Okay so I’m gonna be slightly changing up the format of the “Know Your IGF” series we started recently. After giving the submissions a good look through I decided that there was just going to be no way for us to to a write up on each game in time for the event to kick off in March (we’re really not that big). So, instead, we’ll be putting down a paragraph or two (when applicable) of the game along with the IGF description and any videos/screenshots we can find. This way we can crank out about 3 per day with ease and make sure we get every single game locked down in time for IGF.

So, to start off with today’s newly revised “Know Your IGF” format here’s 40 Stories, by Chico State Game Studios.

40 Stories already has a unique development history. While most other indie developers are 1-5 man teams, 40 Stories developer, Chico State Game Studio, actually consists of 60 people. The caveat here being that they are all students who, conveniently enough, attend Chico State University. Whether it’s fair for them or not to enter the IGF with such a large and robust team I’ll up to you, however, you can’t deny that 40 Stories looks like fun.

Here’s the game’s description:

40 Stories is a puzzle game where you must create duplicates of yourself to escape 40 challenging floors. It is being developed by over 60 Chico State University students in the Applied Computer Graphics, Computer Science, and Recording Arts departments.

In 40 Stories, you play as Anita Hent, a disgruntled technical support employee who is on a mission to leave her office. In Anita’s haste, she runs into the megalomaniacal Professor Darius McDoogle, who zaps her with his reality altering Quantum Stabilizer, which then gives Anita the power to clone herself. Anita must now traverse her ever changing office building with the help of her very own Fanboy and escape McDoogle’s grasp.

40 Stories has…

• Students using the latest tools and technology including the Unreal Development Kit
• Challenging puzzles
• Unique gameplay mechanics
• A crazy fun story

The game has a demo available right now via IndieDB which I highly recommend checking out. There’s no telling how the reward money would be split should the game win any award at IGF (probably all goes to the school), but it’s still nice to see students actively participating in large events like this.

[IndieDB]

Trailer