indiePub Games
Dustforce! wins $100,000 and a publishing deal with Zoo Games at GDC online.
AUSTIN, TX – Oct. 8, 2010 [Austin Game Developers Conference, booth #312] – indiePub Games, a community of independent game developers and gamers, last night announced the winners of its Third Independent Game Developers' Competition at GDC Online in Austin. Selected from hundreds of original game entries, the Hitbox Team has been selected as the Grand Prize Winner for its 2D platformer, Dustforce!, and will receive $100,000 and a publishing deal with Zoo Games. Five runner-up winners in categories including Technical Excellence, Best Art, Best Audio, Best Design, and Staff Pick are also demoing their titles at GDC Austin this week in indiePub Games’ booth #312.
“We are incredibly impressed with the quality and originality of this year’s game submissions from innovative young developers and congratulate all winners of our third indiePub competition,” said Mark Seremet, CEO of Zoo Games. “To date, seven young developers have signed publishing deals for a range of platforms through indiePub. As the site was created to be a resource for talented creators to bring their games to market, we’re pleased to see these results and are excited to continue to foster growth in the development community.”
Winners of Third IndiePubGames.com Independent Development Contest
Grand Prize: Created by Hitbox Team developers Woodley Nye, Matthew Bush and Alexander Dostal in Brisbane, Australia, Dustforce! is an acrobatic sweeping 2D platform game for PC. The fast paced game offers tricky platforms, wall jumps and combos to challenge gamers. However, in an interesting twist, instead of collecting coins or shiny rings players search for dirt to clean away. According to Nye, the concept of the game grew out of a desire to do something different. Though still in an early state of development, Dustforce boasts a unique hand-drawn style impressive 2D graphics, smooth animation and high-energy game play. Technical Excellence: Set within an interactive labyrinth, Hazard: The Journey of Life is a colorful metaphor for life’s complexities. Solely created by Alexander Bruce, Hazard won ‘Best Game’ at Game Connect Asia Pacific and was recently exhibited at E3 2010 as part of the annual Best Art: The Dream Machine, created by Cockroach Inc. developers Anders Gustafsson and Erik Zaring from Denmark and Sweden, is a point-and-click adventure game. Unlike from many other games, the developers avoided all things polygonal and created the game by building environments, props and characters out of clay and cardboard. As Victor and Alicia, a couple settling in to a new apartment, gamers discover that all is not as it seems in the unassuming apartment building. Best Audio: The adventure puzzle platform game, Coma, by Thomas Brush invites gamers to step into a world of whimsy that plays with the realm of the subconscious as they join main character, Pete, on a quest to save his sister. Praised aspects of the game include engaging background soundscapes and a unique art style. Best Design: Vanessa Saint-Pierre Delacroix and Her Nightmare is a 2D platform game mapped to a 3D cube developed by Bad Pilcrow. Gamers navigate Vanessa, a young girl who must use her puzzle-solving skills to free herself from an alternate universe. Staff Pick: Catapult for Hire, by developer Tyrone Henrie of PixelMega, takes gamers back in time to a struggling medieval economy where main character Sir Knottingsforth uses his catapult to protect villagers. The game hosts wacky experiments, a village idiot, a mischievous prince and creatures such as ogres and fairies.The winners’ games can be played for free online at: http://www.indiepubgames.com/
For a photo of the Hitbox Team, Zoo Games CEO Mark Seremet and indiePub Games Manager Terence Lee please visit: http://bhimpact.gamespress.com/pics.asp?exc=0&i=1860"> http://bhimpact.gamespress.com/pics.asp?exc=0&i=1860
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About indiePub Games
indiePub Games is an online community for independent game developers, casual gamers and game enthusiasts. indiePub offers a platform for independent game developers to actively collaborate with each other on their game and gameplay concepts. Developers involved in the community have the potential to see their titles published on other platforms, including the Nintendo Wii TM and DS TM , Sony Playstation ® and Xbox ® . indiePub is also a destination for casual gamers to play and participate in the game creation process. indiePub Games is sponsored by Zoo Publishing, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zoo Games, Inc., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zoo Entertainment Inc. Please visit www.indiePubGames.com for more details.
About Zoo Entertainment
Zoo Entertainment is a developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software targeted to family-oriented mass -market consumers. With a strong network of leading national mass-market retailers, its casual and value-focused titles span categories including sports, family, racing, game-show, strategy and action-adventure, among others Zoo’s software is developed for all major consoles, handheld gaming devices, PCs, and mobile and smart-phone devices as well as the emerging ‘connected services.’ Rather than depending on a relatively limited number of “blockbuster” titles, Zoo publishes a broad stream of titles at compelling values. The Company has a library of approximately 100 games, and targets publishing approximately 50 new games in 2010.
With its innovative content creation site, indiePub Games ( www.indiepubgames.com ), Zoo Entertainment is poised to capitalize on opportunities in the emerging and high growth digital entertainment space. indiePub Games is a community of independent game developers and players. Set on fostering the independent gaming community, indiePub Games provides developers with the resources they need to make great games, and gives them an outlet to share their works with a supportive audience. Independent game developers are able to collaborate with the gaming community and ultimately compete for multi-platform publishing contracts. indiePub Games also serves as a destination site for gaming enthusiasts to play the latest in independent games and allows consumers to take an active role in helping independent developers create innovative entertainment software. For more information, please visit www.zoogamesinc.com .
Public Relations Contact
Bender/Helper Impact | Jessie Comstock | 310.694.3246 | jessie_comstock@bhimpact.com