This is the full text of Slavitica's 24/11/2016 press release.

ArsonVille, the strategy game that requires users to deploy flammable items in order to burn as much of the map as possible, was officially launched in Tokyo, Japan earlier today.

ArsonVille was developed and released by Slavitica, an indie game development business founded by CEO Graham Weldon. Weldon (who was also the lead developer on the game) said that the original idea came when he was competing in the popular indie game contest Ludum Dare 36.

“The theme was ‘Ancient Technology’ and fire was one of the earliest technologies that really changed the way we live.” said Weldon. “It was a great challenge working up a playable alpha of a game in just 48 hours but what blew me away was the number of viewers following the development on Twitch and asking me when they could play it.”

ArsonVille was greenlit by Steam within 14 days of being posted to Steam and Weldon committed to an aggressive timeline in order to capitalise on the heat. The 25 November release has gone smoothly and Weldon has plans to expand the platforms it’s available for. “I absolutely want to have it available for mobile asap. It’s a bit of work but should be ready to go live in the app stores early 2017.”

Following the interest from Ludum Dare, Weldon decided to see if the game potentially had an audience. “I’ve been making games as a hobby for many years now, and have had several find their niches, but this is the first game that’s felt like it might have a broader appeal, so I submitted it to the Steam Greenlight program.”

It was an eye-opening experience as Weldon received a lot of positive feedback, along with some practical suggestions. “It’s hard sometimes working out who really is trying to help make your game better and who is just trolling, it can make the feedback hard and draining, but ultimately it really did help.” said Weldon. “I’m so grateful to the Steam community and especially to the One Game a Month community, their support was essential in bringing this vision to life.”