Next Year's Indie Giants Today: IndieCade 2015 Winners
Keep an eye on these...
The IGF isn't the only game in town when it comes to awards for the best independent games. IndieCade, which self-describes as 'the Sundance of videogames industry', has now wrapped up its 2015 festival and recently announced its own picks o'the year. Sam Barlow's ingenious FMV detective tale Her Story [official site] scooped the Grand Jury prize, while a diverse selection of fascinating games - comprising both the digital and the physical - picked up gongs in the other categories. These are some of the PC games you're going to want to keep an eye on over the next few months.
First up there's first-person puzzle-platformer/fictional operating system emulator/internet ghost story Memory Of A Broken Dimension, which has been in the works for years and been through at least one major overhaul in that time. Hopefully its being on the festival circuit suggests a release isn't too far off - especially as it was in robust enough shape to pick up both the Visual Design and Audio Design awards. This is what it looks like:
Then you've got Donut County picking up the Story/World Design Award - quite a feat considering this 'whimsical physics toy' is almost wordless. Here 'tis:
Tribal & Error picked up the Interaction Award even though the awful pun in its name causes every person who reads it to immediately die, and concerns a time-travelling robot learning how to communicate with cavemen. This is the first time we've covered this, but a demo's available here if you want to delve deeper.
Local multiplayer 'violent stealth' game Badblood snagged the audience choice award. Team RPS hasn't tried that first-hand at yet, though we have written about it before - it looks like a hoot:
Alistair Aitcheson's Codex Bash won Media Choice Award, but though PC-powered it's one of those you're unlikely to ever play outside of the festival scene, involving as it does four wireless buttons scattered across a large installation, with players attempting to decode cryptic messages in order to halt the progress of a virus. Looks delightful - let's hope it comes to a town near you soon.
Some marvellous-sounding physical games, including tabletop RPGs and roguelikes constructed from LED mazes, picked up prizes too - you can find out more about those here. And here are some megamixed clips of the winners picking up their awards and talking a little about their games:
