indiecade-2009
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TUAW's Daily App: Osmos for iPad
I first saw Osmos last year at the IndieCade festival in Culver City, California, and a few months back, (creators) Hemisphere Games shared the news that they were bringing the excellent art title to Apple's platforms. Now, Osmos for iPad has been released on the App Store, and it's just as beautiful and entrancing as the original indie game. The idea is that you control a kind of planet/blob thing by floating around a space-field; your goal is to "eat" the orbs that are smaller than you are by touching them. The challenge, however, is that the more you move, the smaller you get, so the goal becomes to navigate without becoming smaller than the orbs you need to eat. That may sound confusing, but the extremely ambient game is anything but. Excellently detailed graphics, a great electronic soundtrack, and intelligently considered controls make for a really intoxicating experience. I can tell you firsthand, especially since I heard from Hemisphere a few times during the development of this one, that a lot of thought has been put into this title and how to best implement it on the App Store. The game is US $4.99, but for the excellent experience you'll get from it on the iPad, it's more than worth the price. If you're looking for a great, original gaming experience on Apple's magical tablet, Osmos is it.
IndieCade 2009: The finalists
IndieCade 2009 was held in Culver City, CA this past weekend, and the local art galleries and restaurants were filled with independent games and their developers from all over the world. The festival billed itself as the "video game Sundance" and lived up to this self-made reputation, putting 29 different indie games on display, both throughout the weekend and during a Thursday night opening ceremony MC'd by Uncharted 2's Richard Lemarchand (shown above with festival founder Stephanie Barish).We've rounded up the festival's finalists in the gallery below. You may be familiar with a few of them, including Twisted Pixel's The Maw and a selection of well-known iPhone titles, but all of these titles deserve your attention -- and a playthrough!%Gallery-74606%
