IndieCade just released their full lineup of nominees for the festival coming up later this month. The list contains over 100 games (125 exact if we counted correctly) that range from video games to VR experiences to table top games. Whatever you're looking for in the indie community, IndieCade has something for you.
While we could list every game that's being shown here, that seems kind of silly. Instead, we'll highlight some of the one's we're most excited to see.
This game has been in development for ages. When we say ages, we mean it was already in development for over a year when we interviewed developer Steve Swink about it on indie(Radio); back in fall of 2012. The game's title pretty much sums up the concept of the game: you use a scaling gun to manipulate the scale of objects in the world around you to solve puzzles. We haven't gotten our hands on it yet, so it'll be super refreshing playing with the mechanics first hand instead of watching another mind-bending trailer.
We first heard about this last year at IndieCade during out interview with Adam "ATOMIC" Saltsman. It's amazing seeing how far the game's come along in just the last year, along with everything else the developer and his studio, Finji, founded by him and his wife, Rebekah Saltman, has going on. Scavenge resources and make moral changing decisions in this tactics game where everyone is not guaranteed a place in the world.
Darknet is a game we've seen very little of, but from the small glimpses here and there, we know it's going to be a great hit in the VR market. Made for last year's Leap Motion 3D Jam, sponsored by IndieCade, the interactive cyberpunk hacking simulator (is that the right word? We don't even know) has given its developer, E McNeill, an opportunity to push the boundaries of what game design can be when VR is added to the mix.
This is one of the games from last year that I couldn't stop talking about, and they're coming back to IndieCade for round 2. Classroom Aquatics is a VR game where you're placed in a classroom. You just transferred to the school in the middle of the school year. It's also underwater. All your classmates are dolphins. Might we add in there's a pop quiz and you have no idea what's going on. The goal of the game is to use VR to lean over and sneak answers from other dolphins, without being caught by your teacher. The ridiculousness of the game only begins the ride the game takes you on, and is the perfect length to make you want to try again to cheat better.
Butt Sniffin Pugs is a game about... wait, why do we need to explain this? There's pugs. They sniff each other's butts. It's absolutely adorable. The game was originally created for Alt.Ctrl.GDC 2015, a game jam where contestants create games using alternative control schemes. BSP uses a football (soccer ball for our US readers) that rolls around on top of some sort of sensor, which moves the pugs around. The game has no goals. You're suppose to sit down, grab a ball, and do miscellaneous things that dogs do. Like sniffin' butts.
For the full list of games, please visit indiecade.com.