Blueberry Garden
Developer: Erik Svedang
Nominations: Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Excellence in Audio
Platform: Windows (not yet publically available)
Game Website
Description: That’s a darned good question. You can see the game’s trailer, which is all we know about it, at the game’s website. It was the winner of the Best Innovation award at the 2008 Sweedish Game Awards.

Adam’s Thoughts:
Unfortunately, the present information about Blueberry Garden is pretty sparse. The existing screens and trailer seem to show elements of tower-building, population growth, and a bit of farming, which would land the game somewhere between Pikmin and Viva Piñata.

The designer has commented that the game focuses on creating and maintaining ecosystems, which sounds like a fancy way to say sim. The game’s music, a soothing and thoughtful piano, seems consistent with other genre music, though the mere fact that Blueberry Garden is up for an innovation award seems like the game must be something more. It can’t just be the minimalist art style, can it?

Katie’s Thoughts:
Interestingly, everyone who comments on Blueberry Garden is absolutely in love with it, which isn’t a bad thing, per se, but it is a little confusing given that the only media available seems to be one trailer. Now, the music is gorgeous, and hopefully is an accurate representation of the music in the game. But the gameplay . . . did I see gameplay in the trailer? I saw one guy flying round, something eating a blueberry, and a pair of different things kissing and producing a baby. I suppose they’re different aspects of the garden’s ecosystem. Maybe my unfamiliarity with independent games is showing, but I have a hard time translating the trailer into a grand-prize winning finished game.

Not to say I’m not interested. The trailer certainly piqued my curiosity, and the awards and nominations the game has received certainly lend credence to the game coming together into something different and interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing a playable version at the conference.

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Tags:   Excellence in Audio · GDC · IGF · Seumas McNally Grand PrizeNo Comments

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