Guys, I am very happy to announce that the polls are now open for the B-Game Competition! Go and vote for up to 3 of your favorite games!
Voting will end at midnight, October 15th, whereupon the results shall be revealed and we will declare a winner!
I have to say, seeing all the games in one place is, well… to quote haowan:
This whole competition has created one of the most concentrated sources of awesome on the Internet. It’s bewildering, in a good way.
Well said! Everyone’s truly outdone themselves… not only are there a LOT of entries (29 total), but, you know, for a so-called “B-Game” competition, the quality is insanely high overall. I’m really happy to see that the entrants stuck closely to the theme and also made it their own. Jesus, you people really came up with some great ideas in one month.
This competition basically summed up why I love independent game development: the passion, the teamwork, the comraderie, the idealism. When I think about how we just rolled this thing up on a whim, and made it happen, and how everyone just bounced off of everyone else’s energy… well, shit dawg, it’s damn inspiring.
...I-I think I have something in my eye… (sniffle)
Kotaku have an awesome piece of footage up at the moment from GC07 which was really quite impossible to pass up posting here too. Not strictly an Indie Game, but then not exactly a game at all.
Phillip Worthington’s Shadow Monsters is essentially the greatest peripheral in the world. You simply make shadow puppets in front of a projector, and then the projector itself adds sound effects and animations to your actions. Something that in writing sounds a little underwhelming, but in action is so ridiculously cool I may actually quit my efforts for a film degree and become an official Phillip Worthington Stalker here and now. It’s pretty damn amazing, and with all the Wii’s efforts to innovate with a remote control so well chronicled, it’s pretty unbelievable that this is the first time I’ve actually heard of this. Impressive stuff.
(Thanks Kotaku for your continued greatness! Also the video is their own footage so it really didn’t feel right to just embed it here. Also I have no idea how to do that. So I guess you have one more click to make, but it’s probably the greatest click you’ve ever cluck. For True.)
The Independent Games Festival is announcing the first ever indie mobile competition to promote handheld games and developers! That includes everything from cellphones to Palm to DS and PSP. Actually, they seem pretty open about what a handheld device is, so presumably some prankster could submit a pencil and a Post-It with an empty Tic-Tac-Toe grid on it… don’t do it!
The prizes for the competition total $20,000, with a $10,000 Grand Prize and a host of other major prizes for innovation and great execution in mobile game development. The deadline to enter the competition is Monday, October 22nd 2007, and judges will be trying playable version of all games submitted.
A quick reminder: one week left in the B-Game Competition! Competitors, it’s time to start wrapping up your entries. And if you’ve wanted to enter but haven’t yet, NOW IS THE TIME! Get the lead out, people!
I’m hoping to see some dark horse entries pop up in the last few moments. The excitement is mounting!
(The screencap is from can-o-spam’s eagerly awaited entry, Hickbilly Bride!)
Hit the jump for all the new entries since a week ago:
Kokoromi is a Québécois (“Quebec sauce?”) game developer collective, and they’re working with the Montreal International Game Summit and the Society for Arts and Technology to set up a “game jam” called gamma 256.
The theme is “low resolutions,” and the rules are as follows:
1. Your game’s resolution absolutely may not exceed 256×256 pixels maximum.
2. Your game must run on Windows XP and use an XBox 360 controller.
The submission period ends on November 1st. TIGForums is hosting the discussion for the competition, because we think it’s neat, okay? Head on over and make with the talkies.
Hope all you American TIGSource readers had a great Labor Day weekend! I got to hang out with some old friends, which was great.
But enough about me, eh? I wanted to bring to your attention the blogs of two artists and game designers that I have severe mancrushes on. The first one is from Cryptic Sea, home of Alex Austin and Edmund McMillen, the creators of Gish. Now, I was already VERY excited about Gish 2. (From what I’ve heard, it’s going to be Gish, but bigger, better, yadda yadda.) But after seeing this teaser image, well… I’m at “pee pee pants” level of excitement. And that’s a very high level.
I really loved Edmund’s previous work, but it’s obvious that he’s getting better and better! He’s a hilarious dude, too, and incredibly genuine. I wish the best for him.
Which brings me to Niklas Jansson, the artist for Cortex Command. He’s a talented technical artist, to be sure, but what I love about Niklas is his broad understanding of game design. Whereas any artist can take an old design and “modernize” it by making it dark, overwrought, and angry (coughBomberman: Act Zerocough), Niklas stays true to the original essence of the old school. If only the games that he designed made it beyond the conceptual stage!
In his new blog, which supplements his portfolio site, Niklas shares his artwork and his thoughts on games, old and new. It’s fascinating stuff, so check it out!
In fact, the very Raspberry that you would’ve seen in the video below, and thanks go to Xagarath for the tip in the comment section. I’ll keep this brief because obviously it’s mentioned in some detail in the video.
There’s also an included tutorial, which like most Jonathan Blow explanations is both in-depth and interesting throughout, as it chronicles the entire prototype itself rather than the simple mechanics of how to play the game, in a sense that echoes the earlier interactive flash videos we had a while back on Understanding Gaming. It also features four modes of play, which seem roughly to be the prototype at different stages of complexity, with the first being the simplest and the last being the full prototype with music working alongside the gameplay and the SFX produced from either doing well or sucking completely.
It’s not uncommon to be able to play Works-in-progress, but to play around on a prototype with such indepth documentation is something not to be missed really. Be sure to check out the ‘Readme’ file for a some impressions of the prototype from various playtesters (usually responded to by Blow aswell), which includes a response from Mr. Mak of Everyday Shooter fame!
...considering how famous that game is now, you’d have thought we would’ve gotten a chance to play it. Oh well, enjoy!
A video explaining the game mechanics behind “Hermies,” jazzuo’s entry to the B-Game Competition!
The B-Game Competition has been a resounding success so far. All the entries look amazing and we’re having “tons o’ fun” on the forums. (Yes, I’m trying to make you feel silly for not having signed up yet! Why haven’t you!)
One thing I’ve been really happy about is how differently people have interpreted the theme and yet they’re still staying true to the basic concept behind “B-Games.” The entries run the gamut, from action games, to text adventures, to… Petri Purho’s word processing simulator which requires the use of a microphone?!
So you know how in Dead Rising, when you take photos, it tells you the genre? EROTICA! DRAMA! BRUTALITY! OUTTAKES! Yeah, we got ALL that, baby.
Even jazzuo, who’s amazing Sexy Hiking inspired the competition, is now getting in on the act (see the above video)!
This is your official reminder that there are exactly two weeks left to submit your game. I also wanted to let you guys know that I putting up an awesome “Making Of Grindhouse” book and a CD version of MDickie’s latest masterpiece, Reach, as the prizes for first place!
Hit the extended for a list of all the current entries:
The Commonplace Book Compo is over! Voting will begin shortly!
