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Fezes are cool: An afternoon with Phil Fish
Amidst the gridlocked, city-wide pandemonium that is SXSW Interactive, I was able to rescue Fez's lead designer and artist Phil Fish from a pack of ravenous, business-card waving fans long enough for an interview. We set up at the quiet end of the Palmer Events Center's glass-lined second floor, standing at a chest high, sidewalk cafe-esque table overlooking Zilker Park. It had been raining for two days straight, but that morning the clouds had parted and festival attendees were treated to one of the few gorgeous spring afternoons Texas will get this year.Fez has missed its most recently announced release window of Q1 2012, but the fact that the game is undergoing Microsoft certification means that it'll be out relatively soon. "We almost made it to Q1," Fish said. "We entered certification like two weeks ago, but we actually just failed it, which is kinda standard. Pretty much everybody fails their first cert."Microsoft has a two-month window in which it can release Fez once it has gone gold, and Fish wants to make sure it happens as quickly as possible. "We're trying to put pressure on them to release it as soon as possible because the zeitgeist is really good right now, with the movie starting to get a lot of play and the award. And, also, it's been five years. I don't want to wait another two months after that."
IGF nomination doesn't guarantee success, says Solipskier dev
Michael Boxleiter may not be a familiar name, but you've most likely played Solipskier -- at least we hope you have. Boxleiter was one of ten indie developers talking during The Indie Soapbox Session at GDC 2012, a freeform, large-group therapy session for indies to talk about what's on their mind.Boxleiter vented on the Independent Games Festival -- getting into the IGF isn't indicative of becoming a successful developer, he warned. "I believed this myth of IGF makes you, IGF creates the future and makes you into a superstar," he said of the time he first got into game development, years ago. "It's not important -- at least, not very. It's a media junket for you." He says that hard work, putting in the hours every day and making sacrifices is what makes the best game possible."Nobody gives a shit about the IGF," he told a packed house of developers, enthusiasts and reporters alike. It wasn't a statement meant to hurt anyone's feelings, but rather curb expectations that getting into the IGF "makes you." Boxleiter would know, having been chosen for the IGF last year.Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo aren't going to suddenly take interest in your project if you get into the IGF, he said.One particular anecdote about Nintendo icon and legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto delighted the audience. Apparently, after Boxleiter's own game was nominated, he saw Miyamoto wandering the halls of GDC and approached the Nintendo legend with a pitch document. Miyamoto then promptly signed his John Hancock and walked away."The IGF should not be as big a deal as it is." While it gets you some press and it's "cool" to see the announcement, he said, in the end it's just an awards show. "It's just hard, hard work. And if you do it, you can all show that amazing thing you have inside you that you want to show to people. You're just going to have to work your ass off."
IGF 2012 Audience Award voting now open
Despite being into awards shows before they were cool, we're hoping you're not above voting for this year's Independent Game Festival "Audience Award." Voting has just kicked off for 2012's entrants, which comprise all finalist games across all IGF 2012 categories (yes, the list once again includes Fez).Should you choose to cast your favor towards any particular game, you'll want to head to this particularly yellow form and fill things out before February 19. Once you've done as much, we're told a verification email will come through to make sure you're not an evil robot. If you are, in fact, not an evil robot, things should go swimmingly.
Cliff Bleszinski to host GDC Awards, Schatz returns for IGF Awards
Planning to attend GDC? If you are, you'll get to see everyone's favorite design director of Epic Games, Cliff Bleszinski, host the 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, replacing Double Fine's Tim Schafer as host. The Independent Games Festival Awards is kicking it old-school with 2007-2009's host, Andy Schatz of Monaco, winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Excellence in Design awards in 2010's IGF. Peruse the list of finalists for both award shows right here, and look for winners to be announced March 7 from GDC.
Competing in the indie world is fun and games for IGF entrant Zarzecki
Matthias Zarzecki was waiting anxiously for the IGF Student Showcase finalists to be announced on Sunday, Jan. 15, where his game, Unstoppaball, was an entrant. He had steeled himself to endure the five days between finalist announcements for the main competition and the student one by programming new games relentlessly; indie-developer therapy, he described it. And then the Student Showcase finalists were announced on Friday, Jan. 13. Unstoppaball wasn't on the list, and Zarzecki could have let that pent-up anxiety and excitement explode in a livid email to the IGF for reporting incorrect announcement dates, or in a furious YouTube video calling on all developers to boycott the IGF -- but Zarzecki chose a different response. "My reaction was something of a 'huh, those games are really good,'" Zarzecki told Joystiq. He was a one-man team and had absolutely no budget, so Zarzecki could see how, out of the 300 games submitted to the IGF student competition, he may have been out-performed. "In that way it is a little disappointing to see that I was probably beaten through factors that were outside my influence," he said.
IGF finalists Smash a Frozen Fez To the Moon (from a cave)
The 14th annual Independent Game Festival finalists have been announced, and this year's finalists are indie-licious (yum). Titles include pop-indie hits Fez, Frozen Synapse, Spelunky and Atom Zombie Smasher, as well as some of our own understated favorites, such as Freebird Games' To the Moon. The winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize receives $30,000, the winner of the Nuovo Award for "abstract, shortform and unconventional game development" gets $5,000, and all other category winners receive $3,000. The awards will take place March 7 at GDC. Check out the entire list of finalists right here:
IGF 2012 entrants have a crack at winning the first ever 'XBLA Prize'
Independent Games Festival entrants aren't just charming, attractive, and creative -- they're also potential XBLA developers. At least they are now, after today's announcement of the first "XBLA Prize" by Microsoft and Game Developers Conference administrators UBM, which gives IGF entrants a crack at being fast-tracked on Xbox Live Arcade for publishing by Microsoft. According to the prize sponsors, a "standalone jury of independent game creators" will apparently collaborate with Microsoft to "identify a shortlist" -- a list which will then be considered for the XBLA prize. If the winner so chooses, his/her project will then be offered funding for development across Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7, and Windows, as well as given the opportunity to employ Microsoft's bevy of testing, marketing, and usability support. Alongside today's prize announcement, Microsoft head of first-party publishing Ted Woolsey also revealed that Microsoft invests upward of $20 million annually on XBLA titles, and offered support for the multi-year partnership with the IGF. "The independent development scene wouldn't be nearly as robust as it is today without the exposure provided by the IGF. We look forward to working with the IGF and having a window into to the huge array of independent games that are submitted every year so that we can continue to find the best games to share with our customers."
IGF chair continues campaign against game cloning
Independent Games Festival chairman Brandon Boyer is quite unhappy with Gamenaut's iOS title Ninja Fishing, a game that's more than "inspired" by indie studio Vlambeer's Flash game Radical Fishing. Vlambeer was secretly in the process of porting the game to iOS when the studio was blindsided by the clone. "I have a chart I'm almost done with. This is not inspiration," Boyer told us at GDC Europe today when he brought up the dilemma. "The things [Radical Fishing] doesn't have is ... Fruit Ninja. Radical Fishing didn't have Fruit Ninja. [Ninja Fishing] has everything else, except they added Fruit Ninja to one of the parts." Boyer continued, "The progress, the structure, the power-ups. The mechanics, the three-part design. It's just Radical Fishing. I think most people in the indie circle haven't played Ninja Fishing, which is good, but I think because of that they don't quite understand how blatant it was. Once you lay it out side by side [a project that Boyer will publish soon on an excel sheet he showed us], it's like 'Oh yeah, they just 100 percent ripped that off.'" When asked what the difference is between "inspiration" and theft, Boyer said, "It's like the thing about pornography, you know it when you see it." If this type of blatant cloning sounds familiar, it's because it is. In February, the story of The Blocks Cometh theft made the rounds. Indies being ripped off by indies isn't the only type of iOS cloning going on, either. It can also happen with major publishers, as was the case with Capcom's MaXplosion, a blatant clone of Twisted Pixel's high-profile 'Splosion Man. [Image credit: Official GDC]
Independent Games Festival 2012 accepting submissions
Independent game makers: did you know there's, like, a whole festival for you? The Independent Games Festival isn't the "funnel cakes" type of festival, but rather the "widespread recognition and cash prizes" kind of festival. If you'd like to participate in the annual pageantry, the IGF's organizers are now accepting submissions. If you're a student, the deadline for you to submit your world-changing (or just cute!) indie game is October 31; the deadline for the main competition is October 17. Chances are, you'll like the changes being implemented this year. According to a letter posted by IGF chair Brandon Boyer, the judge and jury system, which includes "our 150-200 judges recommending games in certain categories, and discipline-specific juries of 8-10 subject matter experts assigned to each award," will be returning from last year. But the prizes for award winners chosen by those juries have changed. They're bigger. If you win the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, you'll receive $30,000, with which you could certainly fund the development of a small game, or get part of the way through the title screen of the AAA shooter you've suddenly decided to make.
Seen@GDC: The Winnitron 1000, featuring Super Crate Box
You've never played IGF Pavillion game Super Crate Box? Well then, let's fix that right now (it's free!). Unfortunately, if you weren't at GDC -- or aren't a resident of Winnipeg, Canada -- it's going to be a bit difficult to check out the game's two player co-op mode, housed inside of the wonderful and mysterious Winnitron 1000.
Live from the IGF/GDC Awards 2011
We're here, live from the IGF slash GDC Awards, and things are just getting underway. We promise laughs, tears, and maybe even some expletives. Join us after the break. Unless you're scared.
IGF 2011 audience voting now open
Voting for the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Audience Award (i.e. the Popularity Contest Award) is now open to the masses ... who will likely end up picking Minecraft, we surmise, based on our own comprehension of basic math. Hopefully, those other indies have good marketing and PR departments ... what? Unlike previous years, the IGF Audience Award is available to any game chosen as a finalist, not just the ones with public PC demos. The reasoning, noted by IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer, is that many of the games have been available at other events, or have beta and other versions that fans may have checked out. Voting will be open until midnight (Pacific) on Friday, February 18. At a minimum, for the sake of humoring some idea of competition, please try the other "available" game demos before just voting for Minecraft.
IGF announces 2011 Student Showcase winners
The 2011 Independent Games Festival has named the winners of this year's Student Showcase. Created by student teams all over the world, each of the eight titles will be featured and playable at the 2011 Game Developers Conference next month. The games also serve as finalists for Best Student Game at the IGF awards, which will be presented on March 2. The finalists cover a wide swath of styles and gameplay concepts, from ambient shooters to Myst-like adventures. And then there's the one about an octopus trying to make it in human society. See the list of nominees, with links to their IGF pages, after the break.
Nidhogg, Hazard, and more nominated for IGF Nuovo Award
The Independent Games Festival has announced the nominees for the 2011 Nuovo Award, a special category within the IGF for "abstract, short-form, and unconventional game development." In other words, weird art games! "I think what we've decided now is that even more light needs to be shed on this particular sub-section of the ever-growing sub-section that indie games already occupy in the wider gaming sphere," IGF chair Brandon Boyer told Joystiq, "the bit where developers are truly pushing at the edges and limits of what games can and probably should grow to encompass, whether that's videogames that move off the screen and into the playspace of the participants themselves, or games that tackle documentary, more personal and otherwise autobiographical subjects, or games that simply tonally run counterintuitive to the kinds of emotions games usually elicit." The eight nominees include the following: Monobanda's Bohm, a game in which you control the life of a tree. A House in California by Cardboard Computer, a "surreal" adventure game about four characters exploring a house. Nidhogg, Messhof's two-player, side-scrolling versus fencing game. Dinner Date by Stout Games, in which you listen in on Julian Luxemburg's thoughts as you follow him through the agonizing wait for his date to show. Loop Raccord by UFO on Tape creator Nicolai Troshinsky, a game based on video editing -- you have to create "continuous movement" by stringing together clips from archive.org. The Cat and the Coup by Peter Brinson and Kurosh VaiaNejad, a "documentary game" from the perspective of former Iranian Prime Minister Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh's ... cat. Copenhagen Game Collective's Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now, a one-button game for up to eight players, with rules that players must enforce themselves (or choose not to). Hazard: The Journey of Life by Demruth, an abstract first-person puzzle game in which the world is constantly changing.
Independent Games Festival expanding focus to include handheld titles
As the Independent Games Festival enters its thirteenth year, chairman Brandon Boyer has announced a couple of significant changes to the awards format. This year, handheld games -- including those for DS, PSP and iPhone -- will be included in the main judging and be up for the same awards as non-portable titles. A new "Best Mobile Game" category is also being added to the IGF Awards suite; the separate IGF Mobile Awards of years past has, effectively, been rolled into the main ceremony. The next IGF Awards event is scheduled for March 2, 2011. Additionally, the field for the IGF Nuovo Award, which is given to more "abstract" entries, is being widened from five to eight titles. Finally, judging will be overhauled: 170 IGF member judges will evaluate the initial entries, recommending them for specific categories, which will then be judged by smaller, more specialized panels to determine a winner for each award. The Independent Games Festival runs from February 28 through March 4, 2011, during GDC 2011 in San Francisco. Submissions are now being accepted.
Hands-on: Limbo
Very few games manage to instill a pure kind of terror such as Limbo, an aptly-titled puzzle-platformer in development for the past four years. Winner of multiple IGF awards, Limbo is a beautiful and haunting journey, one that must be experienced to be understood -- and thankfully, you'll be able to experience it on Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Like Braid and Shadow Complex before it, Limbo is likely to become the headlining downloadable game of the year. To describe Limbo in great detail would be a huge disservice to gamers. What makes Limbo so mesmerizing is its mysterious quality: the game simply begins, and continues. The abstract narrative is told simply through the journey; don't expect long Jonathan Blow-esque prose throughout. Presented in black and white and silence, Limbo's simplistic style carries a foreboding atmosphere unlike any other game. It's gorgeous, with detailed animations giving life to every object in the world. Were it not for its interactivity, one might be hard pressed not to think it's a painting. Limbo offers players little direction, nor does it need to. A GUI would ruin the simple beauty of developer Playdead's project. The controls will be immediately familiar to most gamers: A to jump and X to grab. It may seem a bit too simplistic, but Limbo offers some rather unique puzzles that take advantage of the environment in unusual and unexpected ways. Timing and precision is a necessity -- as is repetition, with death an unavoidable part of the gameplay. Traps, enemies, and pitfalls will make this a perilous journey, and the graphic depictions of death will keep you uncomfortable and on edge for hours. It was hard to resist the urge to continue playing through the entire adventure. While I found myself stuck at a few devilish puzzles, I never found myself too frustrated to go on. Limbo is a gorgeous game that explores emotions so rarely found in games: not just terror, but a distinct sense of helplessness and longing.%Gallery-88180%
Joystiq live at the IGF/GDC Awards 2010
Update: Uncharted 2 wins big (again) at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and Pocketwatch Games' Monaco takes home the IGF Awards' Seumas McNally Prize. A complete list of winners is posted after the break, followed by our liveblog coverage.
Joe Danger stirs up trouble on PSN, doesn't rule out other platforms
Click image to make a smooth landing into our gallery IGF-nominated indie start-up Hello Games just dished out a press release stating its upcoming title, Joe Danger, is headed to PSN. Of course, we thought it would, but it's just nice to finally have that official confirmation, you know? You really can't put a price on piece of mind. You also can't put a price on this game -- at least, for right now. Joe Danger will be available for download this spring, initially exclusive to PSN as part of Pub Fund. But, that "doesn't mean we won't ever come to any other platforms," a Hello Games spokesperson told Joystiq. The rep also added that "coming to console is really hard sometimes and until recently it looked like Joe Danger might never get a console release. Since we announced, and especially since the IGF, a whole bunch of people have helped us and Sony was definitely one of them." %Gallery-87485%
Limbo coming to XBLA this summer
We can't help but notice you checking out that Limbo screenshot above, and who can blame you? The IGF-nominated puzzle platformer isn't just a real head-turner, it's got brains to match. Even better, developer Playdead tells us you'll be able to help its young protagonist look for his sister on the edge of Hell when it hits XBLA this summer. Here's the crazy thing though: You two have already met. No, really, it's true, way back in 2006, when Limbo was little more than a design doc and a teaser trailer. Kinda makes you feel a little creepy for ogling it, huh? Don't worry, your secret's safe with us.
2010 IGF Student Showcase winners announced
Are you ever curious about what the future of video gaming is going to look like? Perhaps you envision a world where young people control the actions of prison inmates remotely, as they compete in a gruesome deathmatch? Or maybe it's world where games that are played with the hands are curtly dismissed as "baby toys." However, for a glimpse at the more immediate future of our industry, we need not look further than the IGF Student Showcase -- a round-up of the neatest titles being developed by the big industry names of tomorrow ... today! The IGF committee recently announced the winners of the 2010 Student Showcase, highlighting ten games independently developed by the bright minds currently attending some form of educational institute across the globe. These games will go on to compete in the Best Student Game category of the IGF Awards on March 11 -- an award which nets the winner a cool $2,500. Check out the full list of finalists -- some of which are totally free and available to download now -- right after the jump.
