Nitrome News

Bomb Chicken - Steam!

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 14:44:24 GMT

Hi Nitromians,

we have a new game in development for Steam/PC...yes you read that right for Steam! It's called Bomb Chicken and you play as a Chicken who lays bombs rather than eggs!

You can't fly so but you can stack the bombs as high as you like to reach places as long as you do it before they all blow up!

The bombs can be kicked by walking into them which is handy if you want to tackle some of the enemies and they have a multitude of other uses too....a swiss army knife of tricks!

The game is currently on Steam Greenlight which is what we need to go through to get it onto Steam. If anyone has a steam account we would really appreaciate if you could head over to the page and vote for us here

Finally a lot of people may see a lot of similaritys with our previously announced Steam project Flightless and they do have a lot in common. Flightless has sadly not been worked on for a long time and at this point should be considered cancelled. We may return to the project at some point as we did with Flat Pack/Project Surface but for the moment our sole Steam efforts are going towards Bomb Chicken.

It may seem strange to some that we have made a similar game to Flightless rather than just pick up Flightless. In truth it is mostly coincidence...we had a new idea and the art went in that direction and ended up similar. We decided it was a good fit for Steam after starting development and the time felt right to give the format another go.

Flat Pack

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 14:32:46 GMT

Hi Nitromians,

we have been working hard behind the scenes on some new games and its time to show you some of what were upto. Check out Flat Pack which some of you might recall is following on from an idea we had many years back which we referred to as project surface.

Essentially it is a 2d game played out on the surface of a 3d object.

Well this just goes to show that given time we do go back to some things and now in Unity rather than flash this idea seemed much more possible.

For now this is just a small teaser but there are many more cool things to show on this game at a later date.

Ultimate Briefcase - Coming Soon!

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 16:23:04 GMT

Hi Nitromians,

With Christmas upon us were starting to look to the New Year. Next on Nitromes release list will be our first ever published game 'Ultimate Briefcase' by the very tallented 'Quite Fresh'.

Quite Fresh is a new studio started by Stefan Ahlin who worked as an artist on many of Nitromes classic games such as Steamlands, Nitrome Must Die and Canary to name just a few!

The game is not submitted yet but it is wrapping up nicely, so the hope is that we will launch the game in January!

The game itself is super cool with literally a TON of content to unlock and every unlockable element has new gameplay be it a new character, power up or new location. There is also an awesome way that the backstory is slowely unlocked as you play too, which ties nicely to the characters that unlock and other elements.

Go Pogo update incoming!

Mon, 28 Dec 2015 16:36:37 GMT

Hi Nitromains,

our Go Pogo game proved to be a big success so in celebration we have been working on a little update for the game which will be coming out in January. The update contains several things:

10 new 'extreme' levels for those who have completed the game!

10 new characters to unclock including a certain mammal/amphibian hybrid whos game helped inspire the concept of this game.

Also there have been minor tweeks for early levels for a smoother difficulaty curve so if you were having problems getting into the game this may be for you!

Project Jump (working title)

Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:00:30 GMT

It has been a LONG time since we showed anything on "project jump" as we put it to one side for a bit whilst working on some other projects. We have been back working on it for a little while now though and it is really starting to take shape.

There is a pretty big idea behind this one: You play a new level EVERY DAY! The level itself is not random and there is an end goal, but in order to achieve this we have built an engine that makes levels that are suitably varied every day.

Rustbucket Update!

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 16:11:00 GMT

Hey Nitromains,

Our latest turn-based puzzler Rusbucket is getting its first update in January. We are putting the finishing touches to a new level pack and some new endless content. Our plan is to submit the update soon after our return in the New Year.

We have already committed to a second update after this which will again add more levels, but will focus on something really cool and different other than just new baddies.

Grab it on iOS!

Grab it on Android!

We are really pleased with the feedback from players so far. We'd be very interested to hear ho far you've managed to get in the Endless dungeon or any ideas you might have.

Stay tuned for more news on this and our upcoming games soon. =D

Rustbucket and friends?

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 21:54:12 GMT

Hey Nitromians,

Our hero Rust Bucket and his turn based friend's are in a spot of bother after being ambushed by a pack of slimes.

You can pick up allies and use them to get you out of a tight squeeze in the endless dungeon and level mode. They mimic Rust Buckets movement so can be used to strategically gain advantage in battle, or hold down multi-switches or save villagers. In Fact they can pretty much do whatever you can... yeah we know, sounds useful doesn’t it?

The current plan (all going well) is to release Rust Bucket before xmas. In-fact its already been submitted to the stores and is awaiting review.

More Rust Bucket hype soon. ;)

Go Pogo update

Fri, 20 Nov 2015 18:28:38 GMT

Great news Niromians,

Our next game is coming out really soon...

In fact, it will be released on stores at some point late NEXT WEEK!

It's not Rust Bucket that we have been talking about recently but rather 'Go Pogo' which has been developing much more quietly behind the scenes. So with that in mind we thought it was time to change all that and break out a quick little Gif for you all to enjoy.

This is taken from one of the levels in the game but there is also an endless mode for the High score chasers amoungst you too.

More info on Gopogo as we get closer to launch next week!

Rustbuckets Endless dungeon!

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 20:36:20 GMT

Hey Nitrominas,

As a little Friday treat (for those who just don't like to read) we though we'd show off Rustbuckets Endless dungeon in all its glory. A different experience EVERY time you play!

Only the bravest monster slayers will survive to room 10+!

EDIT: There WILL be some sort of training level based campaign to introduce players into the carnage of the turnbased endless dungeon. We will show more of this soon!

We are also planning a larger Level based series of updates that will flesh out the stages into a much larger campaign with new themes and traps being introduced. Much like the original game, but bigger and better.

OUT TOMORROW - Roller bombs!?!

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 16:49:56 GMT

Hey Nitromians,

Beneath the Lighthouse is out TOMORROW across your mobile devices, so you wont have to wait long to discover all of the devious traps that lie beneath the lighthouse.

As you can see from the Gif our round headed protagonist isn't the ONLY thing that like to roll. Unfortunately for him, its some huge abandoned sea mines. =(

FUN FACT! did you know that beneath the lighthouse has a Speed run system in place, with Gold, Silver and Bronze reward for the fastest possible times? It's going to be a REAL challenge to get all gold across the board.

More news about Beneath The Lighthouse and our other projects soon.

Happy gaming.

Only 2 days to go!

Tue, 27 Oct 2015 19:33:07 GMT

Hey Nitromians,

We are gearing up to the big release of Beneath the Lighthouse with some mouth watering gif's. In the first of which we can see our large headed protagonist discovering a brand new trap 'the auto winch'.

The player can spin a level around using their finger, but the winch will always rotate the level back to it's original position. This makes for some tricky action/puzzles later on, as you have to 'pre' spin the stage the correct amount to pass a number of nasty hazards.

We are really excited about this release and we hope you are too. So if you'd like to help us spread the word, then please share the news with your friends.

Beneath The Lighthouse Trailer!

Mon, 26 Oct 2015 18:57:19 GMT

Hey Nitromians,

Beneath The Lighthouse Trailer!

Check out the trailer for our upcoming atmospheric action/puzzle title Beneath the Lighthouse. It should be "fingers and toes crossed" available for FREE across your mobile devices THIS WEEK!

We are highly optimistic that a premium version might be available on the brand NEW apple TV for its big Friday launch as-well. We are super proud at how well it turned out and that we have finally managed to get a game onto an 'actual' Television is pretty cool.

Finally we are aiming to get a Unity version on our site ASAP with as little gap as we can manage. It is quite a fiddly process though so please be patient.

More news on BTLH and other games soon. =3

Beneath the Lighthouse

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 20:13:01 BST

Hi Nitromians,

so as a final post for the week I thought I would share a bit of promo art we created recently for the game. The game itself is getting close to complete now so we should be ready to submit to the stores pretty soon. We will have more news to share about the game between submitting and release.

Have a great weekend everyone! Right now back to the game!

Upcoming: Rust Bucket

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 18:44:42 BST

Hi Nitromians,

we have a brand new game in the works called Rust Bucket...Yay! But first some bad news...

The game we were working on called Plod is no more…Booo! What happened? Some projects just don’t turn out as fun as you expect them to be and that was the case with plod. It was fun to move around but though we kept trying we could not make very many things that were fun as a challenge to move past.

The upside of this is that we started a new project which is a refresh of our old icon game Turnament! It’s a game that we really wanted to go back to and flesh out much as we did with Gunbrick. The Plod game even helped us in making this as it was at the same viewpoint with the same depth sorting issues so a lot of that engine went into this one!

You may notice that the game is not called Turnament!? We did toy with Turnament SD but a big problem with the name is that it was terrible for search as it was hard to spell. So we decided to name the game after the main character and we have decided his name is Rust Bucket.

We are very excited about ‘Rust Bucket’ it is already at a fairly advanced state with much more graphics and elements than are shown in the gif above. Aaron that is programming the game has made many similar games before including the original Turnament, Turn Undead, Sleepless Pug and his own personal game Ending so he is very well versed in this sort of game and were hoping to make this the best one yet!

We will have more on the game as it develops.

Ultimate Briefcase

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 18:05:25 BST

Hi Nitromians,

we have been making and publishing it’s own titles on the App Stores now with increasing success and we have now decided to branch out and develop a publishing program!

The first title under Nitromes publishing wing will be 'Ultimate Briefcase'. It is being developed by a very talented developer named Stefan Åhlin and his new studio ‘Quite Fresh’. Stefan actually worked at Nitrome in the past on many of our hit web games before leaving to pursue other things. We remained in contact since then and were thrilled to see us be able to team up again!

In 'Ultimate Briefcase' your tasked with surviving an onslaught of bombs with nothing to protect you but your trusty briefcase. There are many bomb types and power ups for you to discover in the game. You collect currency along the way which can be used to unlock new characters and level up the briefcase and those characters special items. During the game you will also be able to unlock new areas each with its own distinctive gameplay quirks. Ultimate Briefcase will be coming to iOS and Android devices soon!

The Nitrome publishing program is different from other Publishing programs in that we seek to focus around the developers themselves rather than individual titles. For us it’s about finding the right people than cherry picking each game and working with those people to bring multiple titles to the App stores. Our hope is to enable developers to spend more time creating great content and less time on worrying who they might find to publish their next game.

We will work with developers from early in the process to ensure that their future titles will be something we are happy to publish and that they will be profitable enough for the developer that they can continue to make more great games. Nitrome published games will remain to be pixel art based, focused around a core query idea and funded by monetization models that fit our moral compass.

Any talented indies interested in a potential partnership feel free to contact us at publishing@nitrome.com.

For those that are currious as to what this means for our in house developed content....not much. We intend to keep producing the same ammount of content in house as we were before and in fact are expanding the team to be able to produce more content in the future.

For those of you wondering if the published games will appear on the website: Were considering this on a game by game basis. Primarally we are offering publishing based on mobile however we are open to the game appearing on the website aswell if the game is made in a technology that is compatable and if the developer wishes to pursue that. Currently there are no plans for Unltimate Briefcase to come to the website as the focus is on getting the game onto iOS and Android. It is possible however and if the developer shows an interest this may change.

Beneath the lighthouse: Sponges!

Sat, 05 Sep 2015 13:00:00 BST

Hey Nitromians,

Beneath the lighthouse has lots of cool features that work with the touch and rotate mechanic icluding the rather cool SPONGES!. As you can see the sponges react to the players touch making them inflate when your finger or mouse is pressed down.

We'll be filling you in with some of the other cool features soon so keep your eyes and ears peeled (not literally, that'd be gross!)

Check back for lots more gaming news next week.

Beneath the Lighthouse Teaser 3

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 16:54:56 BST

Hey Nitromians,

It's Friday again after another busy week at Nitrome towers,

What nicer way to round off the week with another cool little teaser of our next game Beneath the Lighthouse!

As you can see it's a little reminiscent of our old classic Roly Poly and Ditto combined. This time though we have really went to town on the game and taken the game to brand new heights.

We really are super pleased with how this one is turning out, so expect lots of news on some of the cool new mechanics and traps soon.

Until then happy gaming and have a great weekend.

p.s Remember to check back soon as we have plenty of gaming news coming your way. =)

Beneath the Lighthouse teaser 2

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 21:50:46 BST

Check out this second teaser for our next game to be released 'Beneath the Lighthouse' Coming soon to iOS, Android and the Web.

New Game in the making!

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:54:00 BST

We’ve been working on a new game that will be called Go Pogo. Here is a screenshot, as you can see it revolves around a pogo stick jumping mechanic.

We’ve used our old Flash game, Ribbit as a reference, and although we didn’t think Ribbit was the most striking or popular of our games, it appeared to be a good fit for a game to expand and revisit for a touch screen interface.

Go Pogo will be level based, but we are planning to have some unexpected game modes thrown into the mix.

On a side note, we’ve noticed a pogo game that came out on the app store last week: Zombie’s Got a Pogo. As expected from the title and mechanic, some similarities came to our attention. Hey this happens, we can’t consistently get unique ideas that no one else has thought of before, or around the same time.

We’re loving the progress and feel of Go Pogo and to be honest we like a few things that the other game has done, however our game plays different and reassures us that we are on an awesome path!

Beneath The Lighthouse - Teaser

Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:35:31 BST

Check out the first teaser for our nextgame 'Beneath The Lighthouse'.

"The lighthouse hasn't been active for a while. I wonder what's happened to Grandpa... I hope he's okay?"

The game will be coming to mobile and the web.