Nubs! News

Q2 2025 may still be far away, but that doesn't mean there's no fun to be had! Until December 16, Nubs! is part of the 'Four is a party' event on Steam! This event is filled with amazing games best played with 3 of your friends. So while you wait for Nubs! check out some of the amazing games that are part of this event!





Well do I have good news for you! This weekend we are holding our very first playtest!


[h3]What to expect:[/h3]

• Nubs! is currently in a playable state but still in active development. While the playtest is representative of the final game, it is missing some features, items, maps and more that is planned for the full release.
  
• Sign-up:
  You can join the playtest by Joining our Discord server and heading to the ⁠playtest-key-request channel. Simply send a message there to request a key and it will be sent to you in DM. The game can be activated and downloaded on steam right away!
  
• Playtest duration:
  Starting from Dec 14 at midnight (CET) All weekend long! Servers will be live 24/7.
  
• Quickmatch times:
  Don’t have enough people to play with? Join our organized matches!
  Saturday, Dec 14: 18:00 CET and 22:00 CET
  Sunday, Dec 15: 18:00 CET and 22:00 CET
  
• Encountered a bug or issue? Report it in our ⁠playtest-bug-reports channel over on Discord, give it a description on how/when you encountered this bug.
  
• Do you have feedback? A survey will be available soon.
  
• Any further questions about the playtest? Check out our FAQ. Can’t find your question? head to the ⁠playtest channel on our Discord and ask away!
  

for Games Who Can't Afford the Game Awards

Nubs! will be part of TGAW...TGAGC...TGAGWCAGA 2024!

Catch Nubs! during the spotlight section at the TGAGWCAGA 2024.

[h3]When?[/h3]
📅: Friday, December 13
⌚: 5:00 PM UTC / 6:00 PM CET / 1:00 PM ET

Subscribe to the YouTube channel so you don’t miss it!




That's all for now! We're excited have people play Nubs! for the very first time and are anxiously awaiting your feedback and to see how everyone is liking the game.

Speak to you soon,
-Rangatang

In case you missed it live at the MIX showcase, you can watch the new Nubs! trailer on YouTube right now!

Watch the trailer here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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