Being shown at this year's Gamescom event in Cologne (Germany), and inside the Steam booth, was a colourful little side-scrolling platform-blaster by the name of Awesomenauts. Initially evading my attention, this latest offering by Ronimo Games eventually managed to reveal its charms as the show wore on. However, and after having recently been released on Valve's Steam distribution service, Awesomenauts has managed to carve out a serious reputation for itself as a fun multiplayer game. Knowing this, and with Ronimo Games programmer Ted de Vries at hand, I was only too keen to take him aside and ask him as to what makes Awesomenauts so unique in the DOTA-style genre. Enjoy the interview.
What are you doing at Gamescom, Mr de Vries?
Ted: Well, I've been showing off Awesomenauts – a DOTA-style game, for those who are familiar with the term.
For those who aren't necessarily familiar with the “DOTA” term, how would you describe it?
Ted: DOTA-style games are tough to describe in a few sentences, but they all revolve around having lots of different champions to play with, who all have a number of abilities. What makes DOTA-style games difficult to learn (from a new player's perspective), is that you have to learn to play with multiple ch...