New Collaboration with Mixtvision and Monokel to Bring the Film Noir Platformer ‘White Shadows’ to Next-Gen and PC

Animal Farm meets INSIDE meets Little Nightmares

31 August 2020 Headup announces White Shadows in collaboration with games publisher Mixtvision and the media production studio Monokel. The extraordinary puzzle platformer is set for next-gen consoles and the PC in 2021.

White Shadows is a modern fable, a distorted mirror of our own world, funny, fucked up and a little meaningful.

Some time ago, the great war led to a plague which wiped almost all living things from the face of the earth. Or so they say. Nobody is safe outside the White City, and the birds are to blame for the plague. Or so they say. Only a shining coat of fresh white color will protect you from the plague, and you must earn your ration of color by staying obedient. Or so they say. But Ravengirl stopped listening.

Her escape pushes you deeper and deeper into ever more surreal parts of the city – slums constructed out of the remains of a circus, giant workers’ quarters which travel through the endless night, a perverted amusement park where white color flows endlessly, a forgotten place where the other outlaws gather around a tree made of tin.

On your journey into the darkness you will become the main attraction of the half-human, half-animal inhabitants of the city. You will catch up with your own past and become a victim, a perpetrator, a prophet. You will find the resistance hidden deep in the belly of the city and learn about the horrible truth of the white color and the world outside the city. Or will you?

Similarities to George Orwell's Animal Farm are intentional and cannot be dismissed. Without giving away too much, this dark world full of enslaved animal creatures deals with deeply ingrained civic issues such as social injustice, racism as well as a ruling class that tries to maintain its power through false reports, lies and violence after a worldwide catastrophe.

You control a small, lost Ravengirl through a dark, giant world of steel machines, production lines and propaganda. A world whose inhabitants were convinced that a layer of white paint would protect them from a rampant epidemic. A world in which everything has its assigned place and disobedience is bitterly punished.

In the game, escape sequences alternate with puzzles and classic platformer elements. The gameplay takes place in 2D, but the huge three-dimensional world offers breathtaking scenes, a variety of weird characters and devices vehicles that you’re able to steer through this bizarre world.

Take a glimpse of White Shadows’ fantastic world by watching the new Announcement Trailer:
 
With White Shadows, the Germany-based developer studio Monokel is attempting a difficult balancing act: combining social criticism with entertaining gameplay; making worldwide grievances, such as the omnipresent systematic racism, a subject of discussion without being didactic; working artistically without wanting to be elitist. Or as the developers themselves put it: A game that deals with the world outside, but is accessible for everyone.

The game’s production history is closely linked to the history of the studio. Monokel was founded in 2015 with the idea of producing White Shadows. The idea for the game itself is much older - the first concepts date back to the founders' student days. The first prototype was made in 2016, then the game was put in the drawer - until it was reactivated in 2018. In the meantime, the Monokel guys have been working on various social and socio-critical projects - for museums, interactive applications and in the field of art.

But now the time has come: White Shadows will be released in the first half of 2021 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X. It’s published by Headup and produced by Mixtvision, known from games like Far: Lone Sails and Minute of Islands. More information can be found on White Shadows’ Steam Page, Discord and Headup's Twitter Account.
 

HEADUP AND AMC RELEASE NEW LIVE-ACTION TRAILER FOR BRIDGE CONSTRUCTOR: THE WALKING DEAD

28 August 2020 You’ve built a zillion bridges. You’ve travelled with us to the middle ages. You’ve jumped through portals. Now it’s time to step up your game to the next level:

Over the last year, we have sheltered in our post-apocalyptic bunkers working closely with the folks at AMC on the next iteration of the Bridge Constructor™ franchise. Now, we are almost ready to unleash Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead on all the fans and players of both iconic franchises.

And while it’s not quite time to reveal any game footage, we are thrilled to present the new game reveal live-action trailer, which made its debut at the Gamescom Opening Night Live presentation, hosted by Geoff Keighley.
 
Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead will be released later this year across all major systems, including the next generation of consoles (PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X), as well as PC, iOS, Android, PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.


Experience the fun of KILLING WALKERS using the POWER of your BRAIN!

Prepare for the ultimate mashup experience! Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead combines the legendary and challenging puzzle gameplay of Bridge Constructor™ with the post-apocalyptic universe of AMC’s The Walking Dead.

Join a group of survivors as they fight against hordes of undead walkers and a hostile human community. Build bridges and other constructions through bleak landscapes and ruined structures. Team up with fan-favorite characters like Daryl, Michonne and Eugene, and create safe passage for iconic vehicles from the series.

Use movable level objects, explosives and baits to your advantage as you lure walkers into lethal traps and guide your survivors to safety. Enjoy the physics-based frenzy and ragdoll animations as walkers succumb to the forces of gravity.
 

We announce our first inhouse-production Tinkertown, A Sandbox Multiplayer RPG

Craft, Build and Survive Together - Demo Available Today!

27 August 2020 Today we announced Tinkertown as our first in-house product. For realizing the upcoming sandbox multiplayer RPG, the team at Headup was restructured in 2019 and expanded by an additional software developer. 

Tinkertown features a procedurally generated open world, which can be explored alone or via simple drop-in-drop-out multiplayer with up to three friends online. Sinister dungeons offer an additional challenge with merciless battles, but reward the players with epic loot, which can be used for numerous crafting possibilities.

The game world captivates with handmade pixel graphics and offers a dynamic day and night cycle, creating a very special, magical atmosphere. There are various biomes to explore, such as mystical forests, vast deserts, chilling ice tundras and mountains with glowing rivers of lava. And above all that, you will find one thing: Loot, Loot, Loot!

Utilizing many resources as well as countless blueprints and crafting recipes, there are no limits to the design possibilities in Tinkertown. Besides tools, armor and different weapons, players can also craft furniture, workshops and machines. This way, a small village can rise from an initial hut in no time, and eventually whole settlements and impressive cities will emerge.

By equipping their character with different types of weapons and armor, each player experiences Tinkertown their own way - as a rogue, warrior, mage, or in a self-created role. Character specialization is especially useful, because in this colorful world many dangers are lurking: In addition to small enemies, which will make life difficult for the player on the overworld right from the start, powerful bosses are waiting in the combat-orientated dungeons.


Free demo available today!

Tinkertown will hit Steam Early Access in 2020, where it will receive its final touch with the help of the community. You can try the game already now, as there will be a first public demo available on Steam later today. In addition, Headup invites everyone to stay updated via Twitter, Discord or directly via the game’s Steam Page.


Funding

The ongoing project Fourest, in the meantime re-named as Tinkertown, is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as part of the federal government's computer games funding program with a total of €153,669.

Headup Partners with Studio Fizbin to Bring ‘Lost at Sea’ to PC and Next-Gen Consoles

What are the most important moments of your life?

25 August 2020 Headup is delighted to announce Lost At Sea for next-gen consoles and PC. The game is currently in development by Studio Fizbin, the critically-acclaimed creators of their beloved The Inner World franchise and the studio behind the 2020 IGF honorable mention Minute Of Islands.

With their upcoming narrative adventure Lost At Sea, the developers are taking a whole new direction: first-person gameplay, free exploration and for the first time ever in their games, imminent danger!

Lost At Sea is a game about life. It's about the journey we all take and the monster we all face. Set on a beautiful island, you will fight death and fear to remember the moments that connect us all and make life worth living for every one of us. What will you remember when you play? How do you want to live your life?

Check out the brand-new gamescom trailer:
 

[gamescom] Action-packed 2D Shooter TinyShot Announced

Check out the Announcement Trailer!

24 August 2020 We're going to start this year's gamescom galore with the first public announcement of our upcoming roguelike 2D arcade shooting game TinyShot, where you play as a tiny boy who made a deal with Satan to get him his lost horn back – in return he will become famous and loved.

TinyShot is being developed by the young and passionate creator Allaith Hammed “ZAX” who moved out to the Netherlands from war-torn Syria. Settling in his new home country, he decided to start working on the thing that he liked the most: creating games. At an age of seven, Allaith fell in love with video games when he played on his uncle’s PC for the first time. Since then he knew that this is what he'll be doing for the rest of his life. A few years went by and here he is, doing what the young version of him wanted to do but didn't know how. The game is his first publisher-supported commercial release and is highly inspired by the works of one of ZAX’s idol game creators Edmund McMillen

“From the minute I met Allaith for the first time, I was blown away by the high level of passion and love he is putting in his games.”, says Dieter Schoeller, founder of Headup. “TinyShot breathes the spirit of a greatly talented young creator’s mind, who hasn’t been spoiled by mainstream standards yet. TinyShot is a wild, chaotic over-the-top ride. If this game was music, I’d called it pure punk.”
 

Features

• The art style is a mix of realistic nature elements with flash/cartoony looking creatures
• The game-feel is one of the most important elements that is designed to satisfy the player
• Challenging boss battles and enemies
• Random Items to be picked in the battlefield

TinyShot is going to release on PC in late 2020 and for consoles in 2021. Don't forget to watch and share the new trailer!

A Headup Start Into gamescom

​​​​​​​World Premieres, Next-Gen Titles and Acres of Virtual Booth Space by Headup

18 August 2020

The annual gamescom havoc is almost upon us!
 
These days, where a lot of people are stuck at home for the very right reason protecting each other and caring for the next human being, we at Headup are thrilled to be unleashing tons of news during the week of gamescom to keep everyone well entertained in their four walls.
 
Join in from a safe distance and enjoy the ride with us when we proudly reveal

• Two exclusive world premieres
  Bringing four brand-new games to the next generation of consoles
• A packed bag of ten great independent games to be shown throughout the event
• A First Look at and Hands-on with Headup’s very first own internal game production, the upcoming multiplayer sandbox RPG “Tinkertown”
• Thousands of square feet of virtual booth space at the Indie Arena with playable demos, brand new trailers, merchandise corner and much more…

With our offices pretty much right around the corner from the beautiful Cologne venue and with our hearts always beating for gamescom for many great reasons, we feel that the digital iteration of the event holds great chances for the players and the industry to take the experience of a purely digital event to the next level. This year, it’s not about who brings the biggest booth. It’s all about content, baby!

Mobile Release Date Lifted for the Award-winning Mystery Adventure Trüberbrook: September 3rd!

Enjoy this Lynch-esque trip on your mobile very soon

12 August 2020 August 12th, 2020 – German games publisher Headup and developer btfannounce the release date of Trüberbrook for mobile devices, which will be September the 3rd. Take a journey to a mysterious 1960s sci-fi world in which nothing is as it seems.

With its superbly unique visual style, German charm, and a thrilling story of the likes of Twin Peaks and The X-Files, Trüberbrook comes as a modern adventure game appealing to fans of the genre and everyone who likes to delve into a Lynch-esque story and a unique artistic experience. Check out the new teaser trailer: https://youtu.be/qrUR0xG3CEI

During the estimated gameplay length of 5 to 8 hours, the player takes the role of young American physicist Hans Tannhauser who, while actually on a holiday, dives into the everyday life of the eponymous village of Trüberbrook, an ageing but beautiful health resort somewhere in the densely forested countryside of West Germany. He quickly finds out he didn’t get there by accident... but to save the world!

Among other awards, Trüberbrook is a two-time winner of 2019’s prestigious German Computer Games Awards. After being nominated in four categories, it received the ‘Best Staging’ award, and was also crowned with ‘Best German Game 2019’.

Trüberbrook's uncommon visual style is its most distinctive feature, especially on mobile devices. Produced by German-based production studio btf (bildundtonfabrik), mostly known for their current Netflix series “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” and the German late night show “Neo Magazin Royale” with Jan Böhmermann, the sceneries are purely handmade, which means: Manufactured using real hands! And fingers. And masses of glue.

Just have a look at what the developers created in the screenshots attached - piece by piece, by the sweat of their eyebrows. In these models every little detail is custom-made!

To give the game its realistic look, they illuminated each scene in a cinematic way with real film-equipment lighting in different moods. These scenes were then subsequently digitized through photogrammetry and refined. Afterwards, the digitized world got further enriched by digital reflections, real-time shadowing, particle effects, and depth of view. Dubbed by professional speakers like Justin Beard and famous German actors Jan Böhmermann, Nora Tschirner, and Dirk von Lowtzow, both the German as well as English version features high-quality and fun voice acting.

Soon, this surreal experience will be available on your mobile device too. Pre-order now on the App Store or pre-register on Google Play. Trüberbrook will also be available on the Huawei AppGallery, the Amazon App Store and in Google Play Pass starting September 3rd.

Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four Out Now on Steam!

Turn-Based Card Combat meets RPG meets Roguelike

29 July 2020 Craving for a new and unique collectable card game? We are pleased to announce the release of our single player card combat RPG Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four - hitting Steam’s Early Access on July 29.

We are excited to unlock the gates to the Dark Realms of Magic tomorrow and will expand the game further on with the help of our community on Discord, Steam, and Twitter. Regardless if you are a card game pro or a newcomer to that genre, we're looking forward to your constructive support and feedback on these channels, so feel free to join!

You will be able to find tons of artworks and the newest and closest information directly at the source of the game. You can also chat directly with us, the developers, and the community for the perfect deck strategies on our Discord server.

Now let us kick off your magical journey with Cardaclysm's official launch trailer! (Also see below.)