Luftrausers

Luftrausers is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Netherlands-based indie developer studio Vlambeer and published by Devolver Digital for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It was released on March 18, 2014 and ported to Android by General Arcade on December 20, 2014. A demake of the game, titled LuftrauserZ, was developed by Paul Koller for Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore 64 Games System, and released by RGCD and Vlambeer on December 8, 2017.[1]

Luftrausers
Developer(s)Vlambeer
Publisher(s)Devolver Digital
Composer(s)Jukio "Kozilek" Kallio
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Android
ReleaseWindows, OS X, Linux
  • WW: March 18, 2014
PS3, PS Vita
  • NA: March 18, 2014
  • EU: March 19, 2014
Android
  • WW: December 20, 2014
Genre(s)Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Luftrausers is an airplane-based shoot 'em up. Unlike traditional shoot 'em ups, where the direction of the player craft is fixed, Luftrausers allows 360 degrees of motion, more akin to a multidirectional shooter. However, the player's main weapon can only fire from the front, forcing the player to take into account the position and angle of the airplane. Players must take into account the momentum of their plane while flying, using gravity and drift to maneuver as much as forward propulsion.

There is no health bar: player health is indicated by a circle around the aircraft that shrinks as damage increases and naturally regenerates when not firing the weapon.[2]

Aircraft can be customized with dozens of combinations of engines, weapons, and hulls[3] that affect the soundtrack as much as the gameplay.[2] Each weapon part comes with sets of challenges that give objects to strive for, on top of the arcade nature of the game.

Development
Ismail and Nijman of Vlambeer speaking at the 2013 GDC Independent Games Summit

Jan Willem Nijman of Vlambeer started Luftrausers while on the airplane home from the March 2012 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Polygon reported that he was inspired by the "beauty of his view" and did not have on-flight television. At the time, Vlambeer was finishing development on Ridiculous Fishing, a game whose development was marked by a high-profile struggle with a similar, subsequent game known as a clone.[4]

Luftrausers is an update of Luftrauser, an earlier, free Flash game created by Vlambeer's Rami Ismail, artist Paul Veer, and composer Kozilek in the GameMaker: Studio engine and was ported to pure C++ by Michel Paulissen via his Dex converter tool.[5][6] Vlambeer originally announced the game for release in Q2 2013 on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, having chosen those platforms due to their positive working relationship with Sony.[5] In the weeks before the expected release, the Bangalore-based Rubiq Lab released a similar airplane dogfight game called SkyFar in April 2013 and Vlambeer contacted Apple and Google to intervene so as to avoid "another clone war".[4] Rami Ismail's backpack containing "everything Vlambeer" including electronics and the game's code was stolen during E3 2013.[7] Although their work was backed up, Ismail described the theft as "a giant pain".[7]

The game was simultaneously released on Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita (via Steam and the Humble Store)[3] on March 18, 2014, being published by Devolver Digital. The game's two-and-a-half-year development cycle was profitable within three days of its release.[8] On December 20, 2014, the game was ported to Amazon Fire TV by General Arcade.[9]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic.[10] Giant Bomb awarded the game Best Music of 2014.[18] At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards the game was nominated for Control Precision.[19]

References
  1. "LuftrauserZ Presskit". RGCD.DEV Press Release. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  2. Podgorski, Daniel (December 16, 2015). "99 Arcade Luftballons: 3 Major Pros and 2 Minor Cons of Vlambeer's Bullet Hell Arcade Dogfighter LUFTRAUSERS". The Gemsbok. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  3. Farokhmanesh, Megan (February 10, 2014). "Luftrausers to launch for all five platforms simultaneously". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  4. Pitts, Russ (April 24, 2013). "Cloned at Birth: The Story of Ridiculous Fishing". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  5. McWhertor, Michael (March 21, 2013). "Vlambeer's Luftrausers coming to PS3 and PS Vita this spring". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  6. Paulissen, Michel (March 4, 2014). "LUFTRAUSERS - Michel Paulissen's Portfolio". Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  7. Crecente, Brian (June 14, 2013). "'Vlambeer got stolen,' Ridiculous Fishing dev says". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  8. Sarkar, Samit (March 21, 2014). "Vlambeer's Luftrausers became profitable in three days". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  9. Devolver Digital (December 20, 2014). "Devolver Digital on Twitter: "LUFTRAUSERS from @Vlambeer is now available on @Amazon Fire TV!". Twitter. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  10. "Luftrausers Critic Reviews for PC". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  11. "Luftrausers Critic Reviews for PlayStation 3". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  12. "Luftrausers Critic Reviews for PlayStation Vita". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  13. Patterson, Eric L (March 18, 2014). "EGM Review: Luftrausers". Electronic Gaming Monthly. EGM Media. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  14. Turi, Tim (March 18, 2014). "Luftrausers - Aerial Supremacy". Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  15. Peele, Britton (March 18, 2014). "Luftrausers Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  16. Richard, Cobbett (March 21, 2014). "Luftrausers Review". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  17. Gies, Arthur (March 24, 2014). "Luftrausers Review: Vintage Bomber". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  18. Staff, Giant Bomb (December 27, 2014). "Giant Bomb's 2014 Game of the Year Awards: Day Two Text Recap". Giant Bomb. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  19. "NAVGTR Awards (2014)". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
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