The Independent Games Festival China (IGF China) announced its 2012 awards finalists, with games from DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore securing three of the six student competition nominations.
The student teams behind Blockhead, Flip’s Adventure, and Potawatomi will be competing for the Best Student Game and Excellent Student Winner awards.
Blockhead tells the story of a square-faced monster who goes on a journey to become a real boy. Players must manipulate the environment, rearranging blocks and rotating the 3D world to reach each level’s goal. Blockhead was the junior project game from Two Sheep One Wheat Productions.
“It was a really good overall experience for everyone working on the multi-disciplinary team. We had to communicate a lot in order to make sure the game concept and ideas were solid and doable,” Chang You Wong, one of the game’s programmers, said. “I am so glad that our hard work paid off, and I am glad to have worked with our team.”
Flip’s Adventure, a challenging 2D platformer set in a steam-punk world at war, puts players in the shoes of the blond-haired protagonist Flip, who is sent by the humans to infiltrate an alien robot base. Through a series of comic-style story sequences, Flip also begins to discover the truth of his own identity. The game was developed by the sophomore group Team SwitchTeam.
“I like Flip and his backstory,” Jason Wang, the game’s art lead, said. “He has steadfast determination in his quest to discover his own history; that makes him interesting as an individual.”
Potawatomi follows the journey of guardian who must retrieve the lost sacred flame he was entrusted to protect. With an innovative control scheme, players guide the guardian through a series of 3D isometric puzzles. Potawatomi was developed by junior team LAST5.
“To think that our game not only came together, but was also very close to what we had envisioned it to be, was certainly nothing short of a miracle as we had faced many obstacles,” Arron Lan, game designer and lead artist, said of Potawatomi. “All of us had our own shortcomings, yet we learned to work with one another — that, I believe, is a crucial ingredient for any game to be successful.”
IGF China honors the most creative indie game titles throughout the Pan-Pacific area and is part of the Game Developers Conference China, happening November 17-19 in Shanghai. Last year’s IGF China finalists included DigiPen games Void (Best Student Game) and Pixi (Excellent Student Winner).
To learn more about each nominated game or to download and play, visit the Blockhead, Flip’s Adventure, and Potawatomi pages.
Congratulations to each of the teams!