you-have-to-burn-the-rope posts

IGF Finalist Showcase: Innovation

by James Murff Jan 27th 2009 @ 1:00PM

With the IGF finalists announced, game makers only have a short while longer to find out the best of the best in indie games from last year. From the best overall game to the one with the most impressive art, there's several different categories for indie game designers to aspire to be the top of. This week we're going to take a look at a few of the games that have made it to the finals.

The most sought after quality of a game in the here and now is not how pretty it looks, how realistic the sound is, or even how fun it is. What matters most in a sea of look-a-likes is the all-important trait of innovation. An innovative game can get much more mileage than your average fun-but-simple experience, as people will talk about it even if it does not offer anything new in the realm of game4play or entertainment. Sometimes being made to think is a refreshing change of pace, after all. So here's five of the most innovative entries in the IGF competition.

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Filed under: Features, Indie

Indie Showcase: Dec 16th

by James Murff Dec 16th 2008 @ 3:00PM

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.

It's been a hotly contested point of debate as to whether games are actually art. Some say it is, others say it isn't, and some say "who cares?" One look at these browser games, though, and you'll realize that games-as-art is not something that can be so easily defined. A sense of longing, commentary on the modern world, or a simple experimental control scheme is all it takes to push a game from being generic to artistic. So give these games a whirl and find out that art is more than definition.

Continue reading Indie Showcase: Dec 16th

Filed under: Features, Browser, Indie