Vlambeer is a Dutch independent video game developer located in Utrecht. The studio was started in 2010 by Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman. The studio is known for creating games such as Super Crate Box (2010), Serious Sam: The Random Encounter (2011), Ridiculous Fishing (2013), Luftrausers (2014), and Nuclear Throne (2015). They are also known for opposing video game cloning.

History

In 2010, Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman started Vlambeer after leaving a game design class at the Utrecht School of the Arts. They had been making a game outside of school, but the school wanted the rights to the game. They refused, which led them to leave the school. Ismail and Nijman worked together to create a prototype called "Crates from Hell," which became "Super Crate Box" and was released on 11 May 2010. This game earned Vlambeer recognition as an Independent Games Festival finalist in the Excellence in Design category. While developing "Super Crate Box," Vlambeer also made "Radical Fishing," released in November 2010. This game was the first of many Vlambeer games labeled "Not Vlambeer," which includes games made for money or as experiments.

Vlambeer was asked by publisher Devolver Digital to create a game in the Serious Sam franchise. They agreed to make a turn-based role-playing game called "Serious Sam: The Random Encounter," released on 24 October 2011. During its development, Vlambeer released smaller games, including "Luftrauser." They also began work on an iOS version of "Radical Fishing" called "Ridiculous Fishing." Development stopped after another studio released a similar game on iOS, leading to discussions about copying games. This event made Vlambeer a symbol of the issue, and the term "Vlambeer'd" was used by media. In November 2013, Vlambeer released the browser game "Vlambeer Clone Tycoon," which humorously commented on the cloning issue.

In February 2012, Vlambeer released "Gun Godz," a first-person shooter inspired by hip-hop, in partnership with Venus Patrol. "Ridiculous Fishing" was nominated for the 2012 Independent Games Festival "Best Mobile" award. At the event, Vlambeer also released "Yeti Hunter."

On 2 December 2012, Vlambeer announced a sequel to "Luftrauser" called "Luftrausers." On 19 December 2012, they released the iOS version of "Super Crate Box." Its success helped the studio avoid financial problems caused by the cloning incident. On 14 March 2013, "Ridiculous Fishing" was released on iOS after development resumed.

In 2015, Vlambeer tried live streaming their game development and had over 12,000 paid subscriptions to their Twitch channel.

On 5 December 2015, Vlambeer released "Nuclear Throne," a top-down shooter roguelike that had been in Steam's early access program since 2013. The game was released for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, and received positive reviews.

On 8 August 2016, Vlambeer announced "120 Years Of Vlambeer And Friends," an art and history book about the company, written by Arjan Terpstra and published by Cook & Becker.

In 2018, Rami Ismail received the Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards for his support of independent game development.

On 1 September 2020, Vlambeer announced the studio would close. Ismail and Nijman had decided this after realizing they were moving in different directions in the video game industry since 2016. They planned to release a final game called "Ultrabugs," which had not been released as of July 2024. Ismail intends to continue supporting diversity in the game industry, while Nijman plans to help develop smaller games like "Minit" with other teams.

In April 2024, Ismail sold his shares of the company to Nijman, giving him full ownership. Nijman reopened the studio to improve existing games and complete "Ultrabugs" after finishing his current unannounced project outside the Vlambeer label.

Games

• Super Crate Box (2010)
• Karate (2011)
• Serious Sam: The Random Encounter (2011)
• Gun Godz (2012)
• Yeti Hunter (2012)
• Ridiculous Fishing (2013)
• Luftrausers (2014)
• Nuclear Throne (2015)
• Ultrabugs (To Be Announced)
• Ridiculous Fishing EX (2023)