Category: Events
Fire Hose Games at Boston GameLoop 2010
Boston GameLoop 2010 took place this past Saturday, and it was honestly one of the coolest games events I’ve ever been to. Turnout more than doubled since last year, so there was a huge crowd around to enjoy the plentiful food, awesome game talks, and endless demos. Fire Hose Games had a good showing, with both Jeff Ward and myself hanging out with the always cool, Boston games community and chatting about our favorite subject: video games.
While Jeff was being coaxed into giving a talk on XNA game development (even though SBS is a PS3 game – he’s wicked smart), Caroline Himmelman from HubSpot and Ichiro Lambe of Dejobaan Games, convinced me to stand next to them making jokes throughout their talk on indie game marketing. Other highlights were overwhelming support for cut-scenes (WTF?!), some text adventure interactive fiction goodness, and getting pummeled in a round of Skulls of the Shogun – the new game from Haunted Temple Studios. While hanging out between sessions, I whipped out my… computer, and forced innocent bystanders to get their scrap on. Glance up and behold the intense focus brought about by round after round of Slam Bolt Scrappers. Now imagine yourself there at GameLoop 2010. Think about how much fun you’d be having… then think about how much more GameLoop 2011 will rock!
August 31, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Development Blog, Events
Tags: gameloop, Slam Bolt Scrappers
Slam Bolt Scrappers will be at PAX!
Just 10 days until PAX in Seattle! We’re getting really excited, we’ll be showing off a bunch of new features including new levels, new characters, and this charming guy up top. We’re talking MADNESS, people!
If you are going to be in town for the show be sure to stop by our booth (#3834, next to Square Enix and located on the lower right hand corner of the exhibitor hall map) and say hi! We’ll have some nice schwag to give out to our fans, and of course we’ll have the game for you to play.
Also I’m on a panel along with a bunch of sexy indie devs (Robin Hunicke [thatgamecompany], Nathan Vella [Capybara Games], Dylan Fitterer [Audiosurf LLC], Andy Schatz [Pocketwatch Games]), and we’ll be talking about all sorts of fun new games worth checking out. It’s called “In(die)credible! The Best New Games You Haven’t Played”, and it’s taking place on Sunday, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, in the Raven Theatre. Come and check it out!
Oh yeah, and we’ll be taking pictures during the show. Oh yes. PICTURES.
August 24, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: Development Blog, Events, News
Tags: Andy Schatz, Audiosurf, Capybara Games, Dylan Fitterer, indie, Nathan Vella, PAX, pictures, Pocketwatch Games, Prime, Robin Hunicke, robot, SBS, Slam Bolt Scrappers, thatgamecompany
What is Indie: A Manifesto
Last month at Boston Post Mortem, Eitan grilled the founders of Moonshot Games, Macguffin Games, and Dejobaan Games on the topics of game development and being indie. Attempts to define “indie” and questions about whether something or someone is “indie” strike a chord with a lot of folks, so Scott Macmillan (of Macguffin) followed up the talk by posting an interesting manifesto on his studio’s blog and Gamasutra. Check it out, it’s good stuff.
Bottom line:
1- Don’t ask if something is indie, it’s a waste of energy
2- “Indie is the aspiration to create something new, interesting, or different. Something you as an artist find worthwhile.”
Update
Eitan: Man, Scott is such a little bitch. Waaaaaaa, I don’t wanna define what indie is! Waaaaaa!
August 11, 2010 | | Comments (3)
Category: Events, News, Rant, Words of Wisdom
Tags: Boston Post Mortem, Dejobaan Games, fire hose games, Indie Games, Indie Manifesto, Macguffin Games, Moonshot Games, Scott Macmillan, Slam Bolt Scrappers
Fire Hose at Boston Post Mortem this Wednesday
The good people at Boston Post Mortem will be reprising the PAX East panel, “Indies Will Shoot You in the Knees,” for the meeting coming up this Wednesday, July 14th starting 7PM at the Skellig in Waltham. Eitan, our Fire Chief, will be moderating the panel, so it’s sure to be an interesting night!
Here’s an excerpt from the BPM site:
“Everyone is talking about Indie games — titles like World of Goo, Braid, and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity are making press and making money. But they’re fighting against games with $200 million dollar budgets and 100+ person dev teams. How do Indies compete? Three Boston-based Indie developers will check their water-guns at the door and tell you why and how Indie games are kicking more ass, taking more names, and chewing more bubblegum than their AAA rivals. You will hear from the Ichiro Lambe (IGF Finalist Dejobaan Games, Aaaaa!), Scott Macmillan (Macguffin Games, All Heroes Die) and ex-Bungie AI wizard Damián Isla, founder of the new indie Moonshot Games. The panel will be moderated by Eitan Glinert, founder of Fire Hose Games.”
July 12, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Events, News
Tags: Boston, Boston Post Mortem, Dejobaan, Eitan, fire hose games, indies, indies will shoot you in the knees, knees, Macguffin, Moonshot Games, panel, PAX, shoot, Slam Bolt Scrappers
Slam Bolt Scrappers Nominated for Best of E3
On the second day of E3, we found a small, mysterious sticker at our booth. No one seemed to know the details of how or why this sticker was there or what the repercussions were. I was honestly a little worried it was a joke.
But now, the truth is out: Kotaku nominated Slam Bolt Scrappers for Best Gameplay Mechanic at E3 2010! We’re super excited that the good people at Kotaku enjoyed our game enough to nominate it for this awesome award. SBS got some excellent coverage, despite the 20 some odd Sony Moves next to our booth, but this is the icing on the cake. Thanks, Kotaku, you’re making us blush.
More importantly, if you liked the game at E3, your jaw is gonna hit the floor when you see our build at PAX Prime.
June 23, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Development Blog, Events, News
Tags: best of e3, E3, fire hose games, Kotaku, mechanic, Slam Bolt Scrappers
Fire Hose Interview on CouchAthletics Podcast
The awesome team over at CouchAthletics recently asked us for an interview and who are we to refuse an opportunity to share the glory of Slam Bolt Scrappers? Nick from CouchCast was a great host and let us follow all the wild tangents we could come up with. More importantly, we talked about the ins and outs of our game, how we came upon the concept, and got Nick thoroughly excited, as you should be.
You can listen to our interview here or check out the full podcast.
You might have noticed that we mentioned E3. Expect some big news over the next week! In the mean time, bask in the glory of the above picture.
June 9, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Development Blog, Events, News
Tags: bruce is drunk, couchathletics, couchcast, interview, podcast
Fire Hose (and Slam Bolt Scrappers) at BiG
If you’re in Boston, making video games, and/or are even remotely interested in the business side of game dev I’d definitely recommend checking out the MIT BiG conference happening this coming Friday at the Microsoft NERD center next to MIT. It’s going to be a day long deal with all sorts of interesting panels on non-traditional marketing strategies, the changing face of social games, and “the next big thing”. Of course, the panel I’m most interested in is how to build and launch a gaming start up, mostly because I’m on it. It should be a lot of fun, I know that some of the guys here in the office are already starting a pool on what kind of stupid stuff I’m going to say.
Oh, and did I mention that we’ll be showing off Slam Bolt Scrappers at the conference? It’s true! We’ll have an awesome 4 player build for people to play, so if you didn’t get a chance to try the game out at PAX East be sure to swing by the conference and give our game a shot! Priority will be given to cosplaying conference goers, especially ones dressed up as Ghostbusters or giant chickens.
April 11, 2010 | | Comments (2)
Category: Events, News
Tags: big, business, microsoft, MIT, nerd, panel, Slam Bolt Scrappers, Sloan, talk
PAX Pictures!
Here they are! Pictures of our new found fans playing Slam Bolt Scrappers for the first time. There are a TON of pictures, so click on the More button and go through them all to see if you can find yourself! Also be sure to post snarky comments for us, we want to know what you think!
Apparently I took way too many drugs at the conference, because that looks like a chicken.
And Ezio certainly can’t stay away from our game either.
Follow the “More” link to see the rest of these awesome pics!
March 30, 2010 | | Comments (10)
Category: Events, Random
Tags: Assasain's Creed, baby, Black Mage, Chicken, dr., east, Ezio, fans, Final Fantasy, fire hat, ghostbusters, kick ass, Larry, McNinja, PAX, photo, photos, pic, pics, picture, pictures, Slam Bolt Scrappers, spy
PAX East Madness!
If you haven’t checked out Slam Bolt Scrappers at PAX East please be sure to stop by our booth and do so before the conference ends, we’d love to show you our game! It’s been getting a great response, and I’ve got tons of pictures to upload of people playing (including Dr. McNinja, a giant chicken, and of course the Black Mage).
In the mean time, NEW SCREEN SHOTS!
March 28, 2010 | | Comments (3)
Category: Development Blog, Events
Tags: Black Mage, Bolt, Chicken, east, McNinja, PAX, Scrappers, screen, screenshot, shot, Slam
Slam Bolt Scrappers at PAX East!
Slam Bolt Scrappers is going to be on show at PAX East as part of the Boston Indie Showcase! That’s right, this is the very first time the public will get to hands, mittens, and other ocular implants on Slam Bolt Scrappers, and get to experience first hand the innovative mix of brawling and building.
And we’ll be in great company! The Boston Indie Showcase was created to show off selected developers of the burgeoning Boston indie development scene. So make sure you come by the Boston Indie Showcase at PAX East the weekend of March 26-28 and try out Slam Bolt Scrappers and the rest of the Boston Indies Showcase games!