competition posts

increpare is known for his strange, boundary-pushing games, and his entry into TIGsource's A Game By Its Cover competition is no exception. He's a prolific developer and popular developer as well, even though we've only talked about two of his games (Kristallnacht and Mirror Stage). Whale of Noise is nothing new from him, but displays the characteristic strangeness that permeates all of his work.

Whale of Noise follows a whale tenuously made of vibrating pixels. The whale can sing a song to separate itself into two distinct halves to get past obstacles, with each song corresponding to a number key. The game is extremely short, but oddly affecting. As you near the surface, the game begins to get more colorful. The music and sounds are ambient and moody, which fit perfectly with the game itself. It's only about 5 minutes long, but it's definitely an interesting game.

The Indie Game Challenge from last year has turned into an annual event. Sponsored by SMU, Gamestop, and AIAS, it is now accepting entries to be judged in the 2011 competition. Much like last year, the competition is split into two parts: professional and non-professional, with grand prize winners from both categories getting a whopping $100,000. If a person or team wins, they get to travel to vegas and pitch their game ideas to a bunch of publishing execs.

Last year's winners include the flying action game Altitude, student puzzle-platforming game Gears, and sliding-puzzle game Cogs. Strangely enough, in all of the categories (2 grand prize, 3 lesser prizes), these were the only three games to win anything. Maybe it was due to a lack of alternative entries? Either way, those seeking to submit their game can do so now. You can read all the rules on the official website.

Welcome to the Indie Showcase, a semi-regular column on Big Download that takes a look at games we haven't covered on the site that we really think you should play.

Yet another competition at TIGSource has finished, and yet another batch of great little indie games have been released on an unsuspecting populace. This particular competition revolved around H.P. Lovecraft's Commonplace Book (Or CPB), a diary of his random story idea scribblings, many of which made no sense at all. Started in mid-October, the competition wrapped up at the end of November, and voting will soon begin to find the best among all the entries. The games made range from serious to hilarious, and all entertain greatly. Here's a pick of the best we've found.