The 2011 Indie Game Challenge finalists have been announced for the professional and non-professional categories. The collective dirty dozen are battling it out for gamers’ votes. The winner in each category will take home $100,000. For those solo indies, that could mean support for their present games and future titles. When gamers vote, they can enter for a chance to win a trip to L.A., $1,000 spending money, and more. The Indie Game Challenge winners to be will be announced February 11th at D.I.C.E.

Professional Category

• Vanessa Saint-Pierre Delacroix And Her Nightmare (Bad Pilcrow)
• Fortix 2 (Nemesys Games)
• Limbo (Playdead)
• Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
• Spirits (Spaces of Play)
• Confetti Carnival (SpikySnail Games)

Non-Professional Category

• Hazard: The Journey of Life (Alexander Bruce)
• Solace (One Man Down)
• Subsonic (Team Height Advantage)
• Inertia (Team Hermes)
• Q.U.B.E. (Toxic Games)
• Symon (ZZZ Games)

There are several nominees who are also up for 2011 IGF awards. Hazard: The Journey of Life is a finalist for the Nuovo Award (and honorable mention for Technical Excellence). Confetti Carnival is a finalist for Technical Excellence. Solace is a Student Showcase finalist. Spirits earned an honorable mention for Best Mobile Game. Looking one year back, Limbo and Monaco were 2010 IGF winners. In sum, Indie Game Challenge represents the best of indie games: something old, something new, something borrowed (from IGF’s 2011 finalists), and with splashes of brilliant color from games like Solace and Hazard, something blue! Good luck! VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

Wadjet Eye Games has announced that long gestating Gemini Rue has an official release date: February 24, 2011.

Developed by Joshua Nuernberger, the game was featured at last year’s IGF Student Showcase and you may recall the conversation I held with Josh around the same time. The game was originally called Boryukudan Rue.

The game will retail for $14.99 for a digital download or $24.99 for a CD version with free shipping. As you can see from this shot, new art has been added to the overall experience.

Here’s the most recent trailer for the game:

Miegakure is difficult to describe, so I’ll leave it to the text developer Marc Ten Bosch uses: “Miegakure is a platform game where you explore the fourth dimension to solve puzzles.”

Simple, right? The answer is yes and no. I think my best description would call it a multi-storied game, in which each story is a dimension, and you use the fourth dimension, which is a series of “slices” of each dimension to get yourself from one to another. Okay, so the answer is no, it’s not simple.

All I can say is that the title has addictive platform gaming, in which each frustrating puzzle makes you want to try harder to get to the next. You control a character who can jump, and spin the world to get a better angle of what you’re looking for, which is an exit gate. You can then switch into the fourth dimension, which will allow you to enter additional playing fields in order to get around obstacles, gain elevation, and get a new perspective on that particular level.

Each level is really a series of blocks, some which can be pushed, others which are mountains one can only move around. I think the level I had the most difficulty with was one of the simplest, perhaps because I finally “got” the fourth dimension and this level didn’t need it. I simply had to move some blocks in order to get to the exit, which required extra elevation.

The final level count hasn’t been decided yet, but I survived about six of them. It’s not a game about life or death, just about figuring out the levels. Marc Ten Bosch has created an intriguing game that is truly unique in its spacial awareness and ability to baffle onlookers.

Not many of the IGF finalists have been released at this point in time, so most impressions have been based on screenshots, gameplay videos, and word of mouth. So the nominations perpetuated a feeling of mystery that can only be cleared up through actual hands-on time. Trauma, from Krystian Majewski, was one of those titles.

Broken into four chapters, it’s a mystery title that takes place in a series of photographs. The screen is a patchwork of these photos, leaving the edges jagged, and as you move the mouse over the screen, elements light up, indicating they can be clicked. So you click your way around the levels through photographs searching for clues and a solution to the problem at hand.

The level I play required saving a teddy bear from under a giant circular stone. I clicked my way through the photographs, finding hidden Polaroids that revealed secret mouse movements that could be used to make certain actions happen. By wandering through the different pictures, I discovered a huge pile of these stones, all marked with a firey insignia. The narrator’s voice indicated that I had to find the stone without the marking, which it took me a minute to realize was the same stone I started on. So I made my way back to the starting photograph and tagged the stone with the flaming mark by tracing the mouse in the pattern. The screen lit up and the stone was pulled out of the screen, freeing the teddy bear.

The sound design was eerie, and the narrator’s voice spot on. I wanted to play through the entire game, and while Krystian said it’s not an overly-lengthy experience, but I just didn’t have the time on the show floor. I asked him if he had taken all the photographs himself, and he nodded to the small camera slung over his shoulder, which was indeed the main tool in bringing this game to life. His blend of animated elements in the photographs to the pictures themselves is quite intriguing. It’s slightly reminiscent of adventure titles such as Myst, but a truly unique experience with the design and sound work.

Each chapter of the game is split into starkly different visual locations. The title screen is made up of four vertical bars, each a preview of those locations, and the colors alone make them absolutely unique from one another.

He doesn’t have a release in mind just yet, but in its current state the game feels polished and ready to ship. I’ll be talking more with Krystian about his experience and this unique title’s future.

The nominations have been listed since January, but it wasn’t until this very evening that the awards and prizes were handed out. There really isn’t a bad game in all of the selections, so it’s tough to break out one from another. I’ll be continuing my previews of all of these titles for the next few days, so feel free to ask away if you have any questions about them. But fresh from the Awards Show, here are your 2010 IGF Winners:

Best Student Game
Continuity (Read our interview with the developers)

Technical Excellence
Limbo

Excellence in Design
Monaco (Read our brief, recent preview)

Excellence in Audio
Closure

Excellence in Visual Art
Limbo

Nuovo Award
Tuning

Audience Award
Heroes of Newerth

Direct2Drive Vision Award
Max and the Magic Marker

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Monaco (Read our brief, recent preview)

Feel that any of your favorites were robbed? Let us know. It’s a tough call unless you’ve played them all.

As the day of the next Independent Games Festival draws nearer, the finalists prepare for an incredible experience at the Game Developers Conference in a little over a week. On the other hand, we at DIYgamer are still sifting through the list. Last year, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select games at random from the lengthy (301 total) list of IGF submissions and discuss what they’re about and how they play. For this week’s column, I played through two very different puzzle-platformers, Time Fcuk and the adventure-oriented Umbrella Adventure: The Castle of Cake.

Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 301. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them (like these) are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

Time Fcuk? More Like Mind Fcuk!

Okay, I’m not going to lie: I was automatically intrigued by Team Fcuk’s effort because of its title. And honestly, the game did absolutely nothing but fuck with me and provide for some good old fashioned platforming fun. The controls are the basic arrow key and space bar controls we know and love. You’ll find quite a bit to like in this pixelated puzzle-platformer. What separates Time Fcuk as a game is a combination of two game mechanics: the first is the layering mechanic and the second is the ability to carry and move blocks. The earlier reminds me of another IGF entry I played through, Color Symphony, while the latter reminds me of Block Dude (here’s the remake of the classic originally from Brandon Sterner in full-color Flash), a game that was part of the puzzle pack my friends and I downloaded in high school and loaded up onto our graphing calculators–which, by the way, how awesome are graphing calculators?

To elaborate, though, the Color Symphony mechanic I’m talking about is the ability to change the color of the environment, which unveils new areas and gets you past certain obstacles. This same mechanic is used in Time Fcuk and is labeled “layering,” but it also makes use of another mechanic by allowing you to lift and move blocks. There are also portals, the ability to walk upside down in certain areas, a completely different gaming mode which encourages you to “Enter the Unknown”–which I’m pretty sure randomizes and provides some extremely challenging levels. On top of all of these features, you have the “Explore” and “Create” modes, one provides challenges of all sorts with leaderboard support and the other is a level editor. Needless to say, Time Fcuk packs a punch and contains a ton of content for those willing to make use of it. You can play it on Newgrounds right here.

“Its a game about perspective and viewing both sides of the story from afar, its a game about blocks, platforms, drinking, high school reunions and work time fun.Time Fcku is a “puzzle platformer” about finding logic in irrelevance, its a 1+1=2 formula that will ask more from you after you leave it alone, its a community experience about communication with people who you dont like.”

You can have an umbrella and eat your cake too.

Umbrella Adventure: The Castle of Cake is also a platformer. Whereas Time Fcuk relies heavily on the puzzle side, Umbrella Adventure draws more influence from adventure games, filled with humorous dialogue to match. The coolest aspect is that the game is completely hand-drawn and hand-animated so it looks fantastic. I still feel color would have helped, but the greyscale provides an intrigue of its own. In more ways than one, the game reminds me of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom by the Odd Gentlemen, whose game originally started out as a student project and turned into an XBOX Live Arcade hit published by 2K. First, you’ve got an umbrella. Second, neither game is in color. Third, in P.B. Winterbottom you’re chasing after pies whereas in Umbrella Adventure you’re attempting to get your stolen cakes back. Don’t get me wrong, though, by no means am I calling it a ripoff off because they’re actually completely different games and contain different types of platforming with Umbrella Adventure acting much less puzzle-centric. The game is entirely free and ready for you to download at this location.

While I enjoyed Umbrella Adventure for the most part, I had a few issues with the game. For one thing, it seemed too hard. I’m always up for a challenge but there seemed to be a steep learning curve. The first two cakes took me just a few seconds to get to; the cakes that followed looked to be impossible to reach. I don’t know if this meant you would come back way later in the game perhaps equipped with a new skill but I felt the controls and objectives weren’t explained adequately enough for me to know exactly how to get to the cakes. A help/hint feature would radically help this game. Other than that, however, the stylistic appeal–with its excellently hand-drawn animations, wonderful acoustic guitarwork and note-worthy sound effects–is undeniable. This certainly puts HiVE on my radar for future titles.

“Unlock the secrets of the Forest, explore the highest and deepest reaches of the map, and travel across land, air and water to solve the mystery of the theft of over one hundred delicious cakes, through a world brought to life by rich atmosphere, immersive soundscapes and detailed visual effects, presented in greyscale widescreen.”

That’s it for the week of March 1st, 2010. We’re only a week away, DIYgamers. Long  live indie!

You know what I hadn’t done until yesterday? Plugged in my 360 controller into my PC. It’s my wired one so it connects through USB. I wasn’t about to go through the hassle of connecting my wireless controller, though I probably should have. In any case, though, I did this for two reasons: the 3rd person shooter The Last Dance and the survival horror with dynamic narrative in Night of the Cephalopods (although the actual entry to IGF is Cephalopods Co-op Cottage Defence, I’ll explain later). Damn, am I glad I took two seconds to plug that shit in! It felt great playin’ through these excellent IGF submissions via joystick/gamepad (circa 1999 I used my last “joystick” for the PC).

We at DIYgamer are still sifting through the list of IGF submissions. Last year, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select games at random from the lengthy (301 total) list of IGF submissions and discuss what they’re about and how they play. Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 301. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them (like these) are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

Holy Shit it’s Like Uncharted and Sin City…in Spanish…

Anyhow, this entry is totally worth playing. The demo could barely run on my computer, probably because of the 2 GB Ram requirement (fail) but the graphics and overall feel of the game are worth a shot on a capable system. Plug in that 360 controller because it makes the gameplay flow similarly to Uncharted. What’s really awesome about this game though is its art style. It’s a city atmosphere (Chicago) in the late 1930s and uses a lot of influence that seems to come straight from Sin City. The Last Dance certainly carries the weight of a graphic novel but aspires to play seamlessly as a third person shooter. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it running perfectly on my computer, but again you should truly give it a download at this location and support the boys from Looser Team Estudent UPF.

Night of the Cephalo-huh?

Prepare to get destroyed by “legions of eldtritch octopi.” Night of the Cephalopods is some good-ol’ retro 16-bit fun. It’s the sister (or brother, sibling, whatever) of Canadian Spooky Squid Games’ actual IGF submission, Cephalopods Co-Op Cottage Defence. Since I wasn’t really with anyone who could play the co-op sequence with me, I ended up playing the hilariously narrated Night of the Cephalopods instead. While I still attempted to play the actual IGF entry, I ended up failing miserably. I can’t control both characters at once, it drives me nuts. Cephalopods Co-Op Cottage Defence is based in the same world, however, so it’s not much of a stretch from what the gameplay feels like.

You can go ahead and give it a download right here. Night of the Cephalopods also contains the capability to play with a 360 controller and the experience is optimized with this accessory. I highly suggest trying out both of these titles with the controller.

That’s it for another week of IGF Submission Picks. We’re nearing the end, folks, so get excited for our coverage of the IGF finalists in March. Happy Monday everybody!

As the day of the next Independent Games Festival draws nearer, the finalists prepare for an incredible experience at the Game Developers Conference in March. On the other hand, we at DIYgamer are still sifting through the list. Last year, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select games at random from the lengthy (301 total) list of IGF submissions and discuss what they’re about and how they play. For this week’s column, I played through an experimental title that made me say WTF in First Date: The Cloud Puzzle Game and an XBOX Live Indie strategy game which made me LOL at the idea, Cavemen vs. Aliens.

Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 301. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them (like these) are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

Hey baby, do you see that teapot in the sky?…Oh wait, it’s just a bunch of clouds.

Does anybody remember having a first date where you sat in the grass and tried to make out which shapes are reflected in the clouds? If you do, good for you. If you don’t, you’re in the same boat as me. Anytime I’ve been staring up at the clouds, it hasn’t really involved a date. As a matter of fact, I’m damn sure it’s involved me being in an altered state of mind. But if you’ve never seen anything in the clouds then hey, First Date is the way to go. The game will challenge you to piece clouds together in order to obtain the bigger picture.

Unfortunately for me, my browser (I use Mozilla Firefox) seems to only allow me the first shape, a flower. I try clicking and pressing every key possible but nothing seems to work. Maybe one of you considerate DIYgamers can tell me whether it works past the flower for you? I was ultimately intrigued by the idea. Albeit the flower was an easy shape, the mechanic worked very well and I was excited to see what else came up. Moonlite Games chose to run the game on Unity and I personally enjoy most of the games on Unity because they run smoothly. If I ever move past that first stage, I have a feeling the game could really knock me a few surprises!

F*** Alien vs. Predator, Cavemen vs. Aliens is where it’s at!

Hey, it’s true. The Alien vs. Predator thing has been done a million times (no citation but you read it on our blog, therefore it’s fact). I give a ton of credit to We Are Colin for attempting to pull this one off. Aliens aren’t exactly easy to handle when you’re a Neanderthal. Fortunately for you, the pterodactyls are on your side. Obscure? Maybe. Hilarious? Hell yes. I tried out the trial demo on XBLIG and thought the art style was fantastic. Does anybody else enjoy playing indies on such a huge screen like I do? Honestly, the game looked great and the only thing that turned me off was the fact that the trial ended. It’s currently 400 Microsoft Points ($5) on the XBLIG platform.

Cavemen vs. Aliens is a strategy game which will bestow upon you the burden of ridding our planet of aliens. The game actually contains several enjoyable mechanics, most notably that the face buttons are utilized by assigning a pterodactyl to each respectively. The pterodactyl can heal or deploy more cavemen, provide them with ammunition, and so on. It’s a quick download and worth a shot if you’re into strategy games (especially if you dig the trial demo). Check out We Are Colin’s page if you’re itchin’ for more info.

That was a fun, quick read, right? I hope so. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re only days away from the Game Developers Conference and our beloved Independent Games Festival will take place during this event in San Francisco, California. DIYgamer will be at GDC and provide you with as much insight as possible on the IGF finalists and winners! But until then, I have two more of these IGF Submission Picks columns left. Happy Tuesday everybody!

As the day of the next Independent Games Festival draws nearer, the finalists prepare for an incredible experience at the Game  Developers Conference in March. On the other hand, we at DIYgamer are still sifting through the list. Last year, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select games at random from the lengthy (301 total) list of IGF submissions and discuss what they’re about and how they play. For this week’s column, I played through an incredibly difficult masterpiece in Flywrench and for the second time chose a platformer, About a Blob, which I didn’t get to play but was attracted to its style.

Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 301. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them (like these) are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

Ha! You thought carpal tunnel was bad up until now?

Flywrench is difficult. Like, ridiculously fucking difficult and so damn awesome. I can’t get over the fact that this game is free in its entirety for download right here. Touché, messhof, I’m impressed and intrigued. I wasn’t expecting the product I received after obtaining that fateful .zip file. Let’s get one thing straight: this game is psychedelic. If you’re familiar with me, DIYgamers, you can be damn sure I love psychedelia. In this case, it’s as good as some of the best freeware titles around.

In order to describe to you how this game works, I can’t even begin to explain myself. Instead, I have to quote this:

“Flywrench is a tough game about avoiding colored lines. You move around by flapping and rolling. Each maneuver your ship can perform changes its color. Match a line’s color to pass through it. Try not to overthink things.

Flywrench has been featured at Indiecade 2008 and 2009, The New Museum, and several other game related exhibitions.”

Flywrench requires that you utilize the arrow keys and challenges you in a very abnormal manner. The game is truly worth a download and, at no cost, should be a very able price point for anyone willing to get involved. Get ready to be pissed and intrigued at the exact same time!

Retro Art Style FTW!

About a Blob comes from Canadian DrinkBox Studios, Inc. and has a distinct and beautiful art style. It’s like, the first thing you think about this game how that cute little blob will be shape-shifting throughout the experience. Come on, people, a 2D action platformer with about a blob? Who wouldn’t want to play this? (Those not willing to pay, but hey that’s how the system works!)

“Escaping from a secret lab below the surface of a dying Earth, an innocent space creature – The Blob – uses its powers of absorption to thwart the misguided humans and their out-of-control industrial technology.

Players will enjoy a colorful retro art style, humorous story-line and clever puzzles as they play the “monster from space” in this unique 2D platforming action game.”

I’ll keep you updated about this so I can tell you when it’s out or when to expect it. There’s really not too much media out on this title, so I can’t give you a better look but DrinkBox’s website is always worth a shot.

That concludes another week. We’re getting closer, all! Best of luck to every finalist out there.

In a year that saw increased growth in all categories, the 2010 Independent Games Festival is nearing a fateful day for many up-and-coming developers. IGF Mobile saw 170 entries submitted for the competition which was nearly 65% more than the competition last year. The finalists for IGF Mobile–who develop on the iPhone, smartphones and other cell phones, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, as well as other handheld devices–will be competing for $5000 worth of prizes, ranging in awards for art, design, and audio to technical prowess and iPhone game creation, as well as the IGF Mobile Best Game award.

The winners of each category are promised to be announced on February 8, 2010. They will receive $500 in prizes, a place as one of the 5 finalists in the overall IGF Mobile Best Game category, and the ability to showcase their games at the IGF Pavilion during the Game Developers Conference 2010 in March. But the good news isn’t only for the winners, as all finalists across categories will be receiving an All-Access pass to attend GDC 2010 and the mobile-specific game summits at the event. IGF has also provided 3 entrants as Honorable Mentions in each category, signifying that these titles are some of the most intriguing of the year.

And here are your finalists:

Best Mobile Game Design:
MiniSquadron (Studio FungFung, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Glow Artisan (Powerhead Games, DSi)
Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Honorable mentions: Ancient Frog (Ancient Workshop, iPhone/iPod Touch), Globulos Party (Globz, DS), Mind Wall (Robinson Technologies, iPhone/iPod Touch).

Achievement In Art
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (superbrothers + capy + jim guthrie, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Guerrilla Bob (Angry Mob Games, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Zombie Pizza (Appy Entertainment, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Honorable mentions: Tilt: An Adventure In 1.5 Dimensions (XEODesign, iPhone/iPod Touch), Ancient Frog (Ancient Workshop, iPhone/iPod Touch, Minigore (Mountain Sheep, iPhone/iPod Touch).

Technical Achievement
Stair Dismount (Secret Exit, iPhone/iPod Touch)
SCVNGR (SCVNGR, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Tumbledrop (Starfruit Games, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Honorable mentions: Dawn Of Heroes (Wicked Studos, DS), Aera (ichromo, iPhone/iPod Touch), iPixel (Hecticus Software, iPhone/iPod Touch)

Audio Achievement
Lilt Line (different cloth, iPhone/iPod Touch)
MuBlip (para9, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Zombie Pizza (Appy Entertainment, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Honorable mentions: MelodyBloxx (Beatshapers, PSP Minis), Earth Dragon (levitylab, iPhone/iPod Touch), iBlast Moki (Godzilab, iPhone/iPod Touch)

Best iPhone Game
Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Drop7 (Area/Code, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Hook Champ (Rocketcat Games, iPhone/iPod Touch)
Honorable mentions: Minigore (Mountain Sheep, iPhone/iPod Touch). Pocket God (Bolt Creative, iPhone/iPod Touch), Doodle Jump (Lima Sky, iPhone/iPod Touch).

IGF Mobile Best Game
Finalists will comprise the winners of the five above categories, to be announced on Monday, February 8th.

Congratulations to all entrants and finalists! Stay tuned for the winners on the 8th and see for yourself if these games deserve it. IGF is now under two months away!

[Source: IGF Mobile]