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Threes, Device 6 take home Apple Design Awards
Apple doled out its Design Awards earlier today, giving its stylish, pearl white nod to several games. Alongside lifestyle apps like Cinemagraph Pro and Sky Guide, Apple recognized Threes, Device 6, Blek, Monument Valley and Leo's Fortune for combining design and technology in "creative, compelling, and powerful ways." Apple praised each of the games, calling Threes "intuitive, charming, broadly appealing, and bewitchingly addictive." Device 6 was labeled "mesmerizing and immersive," Blek was said to engage both left and right hemispheres of the brain, and Monument Valley was compared to experiencing a museum. Finally, Leo's Fortune was hailed as "intricate and nuanced." Works for us. We just love having good games to play. [Image:Simogo]
Simogo teases a smashing giant game that will probably never exist
Simogo, the kooky developer behind Year Walk and Device 6, probably won't be able to turn Brisby & Donnovan into a full game, and that's a shame. Before starting Simogo, Simon Flesser and Magnus "Gordon" Gardeback worked on Brisby & Donnovan at Southend Interactive, a studio that no longer exists. Since Simogo doesn't own the idea, this adorable and creepy monster masher will most likely remain as it is in this prototype gameplay video, forever. "Anyway, It would be a shame for it to go unseen, so we wanted to take the opportunity to show you at least one little snippet of the fun and lovely things that were brewing inside Southend," Flesser writes. "Enjoy." Simogo isn't ready to talk about its next game yet, but the team is feeling good about it, Flesser says: "We're working and iterating on the idea of our next game a lot on the moment (and making really good progress; we already have something beautiful on device!)."
Game Music Bundle 7: Journey, Broken Age, Luftrausers
Who needs AC/DC and Aerosmith for their gym workouts when you could listen to smooth grooves of video game soundtracks? The Game Music Bundle 7 from Loudr offers 17 albums of audio delights, including tunes from Austin Wintory (Journey, The Banner Saga), Peter McConnell (Broken Age, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft), and Disasterpeace (The Floor is Jelly, Fez). The Game Music Bundle has been running for more than two years now, but if you're just now learning about it, here's how it works: for $1, you'll receive the soundtracks for The Banner Saga, Device 6, Broken Age, The Floor is Jelly and Luftrausers. By paying $10, you'll unlock 12 more albums, including a new solo piano arrangement of music from Journey. To see all 17 albums being offered and scoop up your copy of the bundle, check out the official site. Just don't wait too long, as this particular collection will only be available until May 1. [Image: Loudr]
This box hides a new Device 6 mystery
Though the appearance of Device 6 at this year's Game Developers Conference is to be expected, the physical appearance of its stand in the independent games pavilion is ... well, that depends on how susceptible you are to mind control. The kiosk appears to be a spying, literal extension of the story in Device 6, which sees you – the subject of sorts – solving abstract puzzles in a surreal environment. The narrated mystery would often extend beyond the borders of your iPad, calling into question where the game really ended. A scattering of immovable "replica" iPhones on the stand asks: "Why wasn't the game on display? If there wasn't a game to play, then what was the purpose?" You may just find the (creepy) answer if you work your way through our gallery. And please close the box after you've completed the test. [Images: AOL]
Papers, Please and The Last of Us honored at GDC awards show
Designer Lucas Pope came close to apologizing for his frequent appearance on stage at 2014's Indie Games Festival Awards, collecting award after award for Papers, Please. The dystopian game of bureaucracy and hard-earned immigration was recognized by a panel of industry peers for its considered narrative, game design, and ... downloadability? Pope couldn't help but poke fun at the vestigial "Best Downloadable Game" category, noting the distinct advantage of making a game that's a quick 40MB download. Papers, Please also won for innovation in the Game Developers Choice Awards, the more mainstream half of the evening's show. Naughty Dog's own take on dystopia, The Last of Us, won here for best design, best narrative, and best overall game of the year. (This despite fellow nominee Super Mario 3D World having some pretty sweet overalls.) For the rest of the winners, including some gongs for Device 6, Risk of Rain and Grand Theft Auto 5, please see below.
IGF 2014 finalists: Device 6, Papers, Please, Don't Starve, The Stanley Parable, more
Finalists in the Independent Games Festival for 2014 have been announced, running the gamut of creativity and novelty that characterizes the indie games scene. This year in particular saw a record number of student submissions. Simogo's Device 6 – one of our favorite games of 2013 – is up for an award in Excellence in Visual Art, on top of Excellence in Narrative and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Lucus Pope's Papers, Please is up for a bunch of awards too, including the Nuovo award as well as Excellence in Design and the Grand Prize. The Stanley Parable, another one of our top selections of 2013, is a finalist in Excellence in Audio and the Grand Prize, while Brace Yourself Games' Crypt of the Necrodancer is nominated for Design. Klei's Don't Starve is up for Design and the Grand Prize, and Jason Roberts' Gorogoa received a nod for Visual Art. This year's grand prize looks to be a heated competition between Papers, Please, The Stanley Parable, Don't Starve, Device 6, Jazzpunk and – deep breath – Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" Winners for each category will be chosen on March 19, at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. For the full list of this year's nominees, along with each category's jury-selected honorable mentions, head past the break.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2013: Device 6
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. Infused with a skewed 1960s spy-fiction flare, Device 6 intrigues as soon as the precisely styled opening credits slide across the screen. They shift aside to make way for a surreal mystery and an isolated protagonist, wandering through rooms and gardens that surprise, unsettle and connect in ways that don't quite make sense. Device 6 is a classic text adventure that augments its descriptions – and what you imagine from them – with creepy imagery and ingenious sound design. As a rickety radio plays in a distant room, hovering in your periphery like the buzz of an electrical cable overhead, Device 6 leads you up, down and through, implying tunnels and stairways in its twisting text. Every swipe is a step, and every literal turn of your tablet spirals you further into a test of cognition, orchestrated both by the game's designers and the rarely seen creators of your puppet's island prison.
Ridiculous Fishing, Badland win App Store's Best of 2013 awards
Apple awarded Vlambeer's Ridiculous Fishing its much-coveted iPhone Game of the Year award today, while Frogmind's silhouetted platformer Badland picked up the iPad award. With App Store exposure being so crucial to an app's success, the awards are big wins for the two indie studios, both comprised of just two people. The duo of duos beat competition from major studios in 2K Games and EA PopCap, with runner-up spots going to XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Plants vs. Zombies 2. Kevin Ng's rollercoaster puzzler The Impossible Road and the stylish wordplay of Simogo's Device 6 also picked up runners-up prizes. If you thought those awards, while deserved, were a smidge predictable, be prepared for further non-raising of eyebrows: This year's most downloaded free app (not just games but all apps) was Candy Crush Saga, while Minecraft: Pocket Edition was the best-selling paid app of 2013. It's also worth noting that while Candy Crush Saga is free-to-download, it was also the highest grossing app of 2013 - Minecraft: Pocket Edition came in 11th.
Portabliss: Device 6
This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. Device 6, most simply described as a puzzle game for iOS, makes me the delicious kind of uncomfortable that comes from being in a room with ordinary objects that are just not quite right somehow. A simple chair that for some reason gives you the shivers, or a statue that makes you slowly back away as the hairs on the back of your neck start rising, or a recording with exactly the wrong amount of static in it. Other games will douse you in blood or throw unstoppable killers your way this Halloween, but if you truly want to be creeped out, take part in Device 6's deceptively pleasant tests. Device 6 is presented as an entertainment for you, Player 249, as you read chapters involving Anna, who awakes to find herself in a strange castle filled with all manner of odd apparatuses and decorations. Device 6 uses text, music, voice, and pictures to great effect – you don't just read about Anna moving down the hall and turning a corner when she hears voices, you reorient your iPad (or iPhone) as the text itself forms a corner and suddenly the audio rises and you hear the sounds that drew Anna forward. The text is like a living thing, changing and flowing as the narrative itself changes. Words use the full space of the screen, not content with merely guiding your eye left to right, but up down, back around, and over, creating a motion and fluidity that makes you feel like you're actually walking along with Anna as she explores her curious surroundings.
