competitions posts

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.

There's a wide array of platforms to launch your awesome web games, from a simple Java applet to the animation-based Flash. There's a new contender on the scene with Unity, though, and the output by some truly creative people has managed to push it forward as a great platform for independent developers. This is the platform that Flashbang Studios is using for their games such as Jetpack Brontosaurus, Off-Road Velociraptor Safari, and Minotaur China Shop, and their support behind it and role in teaching new developers about it has brought Unity forward more and more as a good platform for web developers.

The developers behind the Unity platform recently hosted a competition for games made using the Unity platform. Among the list of participants are familiar faces such as the aforementioned efforts from Flashbang Studios, but there were some other efforts there that really amazed. Some were web-based, others were downloadable, but they were all incredible games that caught the eye and intrigued the brain. Here's some of the best that can be found, and the list of games in the competition can be found on the official Unity forums.

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

It's a phenomenon normally only seen in amateur communities, among people that do not have the drudgery of a nine-to-five job in their field. The freelancers and visionaries, the next great creators of the future. From writing, to art, to movie-making, competitions are not so much the realm of professional-level creation but rather for those that can crank out a prototype, an early draft, or a short movie in a single weekend. For these competitions, none seems to be as interesting as those created by the independent game development company.

In case you have lived under a rock for the past few months, you have probably heard our ranting and raving on the TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition. We talked about the games and even inaugurated a new regular feature with the competition. Now TIGSource's next competition has started. Called Bootleg Demakes, it's a competition to take a modern game and "demake" it, AKA reduce to to a previous generation of game. Things like taking Oblivion and making it for the Sega Genesis. This term encompasses both gameplay and graphics. A bootleg means an unofficial remake of the game. Think a cheap Chinese knockoff of the latest American or Japanese game. All in all, it looks interesting, and some of the concepts shown look to be cool, especially the Mirror's Edge demake (pictured above).

One of the funniest gaming sites around would definitely have to be Eegra. With excellent parodies and a riotous (although definitely NSFW) comic, the people over there always manage to make us laugh. A few weeks ago, we reported on Eegra's First Annual Game Makin' Shindig. Well, the judging is complete and the games are now available for download! You can check out the competition page to both download the games and see who got which place. The games range from the very polished Colourblind to the promising but disappointing Chaos Wave. Look for our write-ups on each game and an Indiedaze on the competition soon!

We talked about only a measly one of the TOJam 2008 games, and that was the strange A Game About Bouncing. Now, however, we can talk about them all! Since TOJam 2008 has wrapped up, all of the excellent entries have been released to the internet at large for free. They range from experimental, to arcade, to strategy. They are all definitely worth a try for those looking for a new game to play, and some of them (such as the aforementioned A Game About Bouncing or Jonathon Mak's Flowers of Error) radiate top-notch quality. Take a look over on the TOJam 2008 site for the games, information, and downloads.

[Via IndieGames]

cactus has long been established as a complete beast of a developer. The indie developer has developed complete games in the time it takes the normal person to finish Super Mario Bros, as has done it yet again. Working on a competition where the goal is to create a functional game in 3 hours, cactus has make a quirky little arena shooter with unique mechanics called Kryzta.

Your goal is to kill other ships by luring enemies into shooting their buddies. Once an enemy dies, you can collect his little chunks for points. After a while, you can utilize a special shot as well. It's very simple, like most of his games, but very fun and easy to pick up. Pick up the download off of the competition thread!

[Via IndieGames]