This page is a WIP! Formatting may change wildly and information may not be completely accurate.

Vlambeer Overview

Currently this page is a summary and will be expanded into individual pages later.

Vlambeer is an indie game studio that have created many arcade-like action games throughout the early 2010's, most notable of which being Nuclear Throne. Vlambeer in Dutch translates to Flame Bear, which is also their studio logo. The studio was created in 2010 by Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman (JW) and shut down in 2020. It later reopened in 2024 with JW having full ownership.

The studio has a lengthy history that has been covered in great detail through multiple interviews and retrospect, thus is very well documented. The Wikipedia articles for Vlambeer and Nuclear Throne are great resources to read on their entire history. The scope of this page will instead view more details through the lens of the Throne community, rather than a birds eye view for non-Throners.

Here are a few links to find Vlambeer's projects:

• Vlambeer's website which serves as a link hub for their bigger projects.
• Developer page on Steam which includes most of their major projects.
• JW's Developer page on Steam which includes his major non-Vlambeer projects that he has collaborated with.
• Itch.io page which includes the original Wasteland Kings.

The versions page shares much more documentation on the dates and time of each update and will be referenced on this page. This is the other half of NT's history.

Wasteland Kings

Back in February of 2013 Vlambeer was invited to participate in the Mojam Humble Charity. This is a charity event where indie developers would stream themselves developing an entire game over the course of a few days. The result of their work here was Wasteland Kings, which is still found on itch.io to play for free. It features just 5 characters being Fish, Crystal, Eyes, Melting and Plant as well as the first three areas being Desert, Sewers and Scrapyards.

While Vlambeer's focus at the time was developing Luftrausers, they continually found themselves working on Wasteland Kings to add more content. This would be the framework of what would eventually become Nuclear Throne's early access release just 8 months later.

Nuclear Throne's development

In August of 2013, Wasteland Kings was announced for entering Steam early access and was a full-time project at this point. Following this announcement Vlambeer was contacted by someone from the unrelated Wasteland 2 project regarding the similarity of the game names and how it could cause possible brand confusion, in which the decision was then made to change the game's name before the early access launch. JW later shared in a tweet in 2020 that showed possible names they were considering as a replacement.

Nuclear Throne launched for Steam early access on October 11th, 2013. Quite a bit of the game's development continued to be done on Twitch livestream. The early access notes stated they would stream the game twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for around four hours, and then release an update every following weekend.

The game continued to have a consistent schedule of two weekly streams and then a new update every weekend. During the livestreams viewers could watch members of the project actively develop the game while giving their feedback and ideas. The devs were also fairly active on the Steam discussion forums as it became an active hub for feedback. These paired together meant there was a strong emphasis on community engagement during the development cycle, with most issues being fixed or patched within a few weeks of them appearing.

Active development of Nuclear Throne continued on for over two years. On December 5th, 2015 the game officially released to the public on its 96th update. This meant that across 111 weeks, 96 of those included an update to the public to play and give feedback on.

The game would receive an update just ten days later, Update 97, which included cloud saving for Steam. This would be the last update in 2015, and can be considered the last update from the main development cycle.

Post-Release Throne

Following the end of the main development cycle, two more updates were released that were fairly spaced out from the rest.

The first of these is update 98 on February 21st, 2016. The main new feature was the official integration of Thronebutt, which is a fanmade site for daily tracking that had to shut down in late 2015 due to a multitude of issues. There is an extensive overview for Thronebutt found here.

During 2016 the popular mod Nuclear Throne Together was released by YellowAfterLife (YAL). This mod supported online co-op and by 2017, also served as a mod loader. Following its success YAL was invited to work on update 99, which would focus on bringing many co-op fixes on NTT to the vanilla version. The full story about u99 can be found on YAL's site.

Update 99 released at last on November 6th, 2017. This is the last stable update of the game with a large focus on bugfixes with some balancing. Present day Nuclear Throne is either on u98 or u99 on most platforms.

Following the release of u99r1, YAL would continue to develop official betas of the game through present day. The stable version is known as u99r1, while the betas are working towards a u99r2 release. The first public beta branch was released in early 2020. There is currently no confirmation on when u99r2 will release, or if it will be on any non-Steam platforms. Patch notes is shared through the NT Discord in the bugreports channel. A summary of major beta changes can be found here, most notably including widescreen and 60 FPS options.

Nuclear Throne's official future has much of its focus on the bugfix betas, however a lot of the game's continuation and legacy is through the community. Over the years there have been many mods for NTT with some notably high quality content, an active meta community that pushes the limits of the game and even hosts occasional tournaments, among many other creative and competitive outputs seen. The community still has a fair share of activity and projects, which in part can be attributed to years of passionate game development and emphasis on community engagement.

Post-Release Vlambeer

On September 1st, 2020, Vlambeer officially shut down during its 10th year anniversary. A large part of why Vlambeer was kept running was to help propel both Rami and JW into the gaming industry, thus its shutting down was made out to be a success as their goal has been achieved. Rami continues to work on advocacy in the video game industry for diversity and bringing attention to indie developers from non-Western countries, while JW continues to work as an independent developer on various projects. Shutting down Vlambeer seemed to mainly cease functions on the official front, as any old merchandise was cleared out.

Despite shutting down Vlambeer still operated to some capacity. They still provided customer support and maintenance for their games. Thronebutt was still being hosted, and YAL was still developing betas for NT. They also had their still unreleased game ULTRABUGS in development. With all these factors, Vlambeer largely shut down in name with no future endeavors as that studio.

Years later on April 4th, 2024, Rami stated he sold his portion of Vlambeer to JW in a blog post. JW also released a post about the current direction of Vlambeer, which included the continued development of ULTRABUGS and an update coming to Ridiculous Fishing, along with the intention to help preserve all of Vlambeer's games.

List of Vlambeer & JW games

The split between major/minor releases is based on the list from the Vlambeer site. Major releases all cost money (besides GUN GODZ), while minor releases are all free and are smaller in scope.

Note: There are conflicting sources online regarding the release dates for Super Crate Box and the flash game Radical Fishing. The dates listed in this section are based on their earliest releases found. Please take release dates of any game with a grain of salt.

Major Releases
Super Crate Box	Released: October 22nd, 2010.	Super Crate Box is a shoot 'em up reminiscent of arcade games. It takes place on a single screen as enemies endlessly pour in from the top, and the player has to try to collect crates that spawn randomly around the screen while managing the amount of enemies. Early version was known as "Crates From Hell" before being developed into a full Vlambeer title. Many weapons that appear in Nuclear Throne make their debut here including the Flamethrower, Grenade Launcher, Revolver and Minigun. The Disc Gun also appears with the unlock text "We hereby sincerely apologize." as it is a weapon that can also kill the player. It is later referenced as a NT achievement. Other unlocks that reappear in Nuclear Throne includes a Robot character and arguably a Chicken character. There is a hardmode called SFMT that gets referenced in many other Vlambeer titles, with the unlock text "Play this when the kids are in bed."
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter	October 24th, 2011.	Following the success of Super Crate Box, Vlambeer was approached by Devolver Digital and Croteam who were looking for indie devs interested in making spin-offs for the Serious Sam series. This would lead to three Serious Sam indie spin-offs being made with each of the devs own unique approaches, the one by Vlambeer being Serious Sam: The Random Encounter. Gameplay consisted of a somewhat turn-based RPG in which the player would have a planning phase on how to attack, and then an attacking phase where they could try to dodge enemy projectiles while continually running away from massive enemy hordes.
GUN GODZ	Kickstarter Release: February 10th, 2012 Itch.io Release: December 22nd, 2013 Steam Release: December 8th, 2019	Gun Godz was initially developed for Venus Patrol, a now inactive gaming blog site that was launched with a kickstarter. One of the reward tiers included exclusive access to a new Vlambeer game, which only released to the full public nearly two years afterwards. Gameplay is a boomer shooter styled FPS where the player tries to escape prison on Venus through multiple different levels using weapons such as the Shotgun, Minigun and Bazooka. The final area gets reused in Nuclear Throne as YV's Mansion, and all the enemies within the mansion originate from Gun Godz as one big reference. The final boss of the game is the Gun God who has a similar arsenal to the player. He reappears in Nuclear Throne now known as Yung Venuz.
Ridiculous Fishing	Initial Release: March 13th, 2013 Ex Release: July 14th, 2023	Ridiculous Fishing is Vlambeer's main foray into mobile gaming. It is a fishing game where any fish caught are flung into the air and needs to be shot in order to cash them in, which can then be used for continual upgrades to fishing gear and weapons. Previously made unavailable on Google Play due to a false Malware claim as shared by Rami in a tweet. (Not publicly viewable currently) Whether this is the reason the app is still unavailable is unknown. Ridiculous Fishing EX is an updated version of the game released for the Apple Arcade, including upgraded graphics and many additional features.
LUFTRAUSERS	March 18th, 2014	Development for LUFTRAUSERS began throughout 2012 as Vlambeer made another game published through Devolver Digital. While development of the game largely ended by mid-2013 as focus shifted towards creating Nuclear Throne, the game would not see a release until 2014 due to certification troubles for a PlayStation release. This would be the first Vlambeer game to be available on console. Gameplay consists of a shoot em' up bullet hell as the player partakes in chaotic aerial dogfights. Combo for score can be gained by continually killing enemies quickly, while health can only be regained by stopping firing. There are missions in-game that unlocks new parts, and the return of the difficult SFMT mode.
Nuclear Throne	Early Access: October 11th, 2013 Official Release: December 5th, 2015.	Entire section above is about Nuclear Throne, this is just a placeholder for now. Full list of versions and their differences here.
ULTRABUGS	Not yet released.	Vlambeer first showed off the game without a title during PAX West 2018, and it was officially announced as ULTRABUGS in January 2019 for PAX South. On March 20th, 2019 during a Nindie showcase ULTRABUGS was teased as a part of the Vlambeer Arcade for the Nintendo Switch, to be released within the same year. While the arcade was ultimately cancelled, ULTRABUGS is still planned for an eventual release. The latest news is of April 2024, during JW's acquisition of Vlambeer he shared that the game will be released after an unannounced project is finished.

Many of these games have extreme limited accessibility in the present day due to the Vlambeer site being extremely minimal and the death of flash. This page will be updated later on how to fully access every game.

Some games were created under the 'Not Vlambeer' label, which were which were done for experimental or commissioned projects. Some titles were created during game jams which were developed entirely in the course of a few hours or a few days, so expect some of these projects to be particularly simple in nature.

Other Releases
Radical Fishing	November 24th, 2010	Radical Fishing was developed around the same time as Super Crate Box, though it is unknown which was their first project. (This part especially needs more research). Super Crate Box released first while Radical Fishing was released not long after. It was released on the now defunct bored.com which was a site for flash games. It was later released on Newgrounds in December 2010 where it is still playable today. This would later be expanded upon as Ridiculous Fishing, which saw a mobile release with much more content.
Super Puppy Boy	December 2nd, 2010	A mini-project made during the PETA vs Super Meat Boy drama in support of Team Meat. Gameplay was a parody of Super Meat Boy as the player took control of a puppy in a platforming level with saws with a puppy girl needing to be rescued and a collectable bone. However the game itself was unwinnable, and dying as the puppy led to a comedic amount of blood bursting all over the screen. The Vlambeer website itself had a counter for the amount of puppies killed. The last number seen on the Wayback Machine archiving was over 2 billion puppies killed by 2021, and is no longer directly viewable. Used to be downloadable via the Vlambeer website, still accessible via the Wayback Machine.
GlitchHiker	January 2011	A game made for the Global Game Jam 2011 in the Netherlands, GlitchHiker was a top-down game where the the player would run around a map with randomly spawning blocks while trying to collect coins. However, everything in the game was made purposefully glitchy as the screen would randomly tear and the blocks and players would constantly have glitchy effects. Players who preformed poorly would cause the game's code to 'degrade' making it much more glitchy and unplayable, while those who scored at least 100 points would extend the game's lifespan. Once a certain threshold was crossed the game would execute a code that made itself unplayable forever. As the game was meant to die the game is no longer accessible and died by January 31st, 2011. Some footage of particularly glitchy gameplay can be viewed on YouTube.
KARATE	April 12th, 2011 (Estimated)	KARATE is a simple game made by Vlambeer in under two hours. Enemies continually spawn on the screen and the player can use multiple different karate moves in order to kill them to rack up points, but is a game over if any enemies can land a hit. Used to be downloadable via the Vlambeer website, still accessible via the Wayback Machine.
Dinosaur Zookeeper	June 16th, 2011 (Estimated)	Dinosaur Zookeeper was a game created for Adult Swim games. It is no longer accessible on the website nor the Wayback Machine, but still exists via Flashpoint. A single screen game where the player must manage a park full of dinosaurs that each have different traits and must be properly balanced to not kill too many park guests or other dinosaurs. Successful days increases income which can be used for tools or weapons to better manage the dinosaurs.
LUFTRAUSER	June 28th, 2011	The initial version of what would later become LUFTRAUSERS created during a two day game jam. The core components of an aerial dogfight is present as the player can fire to kill enemies for points, or let go of fire in order to heal.
Yeti Hunter	March 2012	A simplistic first person game created in two days where the player will wander around a snowy area looking for an elusive Yeti to shoot and kill. The Yeti blends in well with the snow and constantly runs from the player, making it difficult to find. Similarly the Yeti from Nuclear Throne will flee from the player if they ever draw near, however it is unclear if it is a direct reference to this game. Used to be downloadable via the Vlambeer website, still accessible via the Wayback Machine.
SPACE MURDER	April 23rd, 2012 (Estimated)	Space Murder was a planned space sim that was a mini project put on hold multiple times throughout 2010. A prototype of the unfinished game was released later in 2012, and is still loosely accessible on the Vlambeer site.
Deer Santa	December 22nd, 2012	A game developed over the course of 8 hours for a Dutch television show featuring video games. It is a co-op twin stick shooter in which the player controls Santa and shoots presents at children on the screen. It was shared publicly on the now defunct Advent of Indies website, which posted a new indie game every day in December. The download link is now dead even in the Wayback Machine making the game not publicly accessible. Some footage exists online via YouTube.
Techno King	December 30th, 2012	A simple top-down shooter made in about an hour where enemy mechs are trying to destroy Neo Tokyo, and the player pilots a Techno King in order to kill them. Used to be downloadable via the Vlambeer website, still accessible via the Wayback Machine.
Wasteland Kings	February 2013	Full section at top of page. The prototype of what later became Nuclear Throne made for a MOJAM charity event. Later released in December 2013 on Itch.io
FFFLOOD	September 1st, 2020	FFFLOOD Prototype was released as a parting gift from Vlambeer when they announced their shutdown. The full story is on the linked Itch page, but a basic summary is that it was one of the earliest ideas for a Vlambeer game following Super Crate Box. It never saw an official release as problems with core gameplay kept it constantly on the backburner for years, as other projects took priority.

The following list is Steam games that JW has worked on with other developers as other endeavors. While these are unrelated to Vlambeer itself, they may be worth checking out to any fan. All of these games were published under Devolver Digital, which has worked with Vlambeer in the past.

While there are not many references to Vlambeer games in these titles, all of them notably include a 200% screenshake option as an easter egg.

JW-related Releases
Minit	April 3rd, 2018	A top-down adventure that only uses black and white colors, Minit has a central gimmick of only having 60 seconds to live and progress in the world can be made during this time. There are multiple checkpoints and item unlocks around the world as mini-puzzles must be solved to progress through one minute at a time.
Disc Room	October 22nd, 2020	Disc Room is a top-down game with a heavy focus on difficulty. Each room features different discs and hazards with their own unique mini-challenges. Abilities can be unlocked that lets rooms be approached in different manners, with quite a few secrets to discover.
Minit Fun Racer	February 18th, 2021	A spin-off to Minit that was made for charity. It is a top-down racing game where the player only has 10 seconds to drive as far as possible, but can collect coins to extend the timer. Coins can be used to buy upgrades which helps runs go even further.