Independent Games Festival 2008

IGF 2008 Close-up

And so, our IGF round-up comes to a close. We’ve had a look at some of the best games in the line-up, to our minds anyway, but there are so many which we haven’t had a chance to look at or which we don’t have the room (the Internet is near critical mass, you see) to talk about. There are still others which look exciting, but which just aren’t in a playable state just yet.

Besides, there’s only so long that I can play games at work for before Tim asks me to where my content is.

Take Crayon Physics Deluxe for example, which is a drawing game which transforms drawings into in-game objects that players use to solve complicated physics-based (sigh) puzzles (At least it's not plumbing - Ed.).

Or Gish 2, the sequel to the fantastic platformer which casts players as a twelve-pound blob of amorphous tar which can change shape at will and behaves realistically in different environments. Sure, the gameplay is based around manipulating the physics of the world as players try to reach the end of the level – but there are hardly any physics based games around right now, right?


OK, and for the non-physics obsessed there are still a few games of note, like Global Conflicts: Palestine, a game which lets players experience the life of a journalist in a 3D recreation of Palestine as he works to build an article from the quotes he collects by listening to characters. Educational, confrontational and enlightening – this is what indie gaming is really all about.

There are plenty of non-games in the list this year too, ones which blur the general understanding of what a game is and instead seek to try something new and interesting by presenting the player with different challenges.

Human Brain Cloud, a game we’ve posted about before is the best example of this. It’s a word association non-game which just asks participants to react to words by saying the first thing they think of. It’s not got any competitive element at all and the only real gameplay comes from submitting new words and watching the cloud, which maps all words submitted to it, grow as people as new reactions.

The result is an ever-growing network of unusual words – the most common of which are ‘money’, ‘sex’ and ‘me’, which players can explore at their leisure by travelling the cloud.


However, we’ve already put the focus on what we feel are the most important and appealing games in the list, trying our best to cater for the mass audience of physics-game-lovers. There really aren’t enough physics in games nowadays.

Now go; begone. Go and play some of these fine games and consider buying them because not only are they worth it, but the indie game industry is always in need of funds and support so that important developers can rise up and be recognised. There’s always the chance that your next purchase could be the difference between an up and coming developer making the next Half-Life style blockbuster or the just another Sims expansion pack.

Though I guess you won't know which it is until the results are announced later this year...