Indie dev advocate Rami Ismail has returned to making games after six years away from active development.
The video game industry wouldn't be the same without award-winning developer Rami Ismail. Even though the celebrated indie developer parted ways with Vlambeer co-owner Jan Willem Nijman in 2020 and sold his shares in the studio in 2024, he's maintained his status as a globetrotting sword-for-hire helping small studios accelerate their work and pitching in on projects, particularly in developing or underrepresented regions. But the itch to jump back in and direct another game only grew stronger and stronger as the years went by. Now he's back and about to launch Australia Did It: End-of-the-World Railway Defense Business.
It's a turn-based strategy game (with a hell of a name to chew on), a very drastic shift from the fast-paced games like Nuclear Throne and Luftrausers that he and Willem Nijman used to collaborate on a decade ago. And returning to active development meant grappling with how much had changed. "It's a very different industry," he observed in an interview with Game Developer. "It is more brutal. It is far more risk averse than it has ever been."
Ismail's return to active game development in this more "brutal" game industry comes as layoffs and closures have driven industry professionals to ask themselves a hard question: Will they ever get to make another video game? He doesn't have the answer to that question—but his experience does illuminate what it's like for developers jumping back into the trenches, showing not only how to adapt to change, but also how their expertise still matters in this brave, uncertain new world.
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