By Quintin Smith on April 14th, 2011 at 1:48 pm.
That impenetrable castle of good taste that is the Indiegames Blog has posted footage of a game called Steamlands, the current project of indie dev nitrome. Steamlands is a Captain Forever style action game wherein you’re expected to build your vehicle as you go, but with the tower defence twist that the turrets on it are semi-automated. RPS has never done stickers for games, like “MUST BUY” or “ONE TO WATCH”, but if we did then I would waste no time in slapping one on this game that read “FULL GORGEOUS”. Plenty of footage awaits after the jump.
Here’s your in-game footage…
…and here’s your development trailer, providing an interesting look at some of the decisions and challenges involved in making the game. Also, a look at a man doing a wheelie on a penny farthing. It’s as if they know us!
Yes, yes, this is what I want!
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Wanted as!
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Wow! I did, quite literally LOL at the penny-farthing dude. Loving the Victorian London vibe and the little guy shovelling coal. This looks ace!
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One of the main things I liked about Captain forever was the whole motion mechanic; your ship had to have enough/balanced numbers of thrusters to make your ship fly. And it was possible to destroy a better made craft with some maneuvering and luck. This seems to have stripped out both those elements, but I still think its interesting and I’ll be keeping an eye on it.
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This looks awesome :O
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Want please.
However, after the man on the penny farthing in the level clear screen, I also want a penny farthing based Road Rash game. Farthing Rash if you will. (As opposed to Penny Rash, which sounds like something you get from an evening at a cheap brothel.)
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Will it have #2 as an unlockable character?
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Nitrome always delivers.
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Very nice. Reminds me a little of Slam Bolt Scrappers in its blockyness. That’s a good thing :)
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“That inpenetrable castle of good tase”
There’s a good kind of tasing?
On topic: Do want. I really liked the aesthetic and the idea behind Captain Forever, but it turned out to be too hectic for my tastes. This, however, appears much more gentlemanne-ly.
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All tasing is good tasing, obv. Fixed!
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While we’re being grammar police,… inpenetrable should surely be impenetrable, no?
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Except that you’re pointing out a spelling mistake, not a grammatical one
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@ Quintin: Oh, that kind of tasing. Say no more.
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grammar corrections should be sent to the RPS email account, twitter account, and begin with vicious hyperbole. your obv doing it all wrong
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“grammar corrections should be sent to the RPS email account, twitter account, and begin with vicious hyperbole. your obv doing it all wrong”
I think you mean:
Grammar corrections should be sent to the RPS email account, Twitter account, and should begin with vicious hyperbole. You’re obviously doing it wrong.
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We’ve been watching this progress every london indies. Really good to see it come out finally!
Nitrome positively churn out games. They are amazing!
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Municipal Darwinism at its finest.
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Exactly what I thought!
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Reminds me of the basic idea behind the Mortal Engines books.
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I’ve always had a soft-spot for Nitromes games. This one looks to be one of their best.
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Wow, while Captain Forever played really good this looks like… total rubbish?
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there will be swastikas.
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This looks cool, and it’s gonna be free like all their other games, right?
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That engine! D:
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Hopefully it has a mute button. Couldn’t stand that rattling for more than the first 5 seconds.
Anyways, another crap no one is going to play, but everyone will praise as another hallmark in the pantheon of the indie industry.
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People don’t play Nitrome’s games? That’s news to me.
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Yeah! Poseurs!
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Nitrome games are the only flash games I really enjoy playing. Their level of quality combined with good sound design is really unusual in the flash game world.
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If you and Artist get together your collective pessimism could be seen from space.
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PS You meant ‘landmark’.
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You don’t know! He COULD have meant the greeting card company!
Like as in: “Hallmark as a company is the logical extension of what Nitrome will become. Starting as an indie operation, it will eventually end up being a long-lasting behemoth that defines and drives its market.”
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I think i love this. The little chap in the engine room is a lovely touch.
It resembles Bitmap Brothers’ pixel work. I’m reminded of Speedball, but specifically Z, with the crunchy explosions and humorous little character animations. Is nitrome british by any chance?
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Considering that, in the second video, they sound like the sort of people who subscribe to MG Enthusiast magazine and meticulously mark the date of this year’s Farnborough Air Show every 1st of January on their new calendars, I’m going to venture a tentative ‘yes’.
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I thought Bitmap Bros as soon as I saw this, even to the point of thinking the Dune picture was Z for a second. I want Z Redux…
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I bet they’re not even aware of it, but even more than Captain Forever this looks like Babarageo’s Boschvos
http://starslip.com/2009/04/10/starslip-number-1012/
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Clever and it looks nice. I may very well buy this on Steam. :)
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Wait, how will you buy it on Steam?
If all their last games are anything to go by, it should be free.
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The screenshot looked way cool, but the video just shows two ships pulling up to each other and hitting FIRE! until one dies. Am I missing something?
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“wheelie on a penny farthing” — Goldie Lookin’ Chain reference? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHq_k3tjE2s
Probably not, but I’d love to think so.
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Usually the only problem I have with Nitrome games is the pacing (usually a bit slow to introduce new things/ramp up the difficulty). Everything else is pretty much spot on.
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Is anyone else seeing Rampart on treads?
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Kinda reminds me of Rocket Slime for the DS. That was a pretty fun game.
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Nitrome games are usually just 20 examples as a proof of concept. I hope they make a (more) complete game out of this one. The battery/gun/block shop suggests that they will.
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how can a game look so pretty and be so pointless?
They learnt so well the use of art from major houses, but they didn’t learn how to make AAA games, with their sweet typical “pompous” feel of dramatic coherence(in gameplay and story) which make games great and that’s pretty much the essence of ’90′s games. Simple yet kolossal.
That’s why Gemini Rue is prolly a MIRACLE
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It looks really cramped on the screen with even a small machine. Building something and then hitting the go button and just watch isn’t my cup of tea. Unless it is epic-sized space battles. :)
EDIT: Watched again and I saw I missed out on the fact that you seem to be able to do things. not only watching. Wrong again. So it goes
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The game looks great, I’m looking forward to it.
And despite the fact that I own this shirt (and in fact happen to be wearing it this very moment) I had no idea that those old-fashioned bikes were called penny-farthings. Neato. You learn something new every day.
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Well I know I’ll be buying this game. And hope there will be more like it. Maybe involving airships!?
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