The Booth
Excitingly, we also had a Nordic Game Jam booth at the exhibition this year, which we hope will motivate a lot of the students to come and join us in 2010. For manning the booth, I had gotten help from Dajana Dimovska, who is a long time volunteer with the IGDA and a game designer/programmer who worked on some really interesting games. She did a terrific job with her outgoing nature and her genuine interest in the people and the games up there.
The great and very good material for the booth, posters and flyers, were made by Alexandra and David Mariner, who are both currently making a terrific contribution for the rebuilding of the Danish Games industry.
The Games
I was one the jury team that judged the 3rd and 4th year projects. This, to me, was a very exciting prospect as those are the oldest and most experienced students.
Here is quick run down of the projects.
Vertigo
Vertigo is a 2D sideways racing game for between 1 and 4 players. The basic gameplay is very well-working and with more polish, game modes, etc., I think that this could be a cool downloadable title for either XBLA or PSN.
Had it not been for the fact, that the students also showed this game last year (where they deservedly won the Pwnage Award), the game would definitely have been a favorite. Because of this, however, I did not vote for the game.
Despair of Heroes
This good-looking XNA game has the worst title ever. It is a sideways hack'n'slash game in the style of
Golden Axe and
Castle Crashers. The game has 4 characters that you can change between in-game, depending on which strategy you and your fellow players wish to employ in a specific situation.
I voted for this game as 3rd (mostly for lack of choice of other games), and the reason for it, was that it was more a remake of a genre than anything else. The game showed potential for great craftsmanship, but did not innovate or experiment much in any direction.
Co-op Cop
Co-op cop was a wonderful small 2D physics game, and seemed like
Little Big Planet remade in the style of Salvador Dali.
Making good and intuitive use of both mouse and keyboard, the game has two characters, and is a described as a single-player game that can be played by two players. This promise is actually true, and it provides a meaningful experiences in both modes.
The game had some problems, like not really knowing whether it wanted to be a sandbox game or a more classic game, making it seem like directionless experience. Even though this game lacked a lot of polish, I ended up voting on it as 1st game.
Deadly Escape
Deadly Escape was made by a team of Belgians, and was presented to us through webcast. The game is pitched as a 3D shooter for those over 30, who still want to play shooters but who are no longer that good at skill-based games.
Made as a mod for the CryEngine 2, the style of the game itself was an over the top Mexican western setting, much in the style of
Total Overdose or
Desperado. I did liked the idea of this game and wanted to vote of on the 2nd place. Unfortunately, they were not present on the show floor, and therefore I could not vote for them. Instead my 2nd place ended up going to
Exhaust
Exhaust is a 2D physics game, where you have to maneuver a monster truck through a level to get to the end. The game was a fun and had intuitive controls. It wasn't really my type of game, but deserved the winning place that it ended up getting at the award show.
This blog post has already gotten way too long, but I want to make a special mention of one of the games made by 1st year students.
For the 1st year games, the students have to make an arcade machine; I think this is a really good way to push them into the deep end of the water, and force them to think about physicality, game play and user friendliness.
In Walkabout you have to get a small family of creatures living in a 2D world safely home. Like
lemmings they always continue on their path, no matter if they are going into certain death. As the player, you can help them on their path by rotating the world via a big wheel, thereby rotating the world, and helping them navigate corridors and passages that they could otherwise not get past. It is so simple yet works very well.
The brilliance of this game, is that everything is thought into the same context and presented in a thoroughly coherent manner; be it the menu, high score screen or in-game. It never feels like you are leaving the tiny little game world. Deservingly, this game made by 1st year students, won the pwnage award.
Going to Gotland is always an exciting and rewarding experience, and I am really looking forward to seeing what will come out of there in the future.
Leave a comment