The story of Vlambeer and Ridiculous Fishing

A sobering look at indie game development, with (I think) a happy ending, from Polygon.

The interview is over. The story, told in pieces at least a hundred times in bars, at hamburger joints, on stages and in private circles of up-and-coming game developers, has now been told for the first time in its entirety. It is a story about the little guy getting bullied and making a stand. And winning.

It is the story of Ridiculous Fishing, and how two men from the Netherlands rallied the worldwide community of independent game developers to take on the practice of game cloning and reclaim their invention to launch what will become (for a time) the best-reviewed iOS game of 2013.

Only when the tale is told, all at once, in a rush, do the men themselves fully realize the weight of it.

Look at the number of apps on your phone. Now look at the number of apps in a store. Now look at the number of platforms. Stories like this happen countless times over the whole world, and only a very few get noticed, and even fewer make it into a career.