4 and PS3 for a limited time, regular price $30), Rocksmith 2014 ($60 on PS4), and finally the small matter of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ($60 on PS4 and PS3.) If you've got $100 to burn, you qualify to be a Digital Pro thanks to CoD: Advanced Warfare - Digital Pro Edition. Earning this prestigious title comes with the added benefits of the season pass, a bonus multiplayer map and other in-game goodies.
PS Plus in November: Binding of Isaac, SteamWorld Dig
November brings PS4 owners a final tide of big 2014 releases like Assassin't Creed Unity and Little Big Planet 3, but it also brings PS Plus subscribers some slick downloadables like the long-percolating Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Sitting alongside Isaac on PS4 is Image & Form's SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt. While you spend an inordinate amount of time underground in both games, Isaac has you exploring adorably grotesque, randomly-generated dungeons while SteamWorld has you digging through an interconnected, sprawling cave system under an Old West town. PlayStation 3 owners get a hearty selection of games as well. Luftrausers, Vlambeer's minimalist dogfighting escapade, joins strategy shooter Frozen Synapse Prime on Sony's elder statesman console. PS Vita owners can pick up The Hungry Horde as well as the tricky, creepy launch game Escape Plan. Lucky for them, Luftrausers, Rebirth, and SteamWorld are all Cross Buy on the platform as well. Vita owners with PS Plus are going to have a busy Thanksgiving. [Images: Nicalis]
For a good time, call Devolver
Founded in 2009 in Austin, Texas, Devolver Digital has gained a reputation for introducing the mainstream audience to games with undeniable personality that might have otherwise been overlooked. "When you read Twitter and you follow a bunch of game developers, it's easy to forget that most people outside of this bubble don't really know of many of the games that you hear about all the time. The concept of 'indie' games is still mostly unknown," Mark Foster of Titan Souls developer Acid Nerve told Joystiq. "Devolver kind of breaks out of the bubble and draws more attention to it – makes more people aware that these smaller budget games exist and that some of them are awesome."
Humble Indie Bundle returns with Gunpoint, Gone Home
Humble Bundle breaks away from its recent mobile focus with a new Humble Indie Bundle, offering up downloadable PC versions of SteamWorld Dig, Gunpoint, and Gone Home for a buyer-chosen price. Pay any amount for Humble Indie Bundle 12 and you'll get stealth-puzzler Gunpoint, hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Hammerwatch, and mining-themed sidescroller SteamWorld Dig. Beat the average purchase price (currently $7.38) and you'll also get Fullbright's atmospheric exploration game Gone Home, monochrome shoot-'em-up Luftrausers, and immigration inspector sim Papers, Please. Humble Indie Bundle 12 also offers an Early Access key for Prison Architect with purchases totaling $10 or more. Bundle proceeds benefit the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Game Music Bundle 7: Journey, Broken Age, Luftrausers
Who needs AC/DC and Aerosmith for their gym workouts when you could listen to smooth grooves of video game soundtracks? The Game Music Bundle 7 from Loudr offers 17 albums of audio delights, including tunes from Austin Wintory (Journey, The Banner Saga), Peter McConnell (Broken Age, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft), and Disasterpeace (The Floor is Jelly, Fez). The Game Music Bundle has been running for more than two years now, but if you're just now learning about it, here's how it works: for $1, you'll receive the soundtracks for The Banner Saga, Device 6, Broken Age, The Floor is Jelly and Luftrausers. By paying $10, you'll unlock 12 more albums, including a new solo piano arrangement of music from Journey. To see all 17 albums being offered and scoop up your copy of the bundle, check out the official site. Just don't wait too long, as this particular collection will only be available until May 1. [Image: Loudr]
Luftrausers dev responds to criticisms over Nazi-esque imagery
Luftrausers from Vlambeer is full of fiction. Its name is a made up word, and the game takes place in an alternate history, set some 10 to 15 years after World War II. The game's imagery, however, from its maniacal scientists and sharp-dressed military officers to its skull-emblazoned logo, are evocative of the very real Nazi party of the mid 1940s. This has made some players uncomfortable, which Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail addressed on the company's site earlier today. Ismail noted that, while he believes that no interpretation of a game is "wrong," he and his fellow developers did not intentionally place players into the role of a Nazi pilot. Instead, Ismail said the game was inspired by the period between 1900 and 1980 where opposing governments were "capable of determining whether an opposing military force was working on secret weapons, but not quite what those weapons were." The goal of Luftrausers, according to Ismail, was to have players take control of such a weapon. The only way for this to make narrative sense was to have players play the bad guys - someone we were spying on. "The player is part of an undefined enemy force that was not on 'our' side during the six or seven decades in which military intelligence was effectively telling us to prepare for a laser-equipped hoverboat assault," Ismail wrote. Ismail made it clear he was explaining the game's aesthetics, but not excusing them. Ismail and studio partner Jan Willem Nijman are natives to the Netherlands, which was invaded by the Nazis in 1940. "We are extremely aware of the awful things that happened," Ismail wrote, "and we want to apologise to anybody who, through our game, is reminded of the cruelties that occurred during the war." [Image: Vlambeer]
Joystiq Weekly: GDC 2014, Infamous, Metal Gear Solid and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. We saw many great games and met with many great people during this year's Game Developers Conference in sunny San Francisco. Or did we? One of the biggest announcements of the show was undoubtedly Project Morpheus, the upcoming virtual reality headset from Sony, and during our hands-on demo, we felt pretty darn virtual. So now the question is: What if we didn't really attend GDC 2014? What if it was all virtual reality? Whoa, dude. Sony also gained news traction this week thanks to the release of PS4-exclusive, Infamous: Second Son. Meanwhile, Snake/Jack Bauer has come out of retirement (again) to save the world in Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, and a new cyborg ninja came to town with the release of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. You can read all about these games and more of the week's biggest and best after the break. [Image: Joystiq]
Luftrausers took nearly three years to make, profitable in just three days
Lufrausers sales outstripped the game's budget within days, making its two-and-a-half year development cycle a swiftly profitable one for developer Vlambeer. Let's not forget, it's been a bit of a journey for Luftrausers: The arcade shooter was yet another Vlambeer game to be opportunistically cloned before release, leading the two-man team to start live-streaming its development process in a bid to make clear they had their ideas first. Oh, and co-founder Rami Ismail even lost his backpack at last year's E3, which contained "pretty much my entire company" in his words, although he had everything he needed backed up. Still, maybe the Ridiculous Fishing studio should ironically name its next game Plain Sailing. Luftrausers is out now on PS3, Vita, Windows PC, Mac and Linux, and we gave it a sky-high four-and-a-half stars in our review this week. In the words of Sam Prell, "even at its most infuriating, it's hard to stay mad at Luftrausers. The sense of flight and weightlessness is as intoxicating as the build-what-you-want nature of the game's war machines. And besides, dying is just an excuse to try out a new combo of parts, and I'm mighty curious to see how an armored, cannon-firing airplane with an underwater engine would handle." [Image: Vlambeer]
Defend yourself in the wild skies of Luftrausers
You're a fighter pilot with a plane that can be customized to fire devastating lasers, equip heavy armor, and spin elegantly in all directions. Oh, and it can repair itself while in mid-flight and survive a dive straight into the ocean, too. Your life is constantly in danger as rival pilots, warships, and other hazards flood your path at every turn, and a flight can end in tragedy within seconds of takeoff. This is Luftrausers. This odd little indie title from developer Vlambeer -- available today on Steam for Mac -- is a unique, modern twist on the classic old-school fighter pilot arcade games of yore. With ultra-simple controls consisting of a single button to fire your weapon and basic navigation controls, it takes just seconds to learn, but its steep difficulty curve means you won't be mastering the skies any time soon. As soon as you launch your plane into the air you will be inundated with enemies to take out. Small, quick enemy planes zip by at every angle and don't seem to care if they plow right into your aircraft, while massive hostile ships patrol the ocean below. It's up to you to find a way to spin your plane in a manner that allows you to fire upon them, and then cross your fingers that you achieve a hit. The game is presented in a four-color palette that makes it feel more like old war footage than a game, but the retro-futuristic weapons like lasers and massive missiles remind you that it's all very much tongue-in-cheek. The gritty, bass-filled soundtrack keeps pace with your flying and feels totally on point with the kind of experience the game offers. The more you learn about how to fly efficiently, the more progress you'll make on the various goals laid before you -- which range from taking out certain numbers of enemies to scoring a large number of points. As you gain ranks you'll be given access to new plane modifications like various body types, propulsion systems, and weapons. Luftrausers is currently on sale on Steam for US$8.99, a 10% discount over the regular price of $9.99, and it's definitely worth the price of admission.
Luftrausers Review: Aerial Ace
Question: When is a plane not a plane? Answer: When it's a UFO firing a laser, or a kamikaze ballerina, or a floating brick propelled by bullets, or a nuclear-equipped mecha-dolphin, or, or, or. Shorter answer: When it's in Luftrausers, where a sense of acrobatic grace and colossal amounts of customization are king. Luftrausers is the updated version of Vlambeer's Luftrauser, a free arcade shooter in which players fly the unfriendly skies and attempt to take out as many fighter planes and boats as they can before meeting their inevitable demise. The two games share the same control scheme – up to boost, left and right to rotate, X to fire – but beyond that, the upgrades make Luftrausers feel totally distinct. You'll begin Luftrausers as a simple fighter plane – you have a basic machine gun, a healthy frame, and a not-too-fast, not-too-slow engine. You'll launch from the deck of a submarine and engage in dogfights to take out enemy fighter planes, jets, boats, submarines, battleships, laser-spewing ... things, and a blimp so big it fills the screen.
TowerFall, SteamWorld Dig headline PSN's Spring Fever event
A slate of high-profile indie releases will hit the PlayStation Network during Sony's Spring Fever event this month, bringing games like Luftrausers and Towerfall to the PlayStation family of consoles. The promotion kicks off with tomorrow's launch of an upgraded PlayStation 4 version of Ronimo Games' 2D MOBA Awesomenauts Assemble, and the PS3 debut of Wales Interactive's sci-fi adventure game Master Reboot. Ouya-ported multiplayer combat game TowerFall Ascension (PS4) and Strange Loop's puzzle-platformer Vessel (PS3) continue the promotion on March 11, while Image and Form's mining-themed adventure game SteamWorld Dig (PS4, PS Vita) and Vlambeer's aerial dogfighting sim Luftrausers (PS3, PS Vita) follow on March 18. The event wraps up on March 25 with the release of Polytron's Fez for the PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita. All featured games are available at a launch-week discount for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Sony additionally revealed that Tomb Raider and Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition will launch tomorrow as the month's first free PlayStation Plus games. [Image: Sony]
Vlambeer's Luftrausers debuting for PSN, PC March 18
Indie developer Vlambeer (Super Crate Box, Ridiculous Fishing) announced that its 2D aerial combat game Luftrausers is gunning for a simultaneous release on the PlayStation Network and Steam later this month. Luftrausers will hit Steam on March 18, bundling ports for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The game is now up for pre-purchase at 10 percent off of its regular price of $9.99. The PlayStation 3 and PS Vita versions of Luftrausers will premiere as part of this month's Spring Fever PSN promotion, and PlayStation Plus subscribers can pick up a copy for $7.99 during its debut week. Luftrausers is a Cross-Buy release, and buyers will receive both the PS3 and Vita editions with purchase. [Image: Vlambeer]
Arcade dogfighter Luftrausers on Vita, PS3, PC, Mac, Linux all at once
Publisher Devolver Digital has announced Vlambeer's chaotic 2D dogfighter, Luftrausers, will launch simultaneously on PS Vita, PS3, PC, Mac and Linux later this year. "Hope to have a date soon," the announcement tweet adds. In Luftrausers, players pilot highly modular planes across more than 100 different missions. With each successful mission, players unlock more parts to greater customize their aerial death machines. Luftrausers is a sequel to Luftrauser, Vlambeer's free-to-play Flash game. Vlambeer originally planned to launch Luftrausers last year, but a combo of having to work out the deal with Sony for the PS Vita and PS3 ports, on top of ongoing development for Ridiculous Fishing, contributed to Luftrauser's new launch window this year. [Image: Vlambeer]
Vlambeer's Luftrausers unlikely to take to the skies before early 2014
Super Crate Box dev Vlambeer said it won't release dogfighter Luftrausers before early 2014 "unless a miracle happens." While it's the season for such things, the indie dev believes a 2013 release window is "unlikely" because the PS3, Vita, and Steam game has still to undergo quality assurance. The Luftrauser sequel was first due in 2012, but Vlambeer admitted development hasn't been the smoothest - and that's without mentioning any thievery or clones. "The way we worked with Luftrausers, in hindsight, wasn't really optimal," the company's blog notes. "We assumed that certification would be harsh, but didn't expect it to take more than a month or two. While a part of our team was already focusing on Nuclear Throne and Ridiculous Fishing, we kept being pulled back to fix things or add last minute changes to the game to fit within the requirements. Switching between projects in such different states mentally is extremely exhausting, and a lot of our time was spent orienting on where the game was and where it needed to go." Elsewhere, progress has been steadier. An Android version of Ridiculous Fishing is on the way soon, while Nuclear Throne sold more than 10,000 copies across its first two weeks on Steam Early Access.
How live-streaming development can solve Vlambeer's clone problem
[Image credit: Tommy Rousse] Vlambeer is going to live-stream development of its next game. This wouldn't be notable for many other indie developers, but Vlambeer's history makes this strategy appear, for lack of a stronger term, absolutely illogical. "At this point, all of our big games have been cloned," Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail tells me at E3. He goes down the list: Super Crate Box, Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers and Infinite SWAT all have clones. The only acceptable one is the Infinite SWAT "homage," Broforce, from South African team Free Lives, Rami said – it's an example of developers taking inspiration from a game and creating their own world with it. The other ones, though. Those are straight-up clones. These clones caused major problems for Ismail and Vlambeer's other half, Jan Willem Nijman. The Ridiculous Fishing clone affected the team so strongly that they almost stopped developing their own game completely. Ridiculous Fishing almost didn't exist. Because of a clone. Hence, Vlambeer live-streaming development of its next game sounds like a pretty terrible idea. Until Ismail explains his reasoning: "If you look at Ridiculous Fishing, one of the reasons the clone was such a nightmare was because nobody knew that we were working on Ridiculous Fishing. We had to rapidly announce Ridiculous Fishing while the clone story was going down, so people knew that it was our idea first and they stole it from us. With Luftrausers, when SkyFar hit, it was much better, because everybody already knew that Luftrausers was a Vlambeer thing and that SkyFar was a clone." That makes sense, actually. "No, it doesn't," Rami says. But Vlambeer is doing it anyway.
Thievery at E3: Vlambeer developer's backpack full of games stolen
Wednesday night, a black Samsonite backpack filled with an Asus laptop, two iPads, two Vitas, a Kindle, a bunch of European-US outlet converters, and "enough power cables to power E3," disappeared from an E3 party. The bag and everything inside of it belong to Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail. Ismail was at the Sony mixer at the Figueroa hotel last night, and he left his bag near a table for a few minutes. When he turned to reclaim it, it was gone. Today, Ismail filed a police report, but so far no one has produced any information about the thief. "It's pretty much my entire company in that backpack," Ismail said. Vlambeer is responsible for Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box and the coming multiplatform game, Luftrausers. Authorities said E3 and its surrounding events provide a hotbed for burglaries, so keep a close eye on your bags. And if you spy anyone playing Luftrausers on a Vita that isn't attached to a Sony booth, hit up Ismail's Twitter.
Super Crate Box squares away a launch on Ouya
Vlambeer is bringing Super Crate Box to Ouya, just in time to show it off at E3. The new version shouldn't be a complete surprise – after all, Super Crate Box is already on basically every other platform ever, including Commodore 64. Vlambeer announced Super Crate Box Ouya in a blog post packed with news: As previously mentioned, Luftrausers is ready for certification by Sony, and when it's approved it'll launch simultaneously on PC, Mac, Linux, PS3 and Vita. In an appearance on Sup Holmes?, Vlambeer founders Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman announced unlockable, color versions of Luftrausers, created by notable people in the gaming industry. Ismail and Nijman are also deep into their next game – it's playable already, and it features explosions and screen shakes, if that helps narrow down its genre a bit (it doesn't). They plan to stream development of this game and will announce more information closer to Luftrausers' launch.
Luftrausers clone dev shoots back at Vlambeer
RubiqLab, the developer accused of cloning Vlambeer's upcoming 2D dogfighter Luftrausers, has taken to Facebook to assert that Vlambeer's game isn't an original concept. The Game luftrauser is cloned by ( SKYSTRIKE , JETSTRIKE & many more ) And your game also came under pixel art. Earlier games likes SkyStricks & Jetstrike also were in pixel art. SO WHAT DO YOU SAY IS THAT REALLY YOUR OWN IDEA ? We dont think so.The clone in question, SkyFar, shares certain mechanics and a visual style with Vlambeer's game, painting the world in a blue hue versus Luftrausers red color scheme.Joystiq has contacted RubiqLab for further comment on its stance, and will update this post if the developer responds.Luftrausers is the second game of Vlambeer's to be cloned. The first is the notorious case of Radical Fishing (Ridiculous Fishing on iOS), where Vlambeer's browser-based fishing game was beaten to iOS. Luftrausers is slated to launch this spring on PC, Mac, Linux, PS3 and PS Vita.
Vlambeer 'fully intends' to fight Luftrausers clone
Indie developer Vlambeer is getting used to its games being cloned before final release, with the developer discovering today that its upcoming game Luftrausers has a clone called SkyFar on the iOS App Store. Freelance journalist Scott Nichols noticed the clone today, following its App Store release on March 24."We obviously endured a bit of a scare when news arrived of Luftrausers being cloned and released ahead of our own release schedule by another developer," Vlambeer lead Rami Ismail told us. "This time, however, it's not 'just' the idea of the game that has been cloned, but also the visual style. This gives us much more room to fight the whole thing, and we fully intend to."Ismail continued, "The developer of the clone has gotten in touch with us after Twitter exploded and let us know that 'acttuly we genrated our assets, Codes and all newly' and that the gameplay as indicated on the screenshots 'is not there in game as in the screen shots. We just done those screnshots for public attraction'. They signed off with the note that 'we really dont think it links your game at all.'"Vlambeer was famously at the heart of another cloning incident, when its 2010 browser-based game Ridiculous Fishing was cloned in 2011, while the developer was in the process of porting it for the platform. Another key issue with that clone, Ninja Fishing, was that it became a hit on the App Store. SkyFar hasn't seen such traction.
Luftrausers officially coming to PS3 and Vita spring 2013
Vlambeer's campaign of mobile platform domination continues. Following the successful release of the absolutely essential iOS game Ridiculous Fishing, the company has made its plans for a PS3/Vita release of the dogfighting action game Luftrausers official, putting a spring 2013 release window on it. That's really soon!Devolver Digital, who worked with Vlambeer on Serious Sam: The Random Encounter (reminder of how weird our world is: that exists) is acting as publisher for this release, along with the PC/Mac/Linux version. For the most part, if you have a game machine, you'll be able to get blown up by a surprise blimp.
