So you read our huge news about having Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage published by Rovio Stars?
Update#7: Rovio Stars?
When we started Icebreaker we had no intention of using a publisher. We were not looking for a publisher and even though we had interest from several of the biggest publishers during its development it wasn't really what we wanted.
So what changed? Well nothing really... but there are exceptions to every rule. In the paid app market Rovio is king, they have taken their Angry Birds game and made it a phenomenon and every game they have released has gone on to be very successful. We have a huge respect for what they have built up and they are possibly the only party on the App store that we would and did jump at working with.
The App Store is all about exposure, games are cheap so you need lots and lots... and LOTS of people to know about your game in order to get up the charts. It's only once you chart that anyone outside your fan base will ever hear about you!
As of last December Rovio has a user base of 200 million monthly active users... that's seriously huge! To give you an idea of how huge, that's more than Twitter has! By comparison Nitrome has around 5 million monthly active users, something we’re proud of but not all of those will even own a phone and well… you see the difference!
So what about compromising the game? Well that’s the other great thing… we don't! The game was fairly feature complete before Rovio got involved and they were impressed with what we had done. Everything that we changed after that point enhanced the game and we fully appreciated and agreed with their feedback.
Because of Rovio the game has been tested to death. Not only is it about as bug free as we could possibly make a game it also had a lot of user testing. We got lots of great feedback from this and we were able to adjust areas that people were getting confused or to make some elements more enjoyable.
Also thanks Rovio were thrilled to announce that Icebreaker is not only in English but also at launch supports French, German, Spanish and Italian!
Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage features an in depth dialogue throughout the game conveying a deep and often humorous tale. It is a feature we spent a lot of time on in the game and one of the features that we believe elevates the game above what you would typically find in a puzzle game on the App Store.
Rovio have helped us with the branding and we worked closely to create a new video and art to be used to promote the game. If you haven’t seen the video yet what are you waiting for? Go view it now!
The other major benefit of working with Rovio is that they know better than anyone else on the App Store how to take a hit brand to the next level. There is everything now from the familiar Angry Birds plush toys, to a cartoon series and feature film on the way.
Now don't get too excited, you may not ever see such things from the Icebreaker universe. But if we do have a hit on our hands, then Rovio will help us make the most of it in a way we never could have done on our own!
May 14th, 2013 -- Espoo, Finland -- Rovio Entertainment announced the launch of its new mobile game publishing initiative, Rovio Stars, which will feature the best new games from talented and innovative developers. This is the entertainment company’s first foray into including third party titles in its game line-up.
“Rovio Entertainment has positioned itself as one of the powerhouses of mobile entertainment, so moving into publishing is a logical step for us at this point”, said Rovio’s EVP of Games Jami Laes. “We want to help our fans find quality entertainment among the more than 100,000 games available in app stores. That’s where Rovio Stars comes in.”
“In the course of our work, we run into so many fantastic upcoming titles -- games with memorable characters and entertaining gameplay that are also just really fun to play!” said Kalle Kaivola, Director of Development. “These are the sorts of titles we’re interested in. We want to help the developers to give these games that last coat of polish, publish the games and find their audience. We’re focusing on a small, select number of games, and each Rovio Stars launch will be an event of its own.”
The first game to be published under the Rovio Stars program will be Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage by Nitrome Ltd., followed by Tiny Thief by 5 Ants. Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage follows the adventure of a lone Viking, combining a unique ice slicing mechanic with an offbeat humour. Tiny Thief is a beautiful medieval adventure featuring stealth-based puzzles.
“Being involved with Rovio Stars means that we have one of the best marketing teams behind us, as well as visibility to their vast audience. To a small indie studio like Nitrome this is all the backing we could hope for!” said Mat Annal, Managing Director of Nitrome Ltd.
Check out the brand new Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage trailer here: http://rov.io/icebreakertrailer
Developers who are interested in Rovio Stars can find more information at: www.rovio.com/developers
For more information and general media inquiries please contact media@rovio.com
For more information on Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage, and Tiny Thief:
About Rovio Entertainment
Rovio is an industry-changing entertainment media company headquartered in Finland, and the creator of the globally successful Angry Birds franchise. Angry Birds, a casual puzzle game, became an international phenomenon within a few months of its release, and is now the number one paid app of all time. Angry Birds has expanded rapidly in entertainment, publishing, and licensing to become a beloved international brand. www.rovio.com
About Nitrome Ltd
Nitrome is an award winning games studio based in London UK, who develop mobile, PC and browser games. With over 100 games to date, the Nitrome website reaches tens of millions of loyal fans each month and individually titles have reached over 100 million plays across the internet. www.nitrome.com
About 5 Ants
Barcelona-based 5 Ants Studio aims to create imaginative and unique games for all ages. Tiny Thief is the culmination of our most enthusiastic work, a delicious adventure you will never forget. Intrigued? Visit 5ants.com
We are still busy working away on Icebreaker! Despite the silence there have been 6 of the Nitrome crew busy on the game for quite some time and were making great progress! The game is just about complete now and to show just how close to complete we are we have upped the percentage bar to 99%!
Why is it not finished already? Well mainly it is just a lot of work to make such a huge game...it has just shy of 100 levels and they are packed with story secrets and variety!
There is also another reason however...something that has been going on behind the scenes since the beginning of this year...a secret! Woooo! We're going to be revealing just what that secret is TOMORROW and we hope it will surprise and excite a lot of you when we explain just what it means to Icebreaker! Keep checking this page for the news which will be coming alongside a big Icebreaker site overhaul and a new video! We also have tons of other bits and bobs written up now to be posted between now and the games release so get ready for an Icebreaker news overload!
Icebreaker Dev Diary 4: Click Here!
Hello all,
We have uploaded a new version of Test Subject Complete. We done a few bug fixes, they are as follows:
More robust reset functionality. – The “R” key for resetting the level had a few bugs depending on when it was pressed. These issues have now been resolved.
Invisible steps! – They are no more!!! If you don’t know about them, then don’t worry! ;0)
Laser sound loop issues. – Again this was related to the reset functionality, this should be no more.
Thank you all for giving us your feedback, especially the guys and gals that do nitrome.wikia.com
We hope you have all enjoyed playing Test Subject Complete, and if you’ve not tried it yet… why not?! Get your gaming head on and head over to the Test Subject Complete game page!
Test Subject Complete: Click Here!
Take care all!
Hello all you lovely peoples!
We are happy to announce that Test Subject Complete is now out for your delectation. This is the 3rd and final part to the Test Subject Story. (Test Subject Blue, Test Subject Green)
As we indicated in the trailer that went online a couple of weeks ago, Blue must escape the cage and discover what happened to the professor and quite possibly save the world!
So why are you reading this? Get you gaming heads on and start playing!
We hope you enjoy it!
Test Subject Complete: Click To Play!
Loads of love – The Nitrome Team!
We are looking for new C++ developers to join our team at Nitrome making games for Mobile and PC/Mac. As a lot of the games are mobile a knowledge of Objective-C is also beneficial and candidates used to using Cocos2d & Box2d would be ideal though this is not essential. Knowledge of source control (especially git) would also be a plus.
For a good idea of the sort of games you would be working on please check out the following two titles that are in production:
Icebreaker - A Viking Voyage (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad/Android)
All candidates must be able to show examples of their work to be considered. Salary is negotiable. The position requires you work at the Nitrome office in London so candidates must live within commuting distance or be willing to relocate for the role. Please send CV's and Example links to jobs@nitrome.com with the subject line 'programmer application'.
We are now distributing our platform puzzle game Super Stock Take for use around the web!
This means you can add this and many more Nitrome games to your site by copying the code from our Distribution Page and placing it on your web pages.
Distribution Page: Click Here!
Play Super Stock Take: Click Here!
Thanks for Playing!
Wow... Now this piece of fanart is absolutely awesome!
We are honoured to have this outstanding tribute to the Nitrome Towers in Minecraft and the attention to detail is brilliant.
The Knuckle Heads and Steamlands bosses were my personal favourites!
For those of you that have not played it yet, Nitrome Must Die takes place inside the lofty Nitrome Towers building in which you play as disgruntled fans that must destroy the hordes of Nitrome enemies and epic bosses as you make your way up the building floor by floor.
Nitrome Towers in Minecraft: Click Here!
Play Nitrome Must Die: Click Here!
A big thank you goes out to Frosty Fly Trap! We really appreciate the hard work and effort that has gone into this!
Hi Nitromians,
You may have noticed that we did not do a Friday Update last week. We were talking about it on Friday between the staff at Nitrome and decided against posting it because we didn’t want people to miss the Test Subject Complete trailer. This also led to a deeper discussion about the Friday updates in general. I wanted to share the highlights of what we discussed:
Friday updates block less frequent visitors from seeing the main news of the week.
Friday updates do not always have anything worth mentioning.
Friday updates are supposed to be a weekly round up and also let people know what is coming the following week. The problem is we often run out of time and don’t agree what to show the next week so it is rushed.
It was suggested we could better cope with Friday Updates if we moved it to Monday mornings when we would have more time to put out something worth mentioning.
It was suggested that we don’t post anything unless we have something worth mentioning.
It was highlighted that if we do not post a feature weekly that we may end up telling the fans less….having a fixed day of the week keeps us aware that we should post something.
So the purpose of this post is to ask you guys and gals what you think. Do you like the Friday updates?….do you think any of the internal comments are valid? Do you have any ideas of your own on how we could do this better…or should we just scrap it?
Just so you don’t all miss out on the news. Coming up soon we want to start showing off a new i.p. we have been working on alongside Test Subject Complete. We also want to give you all a much requested update on Icebreaker which we have been a little quiet on.
You can post your views on our Facebook Wall.
As we draw close to it's release, we have got a teaser trailer ready for our upcoming game Test Subject Complete, Enjoy!
In the meantime, why not re-familiarize yourselves with Test Subject Blue and Test Subject Green before launch?
Test Subject Complete Trailer: Click Here!
You can also tell us what you think of the trailer on our Facebook Page!
