The Poppenkast have finished their second competition, called “3 Hours to Fame,” and put up a single download that includes all the entries. There are 15 games by 14 developers.
I probably don’t mention the Poppenkast enough. A collective of 33 developers; mostly experimental, mostly using Game Maker. Their ranks include the likes of cactus, messhof, darthlupi, and Radnom, to name a few. In my mind the group embodies a movement in game development and design that is typified by quick development, heavy abstraction of graphics and mechanics, and a focus on the sensory, rather than the narrative.
If I can get artsy-fartsy for a moment, they really remind me a lot of the Impressionists, both in spirit, style, and the way they are perceived by the gaming public – you either love them or you love to hate them (or you haven’t heard of them… yet). The criticisms are the same, too. Of Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (now widely considered a masterpiece), early critics derided it as sloppy and unfinished, “barely a sketch.” Sound familiar?
History obviously vindicated the Impressionists, and their fresh vision and spontaneous style became more or less universally accepted as invaluable to art as a whole. I think the same will be said of these lads, too. And anyone who ever made a game with this kind of spirit (B-Games included). But the context, of course, will be games, and not fine arts.
(Another parallel: it’s interesting to note that the Impressionists took advantage of a new invention in the art world – pre-mixed paint that came in lead tubes. This technique was introduced in the mid-19th century and allowed them to “work more spontaneously, both indoors and outdoors.” Are Game Maker and similar programs the 21st century equivalents?)
Penny Arcade has announced the 10 games to be showcased at this year’s PAX (August 29th). The games selected (out of 80 total submissions) are: The Amazing Brain Train, Audiosurf, Chronotron, Impulse, The Maw, Polarity, Project Aftermath, Schizoid, Strange Attractors 2, and Sushi Bar Samurai. These games will be showcased at the expo and one of them will walk away with an “Audience Choice Award.” Details and links at the PAX 10 website.
In sadder news, The Slamdance Games Festival has been cancelled “for the foreseeable future.” Slamdance cites a lack of venue as the reason for the cancellation. Things went badly for the festival last year when its organizers decided to remove the controversial Super Columbine Massacre RPG! from competition, prompting many other developers to drop out in protest.
This year at the Tokyo Game Show, they will be hosting a new event called the Sense of Wonder Night 2008 (inspired by the Experimental Gameplay Projet), which will focus on the most awe-inspiring, innovative games that elicit a “sense of wonder” in those who experience them. Up to ten games will be selected for the event, and there are no explicit restrictions on who produced the game or when the game is/was made available to the public. It seems to be a drive for reinvigorating the gaming industry by calling for the greatest originality from those with the freedom to be innovative whether it be doing so independently or within the commercial mainstream.
And the clarion call goes out for next year’s Independent Games Festival! The IGF is one of the best parts of GDC, and it gets bigger and better every year. Definitely try to submit something, if possible, and, barring that, make an effort to attend the conference. You will never see things the same again. (And that’s just if you go drinking with Phil Fish, pictured at right.)
The two big changes to IGF this year are the new judges (including 2d Boy’s Kyle Gabler and Kloonigames’ Petri Purho), and the addition of an Innovation Award to the Main Competition.
Here are the important dates:
July 1st, 2008 – Submissions are Open November 1st, 2008 – Submission Deadline, Main Competition November 15th, 2008 – Submission Deadline, Student Competition January 5th, 2009 – Finalists Announced, Main Competition January 19th, 2009 – Finalists Announced, Student Competition March 23rd-27th, 2009 – Game Developer’s Conference 2009 March 25th-27th, 2009 – IGF Pavilion @ GDC March 25th, 2009 – IGF 2009 Awards Ceremony
As usual, IGF submission is $95. See the website for more details!
The Indie Game Database got a big update this weekend. Jeff and I also had a great time on tigIRC, where we were exposed to “spider-hell.jpg” time and time again. (Among other things… shivers)
Regardless, we made a lot of progress and I’m excited to share it with you guys.
User Reviews! A long-awaited feature! Now, after you’ve rated a game, you can share you experiences with it and discuss what you liked, what you loved, and what you thought could be improved. User reviews will appear at the bottom of each game’s page, where the most helpful reviews will float to the top! Check out this review I wrote for MDickie’s Hard Time! You may be surprised to find out what I think of it! (Or maybe not at all!)
And if you click the user’s name under the review’s headline, it will take you to their profile. Right now your profile will display your avatar (if you’ve uploaded one), and your bio, along with a list of the reviews you’ve written.
User Submissions Users can also submit games from the site itself now, although an administrator will still have to view the submission and add the game manually. But it’s a great way to bring a game to our attention, and I think it’ll be a lot easier than submitting via the forums.
Also, I know a lot of people will be submitting their own games, but we ask that, if you do, please also submit a game that you enjoy that someone else made. This will increase the likelihood that your own submission will get added (the submissions page has other guidelines that will help you get your submission through).
“Remember Me” Login Some people were hoping that the site could remember that you logged in so you wouldn’t have to enter your info every time – now you can check “Remember Me” when you log in and it’ll do just that!
Lots o’ New Games! I added a bunch of new games from all of the place, including your submissions on TIGForums. The grand total now is nearly 300 (maybe 300+ by the time you read this?). Rate, tag, and review ‘em up! With the new submission system I can hopefully add games faster and more regularly, as well. Whoo hoo!
The db has been a great success so far, but these new features should make it even more fun and useful. And as usual, we’d love to hear your feedback. If you look on the left-hand side of TIGdb, you should see a UserVoice “Feedback” widget that you can click to vote on suggestions and feature requests, or submit your own.
And mad props to Jeff for working hard to implement these features. We really hope you enjoy!
Tale of Tales’ Michaël Samyn (The Endless Forest, The Graveyard) recently put up an interview he conducted with Takayoshi Sato, the man responsible for the haunting CG work in Silent Hill, and who is now employed at Virtual Heroes, a company that makes training games for various clients (they worked on America’s Army!). Michael asks Takoyashi about Silent Hill, games and art (natch), and his decision to now work on “serious games.” It’s an interesting discussion.
And definitely check out his other interviews, which go back to May of last year, when he chatted with American McGee! In the indie gaming sphere, Michael conducted two interviews before Sato – one with Simon Carless in December and one with Jenova Chen following this year’s GDC.
Tale of Tales has a unique approach to game design and the same goes for their interviews. A very worthwhile read (and very nice to look at, of course).
And the winner of our supremely awesometastic Procedural Generation Competition is nenad, with Rescue: The Beagles! I can say without hesitation that this game is destined to be a classic – I love traversing the three-tiered abstract landscape and mapping out the best routes. Every part of the game feels very thoughtfully put in place. (Plus, I get fuzzy feelings from rescuing those cute beagles and hearing them yip with joy.)
In a very close second place is Dyson, the stunning “life” and colonization game by Alex “haowan” May, Rudolf “Borsato” Kremers, and Brian Grainger. And in third place is Self Destruct, a fast-paced procedurally generated shoot ‘em up from the indie gaming dream team of Terry Cavanagh and Annabelle Kennedy.
But as always, all of the (60!) entrants deserve a hearty round of beer and ‘grats. There were so many great ideas that came out of this compo that we should have called it the “Great Idea Competition.” But then it would be so hard to distinguish from the other TIGSource competitions… seriously, you all are blowing minds!
Thanks again to everyone who made a game, played a game, gave feedback, voted, provided mirrors, and/or devoted any small amount of time to making this happen. See you next compo! It will be a doozy.
Josh Whelchel wrote to inform me that you guys helped raise over $800 for his cancer drive. That’s wonderful news!
And there’s more: The Spirit Engine 2, the long-waited sequel to Mark Pay’s much-loved RPG, is slated for a July 30th release, as revealed by the teaser above. There are also two older videos (1|2) that demonstrate the game’s combat system.
TSE2 will not be freeware, like its predecessor, but the final price is unknown. For more info, head to the official website.
Tonight is GAME NIGHT. On the cards are the usual staples of Jet Set Willy Online, iScribble, and no doubt Trackmania too. And apparently Team Fortress 2 is free this weekend, so there’ll probably be a game or two of that…
If you’re up for it, make your way to tigIRC as soon as you can! Things are about to start!
“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Gish Cryptic Sea wgah’nagl fhtagn.”
The Commonplace Book Compo is over! Voting will begin shortly!
