Factsheet
Developer:
Vlambeer
Based in Netherlands
Founding date:
August 31 2010
Website:
vlambeer.com
Press / Business Contact:
info@vlambeer.com
Releases:
Nuclear Throne
Address:
Neude 5, Utrecht
Phone:
+31621206363
Description
Vlambeer is a Dutch independent game studio made up of Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman, bringing back arcade games since 1774.
History
Early history
Vlambeer was founded in 2010 by Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman, after they dropped out of game design university. They teamed up to fully develop the 'Crates from Hell' prototype Jan Willem had created. With no resources, space or money, they created Radical Fishing to earn a starting capital to rent an office and food other than noodles. Crates from Hell was renamed Super Crate Box and released subsequently. Super Crate Box was an overwhelming success, eventually earning them recognition in the form of a Independent Games Festival Finalist spot in the Excellence in Design category.
Ridiculous Fishing
After Super Crate Box' success, Vlambeer was approached by Devolver Digital for a Serious Sam game. Initially scared that Devolver might want a Serious Sam themed Super Crate Box, Vlambeer proposed a turnbased RPG. Devolver agreed and Serious Sam: The Random Encounter was born. During development of The Random Encounter, Vlambeer also released Dinosaur Zookeeper, KARATE, Super Puppy Boy and fan-favorite 2D dogfighter game LUFTRAUSER. In secret, Vlambeer had started work on an iOS version of Radical Fishing called Ridiculous Fishing with an all-star team - a project that was promptly derailed when a San Francisco studio released a clone of Radical Fishing on iOS. Against its will, Vlambeer was thrown headfirst into the cloning discussion, becoming somewhat of an icon of independent games being cloned - the term "Vlambeer'd" was introduced by several media outlets.
Recent
After the cloning incident, Vlambeer moved to release GUN GODZ, a hip-hop inspired first person shooter in cooperation with Brandon Boyers' Venus Patrol. Soon after GUN GODZ release, Vlambeer succesfully released an iOS version of Super Crate Box, which narrowly prevented the studio going out of business due to the motivational blow (and the financial ramifications of said demotivation) the cloning incident had induced. Weeks after Ridiculous Fishing was nominated for an Independent Games Festival 'Best Mobile' award they released Yeti Hunter from the GDC showfloor. Weeks later and in typical for the studios large amount of simultaneous projects, Vlambeer moved to announce a yet unnamed space game and a sequel to dogfighting game LUFTRAUSER named LUFTRAUSERS.
Projects
Videos
Appremium Interview YouTube
Yeti Hunter Talk (2011) YouTube
Images
Logo & Icon
Awards & Recognition
- "Two times Independent Games Festival Nominee & two times Independent Games Festival Honorable Mention" - Super Crate Box, Ridiculous
- "EDGE Best Free Friday Game 2010, IGN Best Free PC Game 2010, Bytejacker Best Free Indie Game 2010" - Super Crate Box, 2010
- "Dutch Game Award Winner" - Radical Fishing, 2011
- "PAX Boston Indie Showcase Winner" - Super Crate Box iOS, 2012
- "A MAZE Indie Connect Showcase" - Yeti Hunter, 2012
- "Two time INDIGO Showcase nominee" - Super Crate Box & Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, 2010, 2011
- "Fantastic Arcade Finalist" - Ridiculous Fishing, September, 2011
Selected Articles
- "Vlambeer interview - Everything else we consider nonsense"
- Travis Boisvenue, The Happy Medium - "Cloning Wars: Vlambeer"
- Russ Frushtick, Polygon - "Vlambeer on the iOS launch of Super Crate Box"
- Andreas Zecher, Made By Pixelate - "Vlambeers unplayable IGF entry: GlitchHiker"
- John Polson, DIYGames - "Vlambeer on practicing Sensible Nonsense"
- Chris Priestman, IndieGamesMag
Additional Links
Rami Ismail on Twitter
Personal twitter for Rami Ismail (@tha_rami) available at twitter.com/tha_rami.
Jan Willem Nijman on Twitter
Personal twitter for Jan Willem Nijman (@jwaaaap) available at twitter.com/jwaaaap.
Team & Repeating Collaborators
Rami Ismail
Business & Development, Vlambeer
Jan Willem Nijman
Game Design, Vlambeer
Paul 'Pietepiet' Veer
Artist, Skullrobot
Jukio 'KOZILEK' Kallio
Music, Freelancer
Eirik 'Phlogiston' Suhrke
Music, Freelancer
Kert Gartner
Trailers, Freelancer
Contact
Inquiries
rami@vlambeer.com
Twitter
twitter.com/vlambeer
Facebook
facebook.com/Vlambeer
Web
vlambeer.com
presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks