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Indie Week: Day Seven
[Welcome to Indie Week at gameinformer.com. We’ve got a full seven days of indie game coverage leading up to the 2010 Independent Games Festival Awards. Check the hub daily for new previews, interviews and other coverage of the top independent games of the year.]
Ending as strong as we started, Indie Week concludes with a look at the 2010 IGF Student Showcase winners. While not as high profile as the main competition event, this student contest is an equally important stepping stone for aspiring game developers. We’ve got a brief synopsis of all ten finalists below, along with links to more information about each game.
Enjoy, and thanks for following our Indie Week coverage!
Boryokudan Rue
“Boryokudan Rue is a tale of science-fiction mixed with film-noir, following two separate, while interweaving stories. First, you play as Azriel Odin, a regretful cop en route to planet Barracus to meet and extract a mysterious defector trying to escape from the notorious crime group, the Boryokudan. Second, you play as Delta-Six, an amnesiac patient in a sterilized facility, who must survive and escape in order to find out why he is there.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: UCLA Platform: PC Release: TBA Price: TBA Website: Link
Continuity
“A platformer drawn onto cards and then shuffled. Players must navigate mazes by controlling the character and the structure of the world itself.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: Chalmers University of Technology & University of Gothenburg Platform: Flash Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Devil’s Tuning Fork
“What if you saw the world with your ears? Inspired by M.C. Escher’s classic optical illusion and the echolocation of dolphins, The Devil’s Tuning Fork allows the player to explore a new mode of perception through sound visualization.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: DePaul University Platform: PC Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Dreamside Maroon
“Dreamside Maroon is an exploration game that lets the player grow a vine to the moon. Along the way there are sights to see, lamps to light, and fireflies to collect. Experience freedom of movement and travel. Grow the vine in interesting shapes and colors.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: DigiPen Institute of Technology Platform: PC Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Igneous
“Igneous challenges you to conquer lava waves, crumbling bridges and a lost city to free yourself from the fiery depths of a volcano. Jump and roll through each stage to survive the hellish inferno!”
[Additional Game Details]
School: DigiPen Institute of Technology Platform: PC Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Paper Cakes
“A mind-boggling puzzle platformer on a virtual piece of paper. Find your way to the cake by folding the level itself! The game consists of 40 levels, gradually introducing new gameplay mechanics and slowly increasing difficulty.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: Utrecht School of the Arts & University of Southern California Platform: PC, Mac Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Puddle
“Puddle is a platform game taking place everywhere in our world, coming from a human body to a space shuttle. In Puddle, the avatar is represented by a large amount of liquid particles, flowing from a part of a level to the other. The player isn't allowed to act directly on the avatar, he is only able to tilt the level to the right or the left."
“Liquid properties and level design are always different, rejuvenating the fun at each level for the player. The slowness of the tilt and the lack of friction on the liquid require the player to anticipate the dangers. The player doesn't have to bring his entire puddle to the goal, but only to keep as much as he can, dodging fire, rifts, and other dangers. “
[Additional Game Details]
School: ENJMIN Platform: PC Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Puzzle Bloom
“Puzzle Bloom is the innovative action-puzzle game where you control the tree spirit Canotila in her quest to bring back life to her island. Canotila needs the assistance of the island's native creatures to get past the rigid machines of the world. She flies from creature to creature and uses her powers to guide them."
“New life will bloom into the world for each time Canotila breaks a machine, bringing Canotila closer to her ultimate goal of a return to nature. No download needed: Solve puzzles in a full 3D environment that runs directly in your browser. Bend the static rules of traditional puzzle games by moving between creatures. Enjoy the beautiful graphics of Canotila’s rise of nature.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: The National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment Platform: Flash Release: Available Now Price: Free/Donation Website: Link
Spectre
“On a quiet winter night, Joseph Wheeler stares up into the snow and tries to recall the nine moments that shaped his life. In Spectre, you will travel through his memory and relive those nine moments, choosing through your actions how his life will be remembered."
“Spectre is a recombinant narrative platformer, a game that tells a life story. The landscape before you is not a physical world, but 73 years' worth of Joseph's memory: moments of joy and fear, light and darkness. As you navigate through his specific recollections, related events will glow bright. If you succeed in these moments of play and follow a glowing path, you will find a theme uniting his experience, and uncover a little more of his fading memory. If not, your nightly story will end in confusion."
“With over a hundred memories linked to fifty-two different ending themes, there are many possible narratives to discover in Spectre. Different stories will highlight different facets of his experience and personality, leaving the player with a compelling, if never entirely complete, impression of the man, his place in the world, and what he sees when he stares upwards into the endlessly falling snow.”
[Additional Game Details]
School: USC Interactive Media Platform: PC Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
Ulitsa Dimitrova
“This game is about the seven year old Pjotre, a homeless child in St. Petersburg. Pjotr is a chainsmoker and has to get cigarettes all the time. He spends his time robbing, begging, and visiting his mom, the prostitute, and one time he even falls in love with a girl."
“His life will never change. And once the player gets bored and stops playing, Pjotr will lay down and freeze to death in the Russian winter."
[Additional Game Details]
School: Kunsthochschule Kassel Platform: PC Release: Available Now Price: Free Website: Link
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