Nubs! News

Welcome back Nubs, we come with some exciting news. Nubs! is part of this year's Media Indie Exchange (MIX) Fall showcase!

The showcase will take place on November 21 at 9 AM PST. Make sure to tune in to say hello and watch our brand new trailer live!

[h3]Learn more about the event here!
[/h3]


-Greetings, Nublognub

Welcome back Nubs, happy to have you again! In today's Nublog we have some interesting behind the scenes on some of the stuff we've been working on the past few weeks. Check it out!



One of the many important parts of game development is creating instant feedback. Whatever a player is doing, having visual or sound cues that acknowledges players' actions is extremely important, and often overlooked in many games.

For a chaotic game like Nubs it is important for those visual cues to not fall flat. Exaggerating animations is something that helps with this a lot!

For instance, when hitting an exploding barrel, it will immediately start spewing fire! This is super-over-the-top but it catches the eye and makes sure the player feels as though they really hit it!








Originally, we used a grid-based system to place all water, terrain, and walls in the game. Artists then had to paint each corner or edge in Photoshop and set up rules for when and where those tiles would appear.

This approach made the world easy to design and kept gameplay consistent. But when it came to natural features, like small ponds, the rigid grid made things look unnatural.



For creating little ponds of water we needed something more free-flowing. A system that allows us to weave water around big rocks and is flexible to allow smooth shallow transitions with less work for artists.

So now we use a combination of splines and custom-made shaders/materials to achieve a look that we're happy with. It allows us to change the parameters defining the foaming, colors, and transition/interaction with the underlying surface.


Notice that we now have multiple layers in the water body, allowing us to submerge pebbles & rocks and easily change the border. It results in a flexible, reusable system that's a joy to work with.






The chaos is what makes Nubs! fun! To create more of it, we wanted to add "fake" physics to all interactions. This makes the game feel more alive, responsive and in a way, make more sense.

To achieve this a lot of simple interactions get added to objects to create more unpredictable behavior. These elements include:

• Adding a delay to explosive objects so they can be knocked around instead of exploding right away
  
• Adding knockback to all damage, even the smallest things, like arrows, ensuring that everything receives knockback. Even elements you would not expect at first like dropped weapons on the ground.
  
• some "fake" physics pass along knockback from one object to the other.
  

Here are the results!







That’s a wrap on this week's Nublog. Stay tuned for future Nublogs, because more development updates will be shared with you every two weeks. Get ready to unleash your inner Nub!
-Greetings, Nublognub

Known for titles like Awesomenauts, Space Pirate Trainer, Trifox, and Blightbound. These teams don’t lack experience nor skill! In this very first Nublog we’ll take a closer look at the creative minds from Rangatang and Glowfish that are shaping the world of Nubs!


Olivier Thijssen

Olivier has been around the block (and then some) with 16 years of experience as Co-Founder, Artist, Designer, Creative Director, and CEO at Ronimo Games. He’s got some serious street cred, with titles like the indie MOBA hit Awesomenauts under his belt. But Olivier isn’t just a title-collector, he’s got the chops in everything from game design to art, project scoping, business wrangling, and even making sure the cash flow doesn’t run dry! His mix of big-picture thinking and hands-on know-how is part of what’s making Nubs! as ridiculous and fun as it is.

Gijs Witkamp

Gijs has been whipping up awesome 2D art for about 5 years at Ronimo Games (with 1.5 years of internships thrown in for good measure). He’s got an honors degree in Creative Media from the Utrecht School of the Arts, so yeah, he knows his stuff when it comes to game art. Gijs played a huge role in shaping the style of Blightbound and Ronimo’s latest project, and he’s lent his skills to plenty of in-house pitches, including Awesomenauts. Whether it’s graphic design, animation, illustration, or concept art, Gijs can do it all, making sure Nubs! looks as fun as it plays!

Machiel van Hooren

Machiel’s been deep in the gaming world for about 13 years, coding up all sorts of wild stuff. His last gig was at Ronimo Games as Core Tech Lead. Along with Maarten and Olivier, he co-founded Rangatang to keep the fun going. Machiel’s a programming wizard, handling everything from gameplay and game engine development to porting, networking, and even compiler development (don’t worry I also don’t know what that means). So when it comes to making Nubs! run smoothly, he’s got it covered!

Maarten van den Heijkant

Maarten spent over 13 years at Ronimo Games, helping bring all their games to life. As a programmer, he’s got tons of experience in gameplay, networking, matchmaking, and making sure everything runs smoothly with performance optimization. Basically, if it involves getting the game to play just right, Maarten’s the guy making it happen. Now, he’s bringing that same expertise to Nubs! to make sure every match is as fast, fun, and chaotic as possible!
Brecht Lecluyse

Brecht has been in the game dev scene for over 20 years, starting out as a hobbyist before going pro in 2009. As a game development jack-of-all-trades, he’s got hands-on experience with every part of the game-making process and is all about delivering top-notch quality on every front. Now, he's bringing that expertise to Nubs! to make sure it’s as fun and polished as possible!

Emiel De Paepe

Emiel has been knee-deep in the arts from an early age, picking up drawing and painting as a kid. At 15, he discovered Photoshop, which set him on a path that eventually led to game development in 2011. That’s where he found the perfect outlet for both his creative and technical skills. Now, he’s using that artistic flair and technical know-how to help shape the colorful world of Nubs!

Jeroen van Wamelen

Jeroen kicked off his career as a modder back in 1998, turning his passion into a profession by 2009. Specializing in art and level design, he also builds tools to make these processes smoother. Jeroen’s mission? To craft games oozing with atmosphere, and he’s bringing that same vibe to Nubs! with immersive levels and creative design!

Betül Bacak

Betül graduated cum laude from Howest DAE and honed her skills as an animator and illustrator at Vlaams Steunpunt VZW while still studying. She even worked as an artist on the animated film Dikkie Dik. With drawing and painting as second nature to her, Betül’s true passion is crafting concept art for both games and animated films, bringing her artistic vision to life in Nubs! with style and creativity.

That’s a wrap for our very first Nublog! Now you’ve met the talented crew from Rangatang and Glowfish, the creative forces behind Nubs! Each of these amazing devs is bringing their unique skills and passions to make Nubs! a ridiculously fun, chaotic, and unforgettable experience. We can’t wait to share more as we continue shaping the world of Nubs!

Stay tuned for future Nublogs, as from now on content and development updates will be shared with you every two weeks. Get ready to unleash your inner Nub!
-Greetings, Nublognub

Welcome fellow Nub, good to see you made it! I’m afraid there’s no time for formalities, Konzumos the Unentertained demands to be amused!

Nubs! is an absurd PvP arena brawler game inspired by old-school, top-down RPG’s. Guide your Nub through a variety of treacherous arenas brimming with traps. Find ridiculous weapons to use on your friends and choose new power-ups after every round. All to become Konzumos’ favorite.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The core design of Nubs! was adapted by former members of the now closed studio Ronimo Games – and refined together with Glowfish Interactive. When the game launches in 2025, players can expect an enjoyably chaotic modern multiplayer experience with the charm and nostalgia of classic indie games.

We at Rangatang and Glowfish hope that you like what you see, and if so, be sure to wishlist Nubs! on Steam to get notified on great milestones. Interested in more about Nubs!? Follow our X or Nubreddit for weekly posts and news on the game.

We would love to hear what you think and if you’re interested, in the future we’ll be looking for people to playtest with, so be sure to join our Discord community to talk to us and fellow Nubs!



All hail Konzumos,
-The Nubs!