More than two years in the making, Supernauts has launched on iOS today as a new entry in the world-building genre that Minecraft pioneered.
The Helsinki, Finland-based Grand Cru development house has attracted a lot of attention and funding for the cartoon-like 3D title, which the company bills as the “most ambitious iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch game of all time.” And looking at the trailers, you can’t really argue with that. Now the big question is whether the gameplay is fun enough to keep players coming back to the free-to-play game.
If the game succeeds, it will be one more example of how Finland is home to the premier mobile game hubs of the smartphone and tablet era. Other prime example’s of Helsinki’s success include Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, and Supercell, which created Hay Day and Clash of Clans (one of the biggest money-making mobile games of all time). Apple is featuring Supernauts on the Apple iTunes App Store today.
Supernauts is set in a cartoon world of the future where the polar ice caps have melted and the player has to build a new habitat for humans on asteroids in space. You build use touchscreen controls to build 3D objects and characters. And while you are doing it, other players can join in, helping you create items in the same 3D space. The worlds are limited in size and scope, based on the size of the asteroid. But you can build on multiple asteroids. There are already more than 50 missions where players can rescue humans on Earth.
“Grand Cru is a game studio focused on developing groundbreaking mobile games of the finest quality and we’re aiming to revolutionize social gaming with Supernauts,” said Markus Pasula, the CEO of Grand Cru. “Created for a broad audience, the game is truly social and provides players with multiple ways to share their creations and experiences. We want to take real-time social interactions in mobile gaming in to another level.”
In the progression trailer below, you can see how quickly players can build amazing worlds in a relatively short time. In one to two days, you can have your own little village in space. And within weeks, you can have a unique custom world that reflects your own creativity. Players can create themed worlds in worldwide contests. Players can also set up teams to compete against other teams in tournaments.
“We have spent over two years perfecting the gameplay experience for the iPad, and we are certain that with our intuitive user interface everyone will be able to join the fun of creating awesome worlds in 3D,” Pasula said.
Eight pioneers of mobile gaming, including Pasula, founded Grand Cru in 2011. The company has raised more than $16 million to date from Idinvest Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Signia Venture Partners and Lifeline Ventures. Grand Cru has 35 employees.
Above: Grand Cru CEO Markus Pasula and chief marketing officer Thorbjorn Warin.