Independent Games Festival
Fast-tracked from the Independent Games Festival (IGF) in San Francisco, a shipment of 14 of the world’s best independent games has arrived at The Edge. Showcasing the talents of indie developers from Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, USA, South Africa, UK and Australia, these games are ready and waiting for your highest scores. Scope the full list of games available for play and chalk your scores up on the board to be in the running for prizes and glory.
When: During opening hours, 19 Oct to 27 Nov
Where: Edge window bays 1-9
Cost: Free
Bookings: Not required
This exhibition is presented by The Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
GAMES
Minecraft (Mojang)
Winner: Seamus McNally Grand Prize, Audience Award
Minecraft is a sandbox game which allows players to build constructions with textured cubes in a 3D world. Minecraft has become a phenomenal success, selling nearly 2 million copies since its release.
Developer: Markus “Notch” Persson is a Swedish developer who began programming at the age of 7 on a Commodore 128. Notch worked for several years at Jalbum as a game programmer before developing Minecraft. The success of the game has allowed him to start up his own company (Mojang) devoted to developing Minecraft. Notch is a member of Swedish Mensa.
Amnesia – The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
Winner: Excellence in Audio, Technical Excellence, direct2drive vision award
A first person horror game with a focus on immersion: a game where atmosphere and story come first. Daniel awakens in a desolate Prussian castle without any memories to explain his situation. A letter written by himself reveals that the amnesia is actually self-inflicted. A dark descent awaits.
Developer: Frictional Games is a company of five people located in Sweden, who prior to Amnesia released the Penumbra series. Thomas Grip, the lead developer on Amnesia, was influenced by Bioshock “especially the first 30 minutes when you run around with no weapons”.
BIT.TRIP RUNNER ( Gaijin Games)
Winner: Excellence in Visual Art
Race across the Moon, kicking down crystal walls and sliding under chomping moon-slugs! Bound through the Robotic Mines and face off against the MinerMech! Dash through the Big City on a quest to find friends and defeat the final boss together. RUNNER is the fourth entry in the award-winning and critically acclaimed BIT.TRIP series.
Developer: Gaijin Games is an independent company located in Santa Cruz, California who believe that making games is both an art form and a form of fun. Company founder Alex Neuse began his career as a game tester for Star Wars.
Limbo (Playdead Studios)
Winner (2010 IGF) Technical Excellence, Excellence in Visual Art
Uncertain of his sister’s destiny, a boy enters Limbo…. A journey though an eerie black and white landscape of shadows, a physics-based, mysterious and unsettling adventure.
Developer: Playdead is a Danish company begun by Dino Patti and Arnt Jensen, who were both dissatisfied with their jobs in the gaming industry, and wanted to make a game based primarily on mood and imagery. Inspired by film noir, the game developers offered no tutorial, as they wanted players to have to figure out the journey on their own.
Bohm (Monobanda)
Finalist: Nuovo Award
What is the goal? Create a beautiful tree and enjoy the tranquillity.
Developer: Monobanda is a company of five young people based in The Netherlands. Their latest game in development is called Mimicry.
Nidhogg (Messhof)
Winner: Nuovo Award
Nidhogg is a fast and funky fencing game. Easy to play, hard to stop playing!
Developer: Mark Essen is based in Brooklyn, New York. He started making games in high school, and his work is often featured in art galleries. His games are lo-fi and often frustratingly harsh on the player!
Hohokum (Honeyslug & Richard Hogg)
Finalist: Excellence in Visual Art
Hohokum is a 2D action adventure game for one player. The game provides a wide range of experiences, from arcade-action, to ambient, toy-like puzzles. Along the way, the player will explore an initially alien world with in an interesting control mechanism, gradually learning to navigate it effectively.
Developer; UK based game developers Honeyslug teamed up with artist and designer Richard Hogg to create this game. The work features beautiful graphics and simple puzzle elements that evolve as the gameplay progresses.
Desktop Dungeons (QCF)
Winner: Excellence in Design
Desktop Dungeons is a ten-minute “dungeon crawl” adventure that distills the roguelike genre to its most basic components, turning it into a single-screen puzzle adventure comparable to the likes of Oasis and Tower of the Sorcerer.
Developer: QFC is a company based in Cape Town, South Africa who approach game design in the spirit of fun “We openly aspire to be international rockstars and won’t rest until you can’t stop playing something with our names on it.”
Faraway (Steph Thirion)
Finalist: Excellence in Design
Faraway is a one-button game where you swing your way through a procedurally generated, infinite outer space, searching for “clusters” and drawing constellations within them. The bigger the constellations constructed, the longer you will stay in the game, and the higher your score will get.
Developer: Steph Thirion works on interactive art as well as games, but his 2009 Eliss made him a break-out video game art star.
Antichamber (Demruth)
[Previously known as Hazard : The Journey of Life]
Finalist: Nuovo Award
Antichamber is about appreciating the simple things in life: experiencing the wonder of discovery, learning through curiosity, and the unexpected nature of a world that we do not fully understand. ”A philosophical first person single player environmental puzzle game”. The game presents no goals directly to the player, other than to explore.
Developer: Alexander Bruce is a Melbourne-based designer who has created Antichamber on his own. The game has won or been a finalist in many international competitions and Alex hopes to release it next year.
Helsing’s Fire (Ratloop)
Winner: Best Mobile Game
Lead Dr. Helsing and his assistant Raffton on their quest to rid the world of Dracula’s evil horde and cleanse the unholy blight that contains them!
Halcyon (Stfj)
Finalist: Best Mobile Game
A spacial action puzzle game and interactive stringed instrument designed specifically for the iPad.. Strum the strings to manipulate the currents to their matching colours, creating both phonic and visual harmony.
Colorbind (Nonverbal)
Finalist: Best Mobile Game
Colorbind is a simple and relaxing puzzle game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Join the dots by weaving color strips with your finger.
Solipskier (Mikengreg)
Finalist: Best Mobile Game
Ski yourself to death! Create instant jumps and slopes for a speeding skier with the tip of your finger.
