It took 20 years for Children of the Sun to become an overnight success

Children of the Sun burst onto the indie scene like a muzzle flash on a dark night. Publisher Devolver Digital dropped the game’s first trailer on February 1, showcasing frenzied sniper shots and a radioactive art style. A Steam demo highlighting its initial seven stages went live that same day and became a breakout hit during February’s Steam Next Fest. Two months later it landed in full and to broad acclaim. This explosive reveal and rapid release timeline mirrors the game itself — chaotic but contained, swift and direct, sharp and bright. Though it feels like Children of the Sun popped into existence over the span of two months, it took solo developer René Rother more than 20 years to get here. René Rother As a kid in Berlin in the early 2000s, Rother was fascinated by the booming mod community. He spent his time messing around with free Counter-Strike mapping tools and Quake III mods from the demo discs tucked into his PC magazines. Rother daydreamed about having a job in game development, but it never felt like an attainable goal. “It just didn't seem possible to make games,” he told Engadget. “It's like it was this huge black box.” Rother couldn’t see an easy entry point until the 2010s, when mesh libraries and tools like GameMaker and Unity became more accessible. He discovered a fondness for creating 3D interactive art. But aside from some free online Javascript courses, he didn’t know how to program anything, so his output was limited. “I dabbled into it a little... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2024-04-18 19:45:11 UTC ]
News tagged with: #soundtrack collaborator #band nadja #similar droning #slowcore vibe #casual message #nice experience #proper word #psychedelic clarity #super spontaneous #necessarily knowing #eventually lead #required work #— chaotic #— visuals #major publishing #libraries

Other Publishing stories related to: 'It took 20 years for Children of the Sun to become an overnight success'


Blackwell Group halves losses within a year

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 09:14 Blackwell UK hopes to become profitable in two years, after nearly halving its operating losses to £5.6m. The academic bookseller’s year-end results to 26th June 2010 show the company has narrowed its operating losses from... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #local ownership


LBF to launch Children's Zone

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 29/03/2011 - 08:25 London Book Fair is launching a Children's Innovation Zone this year, which will include a theatre on the show floor for the first time. The theatre is designed to showcase ideas specific to children's publishing, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #launch children #show floor


Wilson to update Five Children and It for Puffin

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 21/03/2011 - 15:36 Jacqueline Wilson is to write an updated version of E Nesbit's classic children's novel Five Children and It in a new deal with Puffin. Elv Moody, editorial director for Classic Puffin, and Alexandra Antscherl, Puffin senior... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #classic children #updated version #bought uk #caroline walsh


World Book Day books top charts but sales are down on last year

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 15:56 Sales of the six £1 World Book Day books fell 36% week-on-week, to 159,000 copies sold—a figure down 9% on the comparative week last year—but they nonetheless continue to dominate the sharp end of this week’s Official UK Top... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Children's Books Publishing in Asia

In most parts of Asia, wizardry and fantastical plots have lost much of their magic after dominating the bestseller list for so long. The subsequent vampire and werewolf fever is, by comparison, not as rabidly welcomed in certain territories. As for that wimpy kid, well, his popularity suffers... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bestseller list #wimpy kid


Continuum crowned indie publisher of the year

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 11/03/2011 - 09:04 Continuum has been crowned the Independent Publishers Guild's Independent Publisher of the Year at the IPG awards, in a night when it and Faber won two awards. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ipg awards #independent publisher


Jojo Moyes wins RNA Romantic Novel of the Year

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:50 Hodder author Jojo Moyes has won Romantic Novel of the Year at the Romantic Novelists' Association's (RNA) Pure Passion Awards, scooping the prize with The Last Letter from Your Lover. Both Josephine Cox and Penny Jordan,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #romantic novelists #7th march


Bloomsbury predicts 2011 to be "year of the ebook"

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 28/02/2011 - 09:20 Bloomsbury is anticipating 2011 to be the "year of the ebook", as it reported ebook sales were just under 10% of trade print sales in its latest results. For the 12 months ending 31st December 2010, sales were up 4.01%... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #latest results


Penguin has best-ever year as Pearson profits leap

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 28/02/2011 - 09:42 Penguin UK had its best ever year in 2010 as parent company Pearson reported a profits increase of 21% to £857m. For the year ending 31st December, sales at Pearson were £5.66bn, up 10% on 2009. Sales at Penguin were... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pearson attributed #record number


Digital doubles at this year's LBF

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 25/02/2011 - 08:40 Gordon Willoughby, Amazon's director of the Kindle in Europe, is to address London Book Fair's digital conference to be held on the eve of this year's fair. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital conference


Hodder to release final Earth’s Children novel

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 24/02/2011 - 09:25 Hodder & Stoughton is gearing up for the launch of the final book in the Earth’s Children series, which began 35 years ago with an idea for a short story. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #final book #short story


HC buys children's trilogy

Written By: Laura Richards Publication Date: Mon, 21/02/2011 - 15:24 HarperCollins Children’s Books has acquired three titles aimed at girls aged nine-and-over, billed as "Chocolat for young girls". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #titles aimed #young girls


The Sun and Times to include WBD vouchers

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 16/02/2011 - 15:40 World Book Day will be supported by News International for the second year running, with £1 WBD book tokens to be printed in both the Times and the Sun. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #news international #year running


HarperCollins Children's Books acquires four

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 14/02/2011 - 17:21 HarperCollins Childrens Books publishing director Helen Mackenzie Smith has bought her first books since joining the publisher from Random House earlier this year. She bought four books by picture author and illustrator Rachel... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #books acquires #harpercollins children #world rights #literary agency


Phaidon Press to triple children's output

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Thu, 10/02/2011 - 16:03 Phaidon Press is aiming to triple its output of children's titles to 30 new children's books by 2012, up from eight in 2010. Phaidon's children's list covers children aged up to 12 years with a focus on pre-school and picture... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #phaidon press #tomi ungerer


Dominic Kingston to leave Macmillan Children's Books

Publication Date: Thu, 10/02/2011 - 07:55 Senior publicity manager Dominic Kingston is to leave Macmillan Children's Books (MCB) at the end of April. Kingston has been with the publisher since 2005, when he joined as publicity manager. Lauren Ace will join the team as publicity manager on 7th... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #books mcb #publicity manager #lauren ace #7th march #tiger press


Debut author wins Waterstone's Children's Book Prize

Publication Date: Wed, 09/02/2011 - 20:05 Debut author Sita Brahmachari has won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize for her coming-of-age novel about life, death, friendship and love. She was awarded the £5,000 prize this evening [9th February] for Artichoke Hearts, published by Macmillan... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book prize #macmillan children


S&S Children's acquires "Arthurian" series

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 08/02/2011 - 08:20 Simon & Schuster Children’s Books has acquired an adventure series inspired by Arthurian legend. Venetia Gosling, fiction editorial director at Simon & Schuster, bought world rights to eight books from Ben... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ss children #arthurian legend #venetia gosling #simon schuster #ben horslen #hothouse fiction #successful children


Teach Your Children Well

While many media pundits purport that magazine readership is dropping or that printed magazines are soon to be extinct, the truth emerges that year after year magazine readership continues to grow. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Celebrating Chinese New Year with Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

It seems like most of the subway car empties at the Grand Street stop in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown. Just as the last person makes it off, the conductor announces, “Stand clear of the closing doors, and Gong Hey Fat Choy! Happy New Year!” It’s the first day of Chinese New Year and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |