IGF Finalists Announced
Written on January 8, 2009 at 4:22 am, by James Fudge
The Independent Games Festival has named the finalists for its 2009 Independent Games Festival event taking place later this year as part of the Game Developers Conference. The finalists were culled from 226 entries, a 30 percent over last year’s entrants. More importantly, this year’s finalists come in all shapes and sizes – from web games to PlayStation Network games. The selections were made by 40 industry professionals and journalists whose egos are already too big to mention here.
It brings me great joy to see such personal favorites as Mightier and BrainPipe getting the nod, but makes me very sad to see games like Minotaur China Shop and Hinterland excluded from this list.. Oh well.
As always, all of the finalists games will available in playable form on the GDC show floor, and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Innovation, Excellence in Design, and the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize, as well as a prize from sponsor Direct2Drive. Full list after the break.
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Category Industry, Other, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Public Interest | Tags: Blueberry Garden,BrainPipe,Carneyvale Showtime,Cletus Clay,Dyson,Feist,Game Developers Conference,GDC,IGF,Incredibots,Independent Games Festival,Machinarium,Mightier,Musaic,Night Game,Osmos,PixelJunk Eden,Snapshot,The Graveyard,The Maw,You Have To Burn The Rope,Zeno Clash
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In Focus: Mightier
Written on December 29, 2008 at 3:25 pm, by James Fudge
Mightier does something that not too many games have had the courage to do: use connected devices as central components for gameplay. Mightier does this in a way that is almost seamless, so that it doesn’t feel clunky or stupid. In the game ypou play as the Actionaut, a special character that surveys the environment looking for special objects called Datagons. Unfortunately, the little explorer can only jump one level and the only way to get to them is to use an orbital laser to carve out plates that are locked into the planet’s crust.
Using a connected web cam and printer, players interact with the game in the real world. This is accomplished by using your printer to print out a schematic, which you then draw on, and rescan back into the game using a connected web cam. For those that want to experience the game without all the connected device interaction, the game offers an in-game doodle pad, but to play the game that way cheapens the entire experience. You can also draw on gear and other objects you pick up in the game and you can also design your Actionaut’s look.
It’s an interesting concept, and though the gameplay isn’t all that deep, it’s free, tries to be innovative, and is oodles of fun for a little while.
Download Mightier directly from www.ratloop.com. Appropriately, Mightier has been nominated for the 2009 IGF.
