 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Lee Vermeulen |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Nexuiz , Capsized , Apotheon |
| Website | Alientrap.com |
Alientrap Games Inc. (commonly referred to as just Alientrap) is an independent video game developer led by Lee Vermeulen and Jesse McGibney. It has released the games Nexuiz , Capsized , Apotheon , Cryptark , and Wytchwood .
Alientrap was founded in 2002 by Lee Vermeulen to develop Nexuiz , a first-person shooter built on Quake engine derivative DarkPlaces. [1]
During the development of Nexuiz, the Alientrap team consisted of head designer Vermeulen, DarkPlaces engine programmer Ashley Hale, programmer Andreas "Black" Kirsch, and a variety of contributing artists and level designers. It was released as free software under the GPL in 2005. [2] Nexuiz was later remade as a commercial product in 2012, published by THQ.[ citation needed ]
Alientrap re-formed in 2009 under Lee Vermeulen to create a new game, Capsized , in collaboration with Jesse McGibney. Vermeulen started the project as a computer science student at the University of Saskatchewan bringing on McGibney, a longtime friend then studying illustration at Sheridan College. Vermeulen served as programmer and McGibney as art designer, while sound design was handled by freelancers. [3]
Both Vermeulen and McGibney submitted an early version of Capsized as their final undergraduate assignment, [1] and continued development full-time after graduation as Alientrap Games Inc.. Capsized was released in April 2011 on Steam and is in development for iOS and Android platforms. [3]
In mid-2011, Alientrap began work on Apotheon, an action role-playing metroidvania game set in ancient Greece. Art designer Jesse McGibney drew inspiration from the painting style of ancient Greek pottery. Alientrap director Lee Vermeulen compared the free-roaming level design of Apotheon to that of the classic action-adventure game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night . [3] Apotheon was released on February 3, 2015, for Linux, OS X, Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation 4. [4]
On June 20, 2017, Alientrap released Cryptark on Steam and the PS4 store. It is a side-scrolling 2d roguelike that tasks players with boarding and fighting inside large alien spaceships so they can be salvaged.
On April 5, 2016, Alientrap released Modbox on Steam Early Access. It is a virtual reality multiplayer Game Creation System initially released for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. It won a Technical Achievement award at the 2016 Vision Summit, [5] and Best Educational Game at the 2016 Canadian Video Game Awards. [6] A MagicLeap version was released in 2020. [7]
Wytchwood is a crafting adventure game set in a land of gothic fables and fairytales. Released on December 9, 2021, on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Gunhead is a FPS roguelike sequel to Cryptark. Released on November 8, 2023, on Windows, PlayStation 5
The Behemoth is an American video game development company that was created in 2003 by John Baez, artist Dan Paladin, and programmers Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, and Nick Dryburgh. Dryburgh and LaCava later left the company. The Behemoth development studio is located in San Diego, California. The company is known for producing simple games with Paladin's signature 2D style. Its games are also known for their heavy arcade inspirations, especially among their early games, emulating genres common on the Neo Geo in particular.
Digital Eel is a self-funded independent video game development team located in the Seattle, Washington area. Digital Eel is best known for its Infinite Space series of space roguelikes.
Mac gaming refers to the use of video games on Macintosh personal computers. In the 1990s, Apple computers did not attract the same level of video game development as Microsoft Windows computers due to the high popularity of Microsoft Windows and, for 3D gaming, Microsoft's DirectX technology. In recent years, the introduction of Mac OS X and support for Intel processors has eased porting of many games, including 3D games through use of OpenGL and more recently Apple's own Metal API. Virtualization technology and Boot Camp also permit the use of Windows and its games on Macintosh computers. Today, a growing number of popular games run natively on macOS, though as of early 2019, a majority still require the use of Microsoft Windows.
The operating system Linux can be used for playing video games. Because many games are not natively supported for the Linux kernel, various software has been made to run Windows games, such as Wine, Cedega, and Proton, and managers such as Lutris and PlayOnLinux. The Linux gaming community has a presence on the internet with users who attempt to run games that are normally not supported on Linux.
Ryan C. Gordon is a computer programmer and former Loki Software employee responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as others. Gordon's site hosts projects with the code from such commercial games as Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Quake III Arena and other free and open source projects for multiple platforms.
Edmund Charles McMillen is an American video game designer and artist. He is known for his Adobe Flash games with unconventional visual styles. His works include 2010's side-scroller Super Meat Boy, 2011's roguelike game The Binding of Isaac, and its 2014 remake, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
Owlchemy Labs is a video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 2010 by Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate Alex Schwartz. Owlchemy is best known for its virtual reality video games Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality. In May 2017, the studio was acquired by Google.
Superhot is an independent first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed and published by Superhot Team. Though the game follows traditional first-person shooter gameplay mechanics, with the player attempting to take out enemy targets using guns and other weapons, time within the game progresses at normal speed only when the player moves; this creates the opportunity for the player to assess their situation in slow motion and respond appropriately, making the gameplay similar to strategy video games. The game is presented in a minimalist art style, with enemies in red and weapons in black, in contrast to the otherwise white and grey environment.
Heavy Bullets is a roguelike first-person shooter video game developed by Brazil-based indie developer Terri Vellmann and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on 18 September 2014.
Crawl is a brawler indie game by Australian developer Powerhoof. Up to four players and bots in local multiplayer advance through randomly generated dungeons with one player as the hero and the others as spirits who possess traps and monsters in the environment to kill and thus replace the hero. The game received a Steam Early Access release for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms in August 2014, and a full release for those three as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in April 2017 and a release for Nintendo Switch on December 19, 2017.
Apotheon is a platform game developed and published by Alientrap for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on February 3, 2015 and on OS X and Linux on February 10, 2015. Apotheon is Alientrap's second commercial game and utilizes a unique art style based on ancient Greek pottery, particularly in the black-figure pottery style.
VIVE, sometimes referred to as HTC Vive, is a virtual reality brand of HTC Corporation. It consists of hardware like its titular virtual reality headsets and accessories, virtual reality software and services, and initiatives that promote applications of virtual reality in sectors like business, arts, and video gaming.
Ziggurat is a first-person shooter dungeon crawl video game developed and published by Milkstone Studios. The game was released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac in October 2014 after being available for two months in early access. The game was released for the Xbox One in March 2015, and PlayStation 4 in April 2015. It was inspired by Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic. A sequel, titled Ziggurat 2, was released on October 28, 2021.
SimplePlanes is a simulation video game developed and published by the American indie studio Jundroo LLC. SimplePlanes followed the release of SimplePhysics and SimpleRockets and preceded Juno: New Origins and SimplePlanes VR. The game was first released on Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows and was ported to iOS and Android later. It was released onto Steam on the 17th of December 2015 after going through the Steam Greenlight process. The game received mixed reviews from users and video game reviewers, with the main downfalls mentioned the most being the "slippery controls" and the graphical design. However, it is known for its innovative, though sometimes complex, building mechanics. From 2014 until 2023, SimplePlanes has got 12 updates. The latest version, v1.12.200 beta, was released in September 2023.
The Legend of Bum-bo is a 2019 indie roguelike deck-building puzzle video game developed by designer Edmund McMillen and programmer James Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam in November 2019 and iOS in December 2020, and for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S in June 2022. The game is a prequel to McMillen's previous roguelike video game The Binding of Isaac.
I Expect You to Die is a virtual reality action video game developed and published by Schell Games and released in December 2016 for PlayStation 4, and April 2017 for Windows. In the game, the player assumes the role of a "james bond-esque" spy and is tasked to complete levels. The game can be played using the Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, the Oculus Quest and the Oculus Quest 2.
Dicey Dungeons is a roguelike deck-building game developed by Irish game designer Terry Cavanagh. It was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in August 2019, for Nintendo Switch in December 2020, for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in November 2021, and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in February 2023. Ports for iOS and Android were released in July 2022.
Cryptark is an action roguelike video game developed and published by Alientrap for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on June 20, 2017. A sequel named Gunhead was released in November 2023. Unlike its predecessor, Gunhead is played from a first-person perspective with VR implementation being a post-release possibility.
A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combines the nature of deck-building card games with procedural-generated randomness from roguelike games.
