iGame Radio

We have some good news out of the Independent Games Festival in China. The Line HD, the iPad game released by Anthive Games, won The Best Mobile Game at IGF China.

Reviewed last year by iGame Radio, The Line has been granted several awards for their innovative game mechanic which they have improved upon consistently. Rather than control the main character, Eddy, the player controls and manipulates Eddy’s environment to help him get to the goal of each level.
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The Independent Games Festival China has announced the Main Competition and Student finalists for its third annual awards ceremony. IGF China will take place on November 12, 2011 alongside GDC China, held at the Shanghai Convention Center in Shanghai, China.

The eight finalists for the competition offer an extremely broad range of game types and genres, from action brawlers to mobile arcade titles. Included in the mix is The Line HD, the Ant Hive Games iPad title that was reviewed on iGame Radio.

IGF China’s Main Competition will give away five awards, including Excellence in Audio, Technology, and Visual Arts, Best Mobile Game, and the Best Game Award. In addition to prize money from a pot totaling around 45,000 RMB (roughly $7,000), winners will also receive two All-Access Passes for the upcoming GDC 2012 in San Francisco.

The Student Competition honors six of the top regional student games, which are competing for the Best Student Game and Excellent Student Winners awards — offering roughly 13,000 RMB (roughly $2,000) in cash prizes. Student teams hail from DigiPen Singapore, the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, and more.

The panel of jurors chosen for this event include Kevin Li (CEO, TipCat Interactive), Monte Singman (CEO, Radiance Digital Entertainment), Xubo Yang (director of digital art lab and assistant professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University’s School of Software), Haipeng Yu (producer, Tencent Shanghai), and jury chairman Simon Carless, IGF Chairman Emeritus and EVP of the GDC shows and Gamasutra.

The finalist list for this year’s IGF China are:

Main Competition

• Billy Makin Kid!, by SLAB Games, Indonesia
• Clay’s Reverie, by SuperGlueStudio, China
• FTL (Faster than Light), by Matthew Davis & Justin Ma, China
• One Tap Hero, by Coconut Island Studio, China
• Pixel May Cry, by Feng Li, China
• Pocket Warriors, by WitOne Games, China
• Super Sheep Tap, by aBit Games, China
• The Line HD, by Ant Hive Games, China

Student Competition

• Nanobytes, by Singapore Polytechnic School of Design Splat Studios, Singapore
• Pixi, by DigiPen Institute of Technology, Singapore
• Robotany, by Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, Singapore
• Shadow Fight, by China Central Academy of Fine Arts, China
• Terra: the Legend of the Geochine, by DigiPen Institute of Technology, Singapore
• Void, by DigiPen Institute of Technology, Singapore

GDC China will also host its own dedicated Independent Games Summit, featuring speakers such as thatgamecompany’s Jenova Chen, Supergiant Games’ Amir Rao, and more. To attend either the IGF China awards ceremony or the Independent Games Summit, go to the official website for more information and to register.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Corey Tamas talk about the week’s news in Mac and iOS gaming. They discuss that big announcement that nobody could possibly have known before hand because Apple is so good at keeping secrets…oh, okay, we talk about the iPad 2 announcement everyone was talking about for months. Will it be a better gaming machine? Is it worth it to pick the new device up?
• GDC was a happenin’ last week. Omaha and Corey talk about what was hot and what wasn’t (hint: cars made of jelly) and who won the IGF awards this year.
• Indie Game Magazine has announced the purchase of GameTunnel. What that is and why you should care. Get in on the community spirit at the Kickstarter Promotion for the site.
• Omaha and Corey talk about games that were released and games that they played.
• Omaha talks about the iGame Radio poll results. You might be surprised at what the majority of gamers wanted Chell to wear.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Rich Carlson featured music from Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space.
• Digital Droo featured music from Neon Tango.

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Corey Tamas of MacGamer talk about the week’s news in Mac and iOS gaming. The Mac App Store launched with over 1000 apps, the majority of them games. Omaha and Corey talk about the launch and the store itself, and what they like and don’t like about the store. Also, does Microsoft really think that the phrase “App Store” is in the common domain?
• Doodlegate is come and gone…or is it. Omaha and Corey talk about the trademark dispute between Lima Sky and Acceleroto over the word “Doodle”, what it means for iOS game developers, and the response from the community. Also, Omaha talks a little about the basics on trademarks based on her own experience with them.
• EA and Gameloft have been trading barbs regarding EA’s $0.99 holiday sale on the iTunes Store. But does it really mean that EA “stifles innovation” as Gameloft claims?
• Omaha summarizes the IGF finalists this year.
• Omaha talks about the iGame Radio poll, and Omaha and Corey talk about games they’ve played and games that have been released.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Digital Droo featured music from Active Lancer; pick up the Active Lancer soundtrack
• John Gatti for featuring music from El Ballo; pick up the El Ballo soundtrack

 

What’s inside this episode:

• A review of Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, by Telltale Games. Full of great puzzles, fantastic dialogue, and a wonderful story that will leave you craving more.
  
• Also, a review of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games. A true horror game, merging visuals, audio, and story in the perfect way to terrify you to death.
  

 

What’s inside this episode:

• Host Omaha Sternberg and co-host Peter Cohen of The Loop talk about the week’s news in Mac and iOS gaming. Valve announced Dota 2 last week, but now they are seeking to trademark the word “Dota”. This has caused confusion to some, anger to others. Omaha and Peter discuss the ramifications of this move, and how it might end.
• Ten years ago, Bungie needed money. They asked Apple, but Microsoft bought them. Rumor has it that Steve Jobs got pissed. What would Apple have been like if they had not turned Bungie down? How will this inform any decision Apple makes for rumored company purchases now?
• The Independent Games Festival (IGF) has released their submission list, and it’s almost 400 games long! Omaha and Peter chat about some of the games in the list, and why you might want to take a look too.
• Wolfire Games gave a hint about another Humble Indie Bundle. Will there be a HIB2? How will the Mac App Store impact Indie sales events like this?
• Omaha announces the results of last week’s iGame Radio poll, and Omaha and Peter talk about games released, soon to be released, and that they’ve played.

Music Notes:

• Digital Droo produced our theme music here at iGame Radio.
• Digital Droo for featuring music from Burning Monkey Solitaire.
• Rich Carlson for featuring music from Dr. Blob.

The 13th Independent Games Festival has released the list of games submitted for the contest, and the list is hefty indeed. Almost 400 games have been submitted this year, ranging from casual to RPG to shooters to music games, on desktop and mobile, all hoping to win an award.

A range of ingenuity is also represented. Some of the games don’t seem to really challenge much in the way of sound, design, graphics, mechanics, etc. But there are many that will make the judges’ lives difficult when it comes to decision-time. One that really caught my eye is the RPG Revenge of the Bitch. Meant to make fun of RPG and cultural stereotypes as well as well-known figures, one only has to view the trailer to get a true idea of just how weird this RPG is going to turn out. Sadly, it will not initially be released for Mac.

There are some well-known names to the Mac community in there as well, including:

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent by Frictional Games
• Achron by Hazardous Games
• Castle Vox by Sillysoft Games
• Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble by Mousechief
• Data Jammers: Fastforward by Digital Eel
• Din’s Curse by Soldak Entertainment
• Overgrowth by Wolfire Games
• Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds by Dingo Games

I’m sure there are other Mac games that I haven’t found…this was just a preliminary review of what caught my eye. Also, there are a lot of iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad games in there as well.

All in all, this is going to be the most interesting IGF ever. Even if you don’t go to the GDC, it would be worth your while to review the list and take a look at some of these games. You might find your next favorite within the mix.

Hemisphere Games reported last week on their website that they are in the process of bringing their award-winning game, Osmos, to the iPhone and iPad. According to the blog post, as soon as they had completed the Mac port they began porting the game to the iPhone six months ago.

During the process, they came to realize that some design changes would be necessary to the game, but overall the game would work very well on the iPhone and iPod Touch. When the iPad was announced and released, they became very excited about the possibilities, but only recently obtained an iPad to begin testing.

Hemisphere Games is currently looking for beta testers for the iPad version. They will also be beta testing the iPhone version at some future date.

Got a newsletter update from the folks developing Feist, which was an IGF 2009 game finalist. They assure everyone that they are still working on the final version of Feist, for both PC and Mac, and that they will be releasing a trailer soon for it. So, if you wondered what happened to Feist, and whether it would ever come out for the Mac, there’s your answer.

Today the Independent Games Festival announced the finalists for this year’s awards. The event, held on March 11, 2010 during the GDC in San Francisco, will award nearly $50,000 in prizes in six categories, including the coveted Seamus McNally Grand Prize. Over 300 entries were made this year to the IGF, representing a 35% increase and breaking last year’s record of 226.

Twenty games have been nominated for at least one award, with some receiving multiple nominations. Multiple nominations include three nominations for puzzle platformer Closure (which I got to play for a short bit at PAX 09), and two nominations for Monaco, Pocketwatch Games’ co-op heist game, and Hello Games’ stunt motorbike title Joe Danger (which has no more than a couple of screenshots to titillate you).

So, I was curious to see which of these games were playable on the Mac or iPhone/iPod Touch. Many don’t have decisions on platforms yet, so that will be hard to determine until we get closer. However, even with that caveat, and not including Flash games (which do play on the Mac), 40% of the games below are going to be available for the Mac (based on announcements made, or past history of the game developer). The games listed below are the finalists…I’ve listed the ones appearing on the Mac or iPhone/iPod Touch.

• A Slow Year: Coming out for the Mac. Developed by Ian Bogost, who I interviewed through the DigiPen PodClass.
• AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard For Gravity
• Closure: Coming out for the Mac. I looked at this game during PAX 09. You can play the Flash version to get an idea of the game.
• Cogs: Coming out for the iPhone (currently out for PC). You can see a trailer of it now. Oh, and their FAQ does say that they want to bring the game to the Mac, as well!
• Enviro-Bear 2000
• Heroes of Newerth: Now here’s a game that has been well known in the Mac community. Nice to see it is getting some IGF love. Currently in beta.
• Joe Danger
• Limbo
• Owlboy
• Miegakure
• Monaco: though there is nothing specified for the platform for this game, Pocketwatch Games puts out games for both PC and Mac, so I expect this game to continue that trend. Further, this is a rather unusual game for Andy Schatz, a real departure from his regular style. Finally, I would be very surprised to NOT find this showing up with an iPhone client.
• Rocketbirds: Revolution!: A flash-based game with a downloadable launcher. Has both a PC and Mac launcher. There’s a free demo with locked levels, and the full version available for $9.95.
• Shank
• Shatter
• Star Guard: Mac version to be released. There’s even a demo!
• Super Meat Boy!: Though there is no mention of what final platform the game will appear in, I know that McMillan did say that his intention was to bring the game to the Mac. Of course, we know all about good intentions. Heh.
• Today I Die: Flash game that you can play on a Mac. No launcher necessary. However, note that this is a very esoteric art game. More art than game.
• Trauma: Another flash game, presumably playable on the Mac, but not yet available.
• Tuning
• Vessel

I’ll be keeping this list updated as more information is forthcoming. And I will be gaming the IGF as I did last year, so keep checking back!