GAMBIT’s Phorm at E3!

For those of you lucky to be running around at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this week, keep an eye open for our summer 2008 prototype game Phorm, which is being featured in the IndieCade Independent Games Showcase! Posted below is the official press release from IndieCade.

IndieCade @ E3: An Indie Games Showcase

What is the IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games?

IndieCade is the only stand-alone Independent Game Festival in the Nation. It is also the only event of its type open to the public. It is a completely international event.
IndieCade holds an annual juried competition that culminates in its annual Festival.
The 2009 Festival will be held in Culver City, California, October 1- 4, 2009.
The festival will include an interactive exhibition of finalist games, premiere screenings, live gameplay, a conference, salons, workshops, artist talks, performances, and more.
The IndieCade 2009 Festival is programmed to serve the gamemaking community, the industry, consumers of independent media, digitally energized youth, and the general public. Culver City is located between Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Downtown Los Angeles.

What are the IndieCade Showcase Events?

IndieCade holds multiple showcase events at larger venues throughout the year including its IndieCade Europe event. These are either individually juried or curated depending upon the requirements of the venue.
The 2009 series of showcase events include:

IndieCade@E3, June 2-4
IndieCade@SIGGRAPH Sandbox, August 3-7
IndieCade@OIAF Canada, October 14-18
IndieCade Europe @ GameCity, October 26-31

What is IndieCade’s Mission?

IndieCade supports independent game development and organizes a series of international festivals and showcase exhibitions for the future of independent games. It encourages, publicizes, and cultivates innovation and artistry in interactive media, helping to create a public perception of games as rich, diverse, artistic, and culturally significant. IndieCade’s events and related production and publication programs are designed to bring visibility to and facilitate the production of new works within the emerging independent game movement. Like the independent developer community itself, IndieCade’s focus is global; it includes producers in Asia, Europe, Australia, and wherever independent games are made and played. IndieCade was formed by Creative Media Collaborative, an alliance of industry producers and leaders founded in 2005. Advisors to IndieCade include Dave Perry, Will Wright, Eric Zimmerman, Neil Young, Tracy Fullerton, and Keita Takahashi, among many other storied industry veterans and rebels.

What do we mean by independent?

Simply put, independent games are games that come from the heart, that follow a creative vision, rather than a marketing bottom line. Independent developers are not owned by or beholden to a large publisher. This means that they generally have smaller budgets than mainstream games (often no budget at all!), but they also have the freedom to innovate and to enlarge our conception of games and game audiences. Indie developers can run the gamut from artists, to academic researchers, to students, to emerging development studios striving to make the next big indie hit. They can be one person or a large team. They may be internally funded, funded by grants or private investors, or not funded at all! The key is that they create games based on their own unique vision.

What is IndieCade doing at E3?

We were invited to curate this exhibition in order to showcase and promote innovation in the game industry. We also help to expose publishers to new independent voices. We work closely with the ESA, the IGDA and other organizations interested in supporting the cause of independent game creation. We share the goal of these organizations to showcase the present and future of video games as a culturally significant form of expression.

How were the games for the E3 Independent Games Showcase Selected?

The showcase was curated by IndieCade co-chairs Celia Pearce and Sam Roberts and Creative Media Collaborative CEO Stephanie Barish. The games were primarily drawn from the 2009 Submissions to IndieCade and we included a few successful games from last year’s selection that are otherwise not possible to see. The criteria for this showcase was to put together a diverse array of games that would showcase innovation for the mainstream game industry and game press, represent a wide array of independent game developers, and highlight works to come later this year.

Who are the developers?

The developers represented here include individuals, small teams, independently owned studios, universities and their faculty and students. Developers come from around the world including the US, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Great Britain and others.

Are any of these games slated for mainstream publication?

Last year a number of games shown by IndieCade were picked up by major publishers such as Nintendo, Xbox, and Sony, as well as multiple digital distribution platforms. Other games were selected for Museum installations and other artistic venues. So, don’t be surprised to see some of the titles at our showcases and festival as commercial games in next year’s E3.

IndieCade @ E3: An Indie Games Showcase

Hands-On Demos

And Yet It Moves*
And Yet It Moves Team
*(2007/2008 Official IndieCade Selection, Coming to Nintendo Wii Soon!)
Blueberry Garden*
Erik Svedäng/Sweden
*(2008 Official IndieCade Selection, 2009 IGF Awardee)
Closure
Tyler Glaiel & Jon Schubbe/United States
Cogs
Lazy 8 Studios/United States
Dear Esther
thechineseroom/United Kingdom
Flywrench* & Cowboyana
Messhof, Mark Essen/United States
*(2008 Official IndieCade Selection, Currently on display at New Museum, New York)
Global Conflicts: Latin America
Serious Games Initiative/Denmark
Octopounce
Auntie Pixelante/United States
Papermint
Avaloop/Austria
Snapshot
RetroAffect/United States
Winds of Orbis: An Active-Adventure
Deep End Interactive/United States
Zephyr: Tides of War
Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy/United States

Alternate Reality, Live Games, and Installations

The Deep Sleep Initiative
ARx/United States
Mightier
Lucas Pope & Keiko Ishizaka/United States
Pluff
Diana Hughes/United States
Prototype161: Agents Wanted
Prototype 161/United States

Mobile

AquariYum!
Teatime Games/United States
Bobobua
Tripod Games/China
Guru Meditation
Ian Bogost/United States
Ruben & Lullaby
Erik Loyer/United States

Games on Video

Fabulous/Fabuleux
Lynn Hughes & Heather Kelley/Canada
Gray
Mike Boxleiter & Greg Wohlwend/USA
Posemania
Anthony Whitehead, Hannah Johnston, Kaitlyn Fox, Nick Crampton, Joe Tuen/Canada
Phorm
Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab/United States & Singapore
When The Bomb Goes Off
Tom Sennett/United States

Art Exhibition

For this year’s E3, IndieCade selected games from past years to present high-resolution prints of screenshots. Below is a list of art on display and the artwork being showcased.
Braid*
Jon Blow & David Helman/United States
*(2007 IndieCade Offiial Selection, Xbox Live Arcade)
Blueberry Garden*
Erik Svedang/Sweden
*(2008 IndieCade Official Selection, 2009 IGF Awardee)
The Endless Forest – ABIOGENESIS
Tale of Tales/Belgium
Freedom Fighter ’56
Lauer Learning/United States
ioq3aPaint
Julian Oliver*/Spain
*(2008 IndieCade Awardee, Technical Innovation)
Machinarium*
Amanita Design/Czech Republic
(2008 IndieCade Awardee, Aesthetics, 2009 IGF Design Awardee)
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom*
The Odd Gentlemen/United States
(2008 IndieCade Awardee, World/Story, Distribution to be announced Shortly)
The Night Journey*
Bill Viola Studio and USC/United States
*(2008 IndieCade Awardee, Sublime)
Nobi Nobi Boy Collage
Keita Takahashi*/Japan
*(IndieCade Board of Advisors)
Passage*
Jason Rohrer/United States
*(2008 IndieCade Awardee, Jury Selection)
Rooms*
Hand Made Games/Korea
*(2007 Official Selection, Available on Big Fish Games)
Ruckenblende*
Die Gute Fabrik (the good factory)/Denmark
*(2008 IndieCade Awardee, Gamemaker’s Choice)
The Unfinished Swan
Ian Dallas/United States
Where is My Heart?
Bernhard Schulenburg/Germany

Elsewhere

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