Vlambeer Clone Tycoon

WTF is this?

Vlambeer Clone Tycoon is an educational business simulation game in which you take the role of a game developer who clones games created by Vlambeer. The goal of the game is to rip off their games as much as you can, but not so much that you will get into legal trouble. And of course you need to release your clone before Vlambeer releases their original.

Who is Vlambeer?

Vlambeer is a Dutch independent game studio made up of Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman. Since 2010 they have been creating games like Super Crate Box, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter and Ridiculous Fishing. They are currently (Nov 2013) about to release Luftrausers. They've recently announced their next game will be something called Nuclear Throne.

What's up with the cloning?

Vlambeer's games tend to get cloned. A lot. Read and weep:

Some recent words from Vlambeer themselves about the whole thing are here. Bottom line: they're not happy with the situation (putting it very mildly), but they don't want to keep their games-in-progress secret from the public just because clones are a fact of life. They refuse to accept this as a part of their industry.

Why a game about this?

Some people have taken up the idea to organize a Vlambeer Clone Jam as a positive way to protest against the cloning of Vlambeer's games. We think this is an awesome idea. But creating a game, even a clone of another game, during a game jam is a very lighthearted and social thing to do. It doesn't truly represent the sadness that is cloning other people's creations.

We want to demonstrate how dismal it is to clone games by letting people experience this activity themselves. And what could possibly be a better way to experience something outside of your reality than through a game? That is why we have created Vlambeer Clone Tycoon, which is exactly that: a game in which the player assumes the role of a cloner with the single goal of ripping off Vlambeer as hard as possible.

Who are behind this?

This game is created by Rik Nieuwdorp of Claynote and Martijn Frazer. Rik is a composer of music for games, Martijn is a developer of web applications. We work in the same building where Vlambeer is located and so we witness the effects of getting cloned first hand. We created this game to show them our support. We hope it is appreciated by all.

Oh and by the way, check this out

Our Twitter account automatically tweets the titles of all of the clones people are creating with Vlambeer Clone Tycoon. So be sure you come up with something good when you think of a name for your own clones!

What others are saying

Woah, we got loads of press! Awesome! Here are some quotes:

"Heh."

Kotaku

"Brilliant. Game of the year."

Polygon

"This game opened my eyes."

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

"...still pretty fun..."

Joystiq

"This could be the genisis of a whole new genre of passive-aggressive games!"

EuroGamer

"simulates procrastination as much as it does being a scumbag."

The Escapist

"a cheat and a hack"

IndieGames.com

"very amusing"

Indie Statik (great article!)

"There are a few buttons to press, and you'll need to read"

PocketGamer

"Haha. Geweldig dit."

IGN Benelux

"Leuk idee toch?"

Power Unlimited (scroll down)

"Leuk spelletje!"

Control Magazine

"Há um pobre desenvolvedor passando fome por causa de vocês hoje."

Critical Hits

"Dla zysku i zabawy, bo co jeszcze liczy się na tym świecie?"

Gry.wp.pl

"просмотров"

Kanobu