The Tokyo Game Show occurred this past weekend, sustaining its position as the second largest game show in the world and setting a new attendance record with over 222,000 attendees. During the Tokyo Game Show, the Sense of Wonder Night (a Japanese version of Experimental Gameplay Sessions) and the Japan Game Awards took place. During the latter event, amateur developers were recognzied along with AAA industry professionals. 11 amateur finalists were announced.

I figure there has to be something to learn from these titles; so let’s start looking at some today! Surprisingly, only one out of the 11 recognized amateur titles is a Mobile game; the rest are PC titles.

First off is the Grand Prize winner, CONECT, from team Trident++ from the Trident College of Information Technology. Konami judge Akari Uchida stated, “The play has a clear concept with a general theme that can be understood by anybody that is at the same time very original.” CONECT is seems playable with an Xbox controller, possibly hinting that the game was made in XNA.

CONECT is a puzzle game that involves a robot plumber to achieve different missions at each stage, such as repairing pipes leaking steam or supplying electricity by connecting plugs.

Interestingly, the Konami judge offered both reasons why it won and how CONECT can improve:

“The simple while the difficulty and sense of achievement increases with skill level, and the player can also easily imagine how the fun will expand in the future,  which makes this game very appealing… The framework is well developed, but it would be even better if it can be polished into a complex but beautiful object. Of course, that is difficult to achieve with a puzzle. It would be even more wonderful if collected into the background skyscrapers! There is a great sense of achievement in giving form to one’s work.”

One honorable mention that caught my eye is from Team TripleO at Niigata Computer College called The Brave Man Who Was Here Ran Away. I particularly enjoyed how the game begins; the title screen resembles hordes of other turn-based RPG fight scenes. Once the player chooses “Game Start,” the hero quickly runs away. I also observed that the option for “fight” is grayed out, showing that it is not even an choice.

The Brave Man Who Was Here Ran Away is Canabalt for wimps. However, this specific wimp has a horde of friends who can use magic to hurt or heal and weapons to stop the Magical King from catching the fleeting man. There are also traps and other creatures on the screen to avoid.

Judge Hideki Osada of Enterbrain stated, “This title was good for its unique concept in addition to the very simple horizontal scroll jump action and semi-aggressive RPG jobs (warriors, wizards, monks). The added tension of being chased by demons in the stage while operating the main characters while at the same time using companion jobs to hold up the demons increases ones desire to play this game.”

What do you think of these games? Do you want to see and hear more about the various titles featured in this award show? Let me know in the comments, and I will continue this week!