Category: News
New SBS Teaser Up
WHAT IS THIS? Is it a new teaser with all the awesome juicy bits we are going to be showing off at PAX? I DO BELIEVE IT IS.
This teaser is our first time showing off two of the new co-op campaign levels. The first is the Robot Boss, who is fought high up in the snow covered mountains overlooking Slam Bolt City. The second level is Volcano City, where our heroes battle vicious computer AIs and demon chicken riders above pits of fiery lava. This level has a fun twist but if you want to see what it is you’ll have to come to PAX and play it yourself!
Hop into the comments if you want to talk to us about the new level additions. We’ll have a more detailed write up of the new features after PAX. And of course we hope to see any of you that are planning on going to Seattle this weekend! Remember: SCHWAG!
Oh, and we’re on the Sony PlayStation blog! Nice.
August 31, 2010 | | Comments (0)
Category: Development Blog, News
Tags: boss, city, lava, PAX, robot, SBS, Slam Bolt Scrappers, snow, teaser, video, volcano, youtube
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 in the News
I don’t know what’s going on lately but it seems like Fire Hosers and Slam Bolt Scrappers have been popping up in the news all over the place. You probably already heard the good news about our impending release on the PlayStation Network, but in case you missed it here is a sampling of all the other fun stuff out there on the intarwebs!
The Dejobaan guys have a kick ass new website, Indie Superstar, and in their debut Indie Water Cooler features a ridiculous conversation between Andy Moore (Fantastic Contraption), Jeff Rosen (Humble Indie Bundle), and yours truly! Best Quote: “What you produce with your Indie status may very well be shitty, but it doesn’t make you less Indie. You’re just a Shitty Indie. “
Gamespy also has a kick as new column (apparently kick ass new things are a trend?) called the Indie Spotlight, and their first highlight is Slam Bolt Scrappers! Nathan Meunier’s article is fantastic and definitely worth a read. Best Quote: “Fire Hose Games’ debut puzzle brawler is soaked in awesome.“
James Bishop over at DIY Gamer wrote a well written and thought provoking article on a “less is more” philosophy where game developers are sometimes better served by trying to do one or two things well instead of spreading themselves too thin, and used Slam Bolt Scrappers as an example. Best Quote: “Simpler does not equate to worse in any way.”
Rodney Brown over at Mass High Tech put out a nice article on us getting picked up by Sony Online Entertainment, but was that picture of me really necessary?
Oh, and let’s not forget the E3 coverage! Josh Fernandes at PlayStation LifeStyle wrote a nice piece on us about his impressions. The Couch Athletics guys called us one of the 5 games you don’t want to miss from E3, and actually had us in company with Comic Jumper and Bionic Commando Rearmed 2! Wicked.
We’re super psyched that everyone likes our game, thanks for the press! If anyone out there is looking for info on us or our game please reach out to us, we’re happy to chew your ears off.
July 15, 2010 | | Comments (3)
Category: News
Tags: Andy Moore, Athletics, Bionoic Commando Rearmed, Bishop, Brown, Comic Jumper, Couch, Dejobaan, DIY Gamer, Fantastic Contraption, Fernandes, Gamespy, Humble Indie Bundle, indie, James, Jeff Rosen, josh, Meunier, Nathan, News, Rodney, Slam Bolt Scrappers, superstar
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
E3 2010 Round Up
Alec and I spent the last week in sunny, sunny LA at E3, the video game press hoedown. And we got some press! Specifically, there is a kick ass article on Joystiq by one Alexander Sliwinski reviewing our game, and there is another awesome piece onSBS at PlayStation LifeStyle, courtesy of Josh Fernandes. Rock on!
But you already know about our game if you’re here, and this year had a heavy focus on new gaming hardware, so let’s talk about the stars of the show: the PlayStation Move, the Microsoft Kinect, and the Nintendo 3DS (by the way, how hilarious are the models pretending to use the systems in those links?). I’ve seen a lot of articles and comments around the interwebs claiming that Nintendo “won” the show (if such a thing is possible) with their 3DS, and that the Move and Kinect had a weaker showing. I personally don’t agree with this assessment, as I think that the unveiling of new hardware by Sony and Microsoft shows a shift in their marketing strategies.
Both the Kinect and Move are designed to compete with Nintendo, but in different ways. The XBox is currently a system for “hardcore” gamers, guys who have grown up playing games and still want to spend lots of time with new titles. This reputation may have caused it to do well with men but the system trails with women, especially behind the popular Wii. MS has recently been trying to broaden the scope of who the system appeals to with the addition of Netflix and Facebook to the system, and the Kinect will go even further in this direction. The games coming out on the Kinect aren’t designed for hardcore gamers, they’re designed for their girlfriends, wives, or non-gaming friends. These people think Halo and GTA4 look stupid but might be willing to give a dancing or fitness game a shot. And bridging the gap between gamer and non-gamer can be incredibly important in a home where there are such disparate views on gaming. So think of the Kinect as a “gateway controller” for older non-gamers living with hardcore gamers.
The Move, on the other hand, is designed to capture the hearts and minds of kids. It is a shiny, easily approachable controller for the PS3, complete with a beautiful colored light ball on top. Of the games I saw demoed at E3 a majority were aimed at small children and had child actors playing the games in the trailers. I think that Sony has a long term strategy in mind with the Move wherein they hook small children with the controller now and get them to be PlayStation gamers for life. Look at Nintendo – they have an insanely loyal customer base of fanatics who remembered and loved playing the NES and SNES as children. Sony wants to duplicate that loyalty with the next generation of gamers, and the Move is a salvo designed to hook these children. And with the cheap price point of the controller they just might be able to do it.
I curious how much of an impact the 3DS will ultimately have. There are a lot of DSes out there, and though the 3DS has some cool new features I wonder how quick fans will be to trade in their older version for a new one. Then again people regularly upgrade their iPods, and it doesn’t pay to bet against Nintendo so I’m going to guess that it will turn out to be a hit.
Ultimately I’m incredibly excited about all of these systems and can’t wait to play with them all. It’s going to be a good year for gamers, old and new alike.
June 21, 2010 | | Comments (1)
Category: News, Rant
Tags: 2010, 3DS, Alexander, E3, Fernandes, hardcore, hardware, josh, Joystiq, Kinect, LifeStyle, marketing, microsoft, Move, nintendo, playstation, Sliwinski, sony, strategy
Fire Hose Games and Slam Bolt Scrappers at E3!
We’ve already been showing off Slam Bolt Scrappers at E3 for almost two whole days and have yet to do a single post about it. But not anymore! Here’s the lowdown: Slam Bolt Scrappers is at E3 and the buzz is building to record levels! Gamers of all types have been crowding around our kiosk to partake in as much slamming, bolting, and scrapping as they can. It may have to do with our multiple, awesome locations in the SCEA and SOE booths, but something tells me (by something, I’m referring specifically to the gamers who come by to play) that word has been spreading among the crowd about our game. So, thank you gamers for not only playing Slam Bolt Scrappers and enjoying it, but telling your friends to come by and get in on the fun, too!
And now, here are some highlights from the trip:
- I not only saw a catwoman booth babe, but I also walked in on her changing. Sorry, catwoman!
- A zombie bled all over my Fire Hose t-shirt on day one. WTF, zombie?
- Dance Central by Harmonix looks awesome! Way to go, guys.
- Seven45 has created something incredible with Power Gig. Nice job, Boston devs.
- Random people come to our booth after strangers tell them about how awesome SBS is. Sweet!
- I forced lots of strangers to take pictures of me doing weird things. See above.
Thanks again to all the gamers who came by and played Slam Bolt Scrappers. We’ve been having an awesome time showing off the game and we wouldn’t be here without you.
June 16, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Development Blog, News
Tags:
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
Got Something To Say?
Well, do ya? Why not say it on our shiny, brand new forums? We just got them started, and it’s a great way to talk to us, your friendly Fire Hose developers, and other fans/enemies/trolls. We’re going to have all sorts of threads about Slam Bolt Scrappers and other games, and we’d love for you to join.
Remember standard forum rules – keep on topic, and don’t be a dick. We’re going to moderate these forums so behave well. See you in the threads!