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So Chris surprised the hell out of me yesterday when he mentioned that there was an independent games festival going on right down the street from me in Culver City — Indiecade ’09. His friend told him about it and he told me. I was feeling kind of down that I wasn’t out raving in the streets of San Francisco this weekend, but I suppose things happen for a reason. I missed Saturday but I checked it out today.
I Wish I Were the Moon by Daniel Benmergui
I didn’t get the opportunity to see everything but the favorite thing that I played was Moon Stories by Daniel Benmergui of Argentina. This is a series a 3 games, which are more like interactive stories. I could spend a paragraph trying to explain it or you can just play the damn thing. I liked that I could just jump in an play around and that the game didn’t expect anything from me. I had fun messing around just to see what would happen. This is really how game stories need to be told more often.
I also got a chance to see Nanobots from Erin Robinson, which is a LucasArts style adventure game with pixelly visuals. I had no patience to sit down and play such a game but I’m glad Chris was interested, so I watched him play through it (with Erin over the shoulder giving hints). It’s a cleverly designed game with a good sense of humor. You can download it on her site Lively Ivy.
I thought this game ClassicNight looked amazing. Apparently the soundtrack made it even more awesome. I didn’t see enough of the game to understand what it was completely about aside from collecting light, but the visuals are fantastic. From design to effects, I really dug the style.
Another game that I didn’t play but was very interesting to me is one that I have absolutely no idea what it’s called. Haha. I think it actually won the big award too! I’m not finding it in the Indiecade program book but it’s one that had 4 monitors, side to side like a box. I didn’t pay much attention to what it was about but I seeing a buncha kids run around from display to display made me smile. They were having a blast, and really that’s what it’s all about.
Inspiring show, to say the least. Me and Chris actually went to a nearby coffee shop and put some time into our projects. Imagine that! After that we went to the after-Indicade drinking event and I briefly chatted with Greg of Intuition Games. Good stuff. And by deduction I realized I met Tyler Glaiel, who’s all over the Flash biz these days. Inspiring to see him putting out so many games!
Time to make some more games!
