Vlambeer showed off the latest version of their procedurely generated game, Nuclear Throne today on-stage at EGX.

The talk was mainly on how the game did ‘random’ and how it worked to make the game what it was. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with mutants, the game itself has been many years in development, originally conceived during a MoJam and having been called Wasteland Kings originally until last year when they announced a name change. There are currently eleven different characters to play and unlock and each stage is randomly generated, as are the loot, the enemies, the power-ups/mutations available when enough radiation is collected from drops and fallen enemies.

The levels themselves are generated through programs called ‘workers’ who perform actions based on a series of numbers fed to them to carve out the levels for the players. They also determine where loot gets placed and chests, with enemy and explosive barrel placement happening after the ‘workers’ have done their job. There are 7 worlds, over 30 different mutations which can benefit or hinder, and the game has so far been updated most Saturdays for the last 40 or so weeks.

Vlambeer said at the end of their panel that a new character called Rogue was coming soon, as well as a new Oasis world type. There will also be leaderboards added, after-game (or after-Throne) content and more to come.