Indie games are smaller, shorter, and often a little rougher than their AAA contemporaries. They’re also more often brilliant and inspired, but those good and bad qualities are just traits of a smaller development team. This reduced scale has a more insidious effect, however. The games are often small and simple enough that you can [...]

Today marks the first day following the wrap-up of the GDC 2010
interview series. So first things first, thanks to all the developers
who took the time to chat. You’ve probably noticed that we’re still
missing Tuning and Today I Die, but I’m still
waiting to hear back from those devs regarding interviews. Interested
readers are invited to cross their fingers, but warned that held
breath can result in anoxia and disappointment.

As cool as it was to cover these interviews, we’ve missed a hell of a
lot of interesting news during the interim, so I thought I’d spend
today on the highlights reel.

span.gametitle {text-align:center;font-size:x-small;font-style:italic;} 2010 IGF Main Competition and Student Nominees Aaaaa! A Slow Year Closure Cogs Enviro-Bear 2000 Heroes of Newerth Joe Danger Limbo Miegakure Monaco Owlboy Rocketbirds Shank Shatter Star Guard Super Meat Boy Today I Die Trauma Tuning Vessel Boryokudan Rue Continuity Devils Tuning Fork Dreamside Maroon Igneous Paper Cakes Puddle Puzzle Bloom Spectre [...]

Ulitsa Dimitrova has something in common with World of Warcraft because you lose when you stop playing. On reflection, it has that in common with life as well. Developer Lea Schönfelder helped explain why she adopted this unusual mechanic, what it has to do with a dead Russian child, and how it all ties into storytelling.

The title for this interview is misleading because we already covered Puzzle Bloom with designer Jess Rahbek for our PAX 10 2009 interview series. So I merely touched on the relevant game for this IGF nomination and spent the rest of the interview catching up with Jess’s exploits since last we met. So the scope of today’s text covers the role of Unity in Jess’s development career, public prototyping as a AAA development strategy, and Jess’s pet iPhone project. It’s all cool stuff, so hit the link and start reading.

Puddle is one of those physic sim/puzzle games where you manipulate the level to indirectly control an object trapped inside. It’s akin to those old wooden labyrinth games, but replace the bearing with a pool of liquid. Graphic Designer Pierre Lemasson helped answer my questions about the game’s origins, why everything is cast in silhouette, and new features in the offing. The answers are hidden behind that link above the excerpt.

Paper Cakes is unique at the IGF because it’s a novel game that would have worked just as well on paper as it does on a computer. In fact, if the game is ever published outside the freeware universe, I think a paper-bound walkthrough is called for with dotted “fold here” lines to explain each level. I didn’t pester developer Machiel van Hooren about that specific idea, but I did ask him about the paper prototyping process, simulating a sheet of paper on a tablet, and the game’s future. Read on for his answers.

Will Taylor Grahm is as charming as he is informative. It doesn’t hurt that his game Igneous is an exuberant romp. Stay tuned for his remarks on making bugs into features, iteration through genres, and why a tiki totem would be racing through a volcano in the first place.

Dreamside Maroon was one of the quietest games at the IGF. It’s unusual to find a peaceful game in the Expo din of networking and violent sound effects. Programmer Justin Whitney was available to talk about player motivation in his quiet game, the role of feedback in a sandbox, and some unexpected interpretations .

It might be tacky to draw comparisons, but The Devil’s Tuning Fork will remind you of last year’s The Unfinished Swan. Of course, if you recall my gushing about blindness in exploration, the complement will come into view. Producer Matt Lazar helpfully answered my questions about how blindness impacts exploration and fear and the unseen. Read on for his thoughts.