Sunlight

I've previously written about how Rene Derks and I did a live musical improvisation to someone playing Journey and Ori And The Blind Forest. This was a pretty unique experiment already, but recently we kicked it up a notch with an even bolder performance: instead of knowing what was coming, we let players choose whatever game they wanted to play and we had to improvise live music to that. Since this was an experiment not all of it worked well, but I think it was a success: a bunch of games turned out pretty awesome and we learned a lot. Today I'd like to explain how we approached each game and why some of them worked, and others turned out not to be a great fit for this format. I've included a couple of short videos from the performance, check 'm out! The basic idea for these performances is that we mix live improvisation with gameplay. Instead of playing the original game's soundtrack we come up with new music on the spot and try to respond to whatever is happenin...

Recently I've done a couple of music performances that were quite different from any live game music performance I've ever seen. We let someone play the games Journey and Ori And The Blind Forest live on stage and we improvised a completely new soundtrack on the spot, reacting to whatever the player was doing. This was a unique experiment for us and we learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, so today I'd like to share our approach and experiences. Usually when game music is performed live the original soundtrack is replicated by musicians on stage. We however completely ignored whatever the original soundtrack had sounded like and improvised based on what we saw. The resulting music is different with each performance and sounds nothing like the original soundtrack. The fun of improvisation is that it's entirely in the moment . You don't know what's going to happen and it will never happen in the exact same way again. A truly live experience! Sometim...

This Monday we've announced a new expansion for Awesomenauts : Overdrive! Lots of cool things under way, like 4 new characters, graphics improvements, new matchmaking and the Starstorm map! Most of that content will be added in free updates to the base game, while 3 of the characters will be sold as a premium DLC. That DLC is coming in March and can already be pre-ordered on the new Overdrive website (pre-ordering grants a free skin for Professor Yoolip). Here's a cool trailer to show what's cooking:

Our awesome introduction trailer for Swords & Soldiers II just went live! Koen made a really nice trailer for our new game, with help from Ralph and Gijs. Swords & Soldiers II is launching on Wii U next week (on Thursday 21 May), exciting times! :D

On 27 November Proun+ launched on iOS! The first reviews are extremely positive, both from the press and from users. We also got a big feature in the European App Store, so it seems like Apple itself also likes the game. :) Here are some quotes from the reviews and the launch trailer: " A bright, searingly good twitch racer that takes the fundaments of the genre and builds something staggeringly entertaining on top of them. " 9/10 PocketGamer.co.uk " Previously a successful indie release on the PC, it deserves your attention and patience. [...] Throw in a funky jazz based soundtrack and Proun+ has a lot going for it. " 4/5 stars 148Apps.com " this self-styled �journey through modern art� exudes an endearing weirdness that sets it apart and nestles it in your brain. Like that off-beat game you used to play, that you�re convinced only you can remember, which you can�t possibly forget. " 4.5/5 stars Gamezebo.com Proun+ is available in the App Store for iPhon...

We have released the first trailer for Proun+, the biggerbetter Proun that is coming to 3DS, iOS and Android! Proun+ is being made together with Engine Software and will have six new tracks and a completely new soundtrack: more songs and all the songs have now been recorded by real musicians for a much better sound. In this trailer you can hear the new version of one of the old songs and see one of the awesome new levels in action, plus footage from some of the original tracks. I am really hyped for the return of Proun, so I hope you like it!

We recently announced that we our new game is Swords & Soldiers II . We didn't actually show any real gameplay yet, so today brings an exciting moment: here's what it looks like! It�s beards, mead, sheep, demons, axes, wenches and barbecues! Hope you like it!

It has been a while since I dabbled in the awesome fun of camera mapping. Recently I bumped into a good reason to get back to that invigorating topic: the comic Ward was released. Marissa Delbressine was working on a trailer for her comic and she thought having a camera mapping of Ward's cover would be an awesome addition. Marissa threw me a pretty smile to which I couldn't say 'no', so I went to work on it. (Marissa happens to be my girlfriend, so I guess without the pretty smile I couldn't have said 'no' either... ;) ) Here is a compilation of the shots I made of the cover of Ward, plus shots of the meshes used to make this scene: Marissa used a couple of these shots in the complete Ward trailer, which you can see below. Note that most of this trailer is not camera mapped: I was personally only involved in the shots at 0:43 and 1:12. All the 2D art and the rest of this trailer were made by Marissa and co. I think the result is great: making a trailer for...

Yesterday the Humble Indie Bundle 8 launched, including Awesomenauts ! For $1 or more, you get Steam keys to the games in the bundle, and Awesomenauts even comes with an exclusive chicken skin for Clunk: Cluck. Really happy with the line-up this time. The other games in the bundle include some of my personal favourites from the past years: Little Inferno, Capsized and Dear Esther. Especially Dear Esther absolutely blew my mind when I played it, showing me a completely different kind of 'game' experience, and a story that really intrigued me deeply.

The most unique aspect of Cello Fortress is how a cellist does a live performance in front of an audience, while at the same time controlling a game. This is completely different from other music games, in which the musician usually plays on a fake plastic instrument, and even if he plays a real instrument, he does nothing but imitate an existing song. In most such other music games, there is hardly any real gameplay: just points based on how well you played the song. Cello Fortress is a completely different affair: here the cellist is controlling a real game, with real choice and interaction. Depending on what his opponents do, the cellist plays different notes. The cellist can even do things like baiting the opponents with a certain attack and then switching to another. So how does that work? What does the cellist need to do to trigger the various attacks? Check this trailer to see (and hear!) how it works: Live video footage in the trailer shot by Zoomin.tv Games at the Indie Game...

We have just released this press release, figured I should share this awesome piece of news with you! Today Ronimo Games announces that their massively successful platforming MOBA Awesomenauts is coming to Hollywood! Awesomenauts The Movie will be directed by the award-winning director G.G. Abrams. The announcement is celebrated with a teaser trailer: Awesomenauts The Movie will be released in full 3D and will reach theaters around the globe this Fall. Joost van Dongen, co-founder of Ronimo Games, says "This movie is a dream come true. Plans for an Awesomenauts movie have been in development since we started working on the game, and now that the game has reached such huge success, we have finally been able to break into Hollywood and get the production of the movie started!" Actors have not officially been announced yet, but rumours currently suggest several famous Hollywood actors might have enlisted to play the roles of Froggy G, Clunk and Sheriff Lonestar. About Awesomena...

A couple of months ago I revealed my new project Cello Fortress . Now it is finally time for a proper trailer! Cello Fortress is a unique combination of a live cello concert and a game, and is intended to be played at events (festivals and such). This trailer shows how the game works, and shows a bit of the interaction between the players and the cellist. Cello Fortress is pretty weird and unique, so I guess so far only those who actually played it, really understood what Cello Fortress is about. Hopefully this trailer will clear it up for others as well! (Video footage recorded by Dyzlo Film at Indigo .) In essence, Cello Fortress is a twin stick shooter. Four players cooperate using Xbox controllers to destroy as many cannons as possible. However, the cannons are not controlled by the computer, but by a live cellist! He improvises live music on his cello, and tries to do that in such a way that the game not only does what he wants, but also that the music actually sounds good. In a ...

Today we release the complete playable prototype of our cancelled game Snowball Earth! This is the game that we worked on at Ronimo for a full year before we made Swords & Soldiers . Since Snowball Earth was never finished, we never really talked about it either and kept the prototype hidden. Such a waste! The prototype contains over an hour of gameplay and some really cool ideas, so it is awesome to finally show it to the world! Snowball Earth is a really interesting game, both in how it failed and in the things it did well, so it provides tons of material for future blogposts. Today: what it is, and why it was cancelled! To play Snowball Earth, you have to download it through Torrent. If you don't have a Torrent client, you can for example use the free Bittorrent . Download: Snowball Earth Prototype Torrent Note that because this is an early prototype, this is all pretty unpolished! No tutorial, ridiculously long loading times, quite a few bugs and it only plays well with an...

Indeed! We have just released DLC skins for Awesomenauts on Steam! There is an awesome alternative look for every character, as you can see in the new trailer: This comes together with patch 1.5 , which along with skins also contains numerous balance fixes, and some big improvements to the matchmaker to make sure you play more against players of the same skill level.

Yes! Awesomenauts is out now on PC on Steam! I'm really happy with how it turned out, so I hope you will like it as well! You can get it here !

Yesterday we have announced that Awesomenauts is coming to Steam! Woohoo! We have been working on it for quite a while already, so it will release really soon. There will even be a closed beta, which will start within a week. Exciting times! I am kind of surprised that I managed to write those optimisation blogposts in the past weeks at all, because we have been crunching like crazy to iron out all the bugs. In particular we spent a lot of time on getting the controls just right for PC, and personally I feel it plays great, so I hope the players in the beta will agree! Here's a trailer showing Coco and Derpl on PC:

We have a release data for Awesomenauts : coming May 2nd to XBLA and PSN! Woohoo! We are getting some really nice press for the game right now, so I hope it will do as well as that when it launches! Joystiq , for example, can't seem to get enough of Awesomenauts: " The game will be playable at PAX East next week at booth 754. Be aware that you might have to knock a few Joystiq staffers out of the way if you want to play. "