Copenhagen Game Collective

Nordic Game Conference 2011

By Doug on May 23rd, 2011

Man, Nordic Game Conference 2011 was a blast! We had our hands full this year. In addition to throwing our 2nd annual Nordic Game Indie Night (NGIN) party and exhibition, we also curated the brand new Indie Track this year.

Indie Night was packed this year. The lecture hall was so crowded that we couldn’t even fit everyone! I suppose we’ll have to get a bigger room next year. Growing pains aside, it was great to see so much interest in the regional indie scene. After all, that’s really the whole point of the showcase – to call attention to all the rad things that indies are doing here in the Nordic countries.

Here are some photos of Indie Night, courtesy our friend Zo – ii:

Arcade Boat 2011

By Doug on April 29th, 2011

Together with Illutron (formerly known as Half Machine), we’re throwing a Spring party!

What: Merriment and local hand-crafted indie games
Who: Us, the Copenhagen Game Collective!
Where: Illutron, Alliancevej, Teglholmens Østkaj 43, Copenhagen (map here)
When: Saturday, May 14, 4pm till late

Why? Because the only thing better than playing videogames is playing them on a BOAT!

Facebook event page here.

Over the last year, we’ve had the opportunity to showcase our games all around Europe and North America. Now, we’d like to throw an exhibition here at home, to party with our home crowd and to show Copenhagen what we’ve been working on.

We’re teaming up with Illutron, a “collaborative interactive art studio” based on a big ol’ barge in the Copenhagen South Harbor at Teglholmen. Formerly known as “Half Machine,” Illutron throws some of the best exhibitions and parties in Copenhagen. We’re very excited to join forces!

Don’t worry, the ship is anchored by shore, so you’re free to come and go whenever you like. Yes, it’s all the way down in Sydhavn, but it will certainly be worth the bike/train ride. Get directions here.

We’ll be showing B.U.T.T.O.N., Where Is My Heart, Johann Sebastian Joust!, Monkey See Monkey Mime, and more. As far as I’m aware, this will be the very first public demo of the soon-to-be-finished Where Is My Heart build. Awesome!

And who knows, we might even bust out some crazy folk games!

Make sure to bring cash if you want to buy beer. Or feel free to bring your own booze. Weather permitting, we may also set up some grills, so feel free to bring your own grillables/dinner too.

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NGIN 2011!

By Doug on April 28th, 2011

Here are the full details for this year’s Nordic Game Indie Night (NGIN):

Who: Indies from around the Nordic region!
What: Developer talks, showcase of games, and party!
When: Tuesday evening, May 10
Where: Luftkastellet i Slagthuset, Malmö, Sweden

Doors open at 19:00h
Developer talks, 19:30h-21:30h
Party and exhibition at 21:30h

Music by Nifflas, Digital Nature, and Nils Deneken
VJs: Oppe Om Natten

And it’s all free and open to the public!

Read more about the event here, and about the eight finalists here.

Spread the word. We hope to see you there!

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NGIN ’11 Finalists

By Doug on April 18th, 2011

Our jury has been busy looking at and playing Nordic indie games, and now we’re finally ready to announce our final lineup for this year’s Nordic Game Indie Night showcase. Without further ado, here are the finalists:

1916 – Der unbekannte Krieg, by Kriegsgraben und Stormvogel [Denmark]
Cobalt, by Oxeye Game Studio [Sweden]
Jesus vs Dinosaurs, by Martin Jonasson and Petri Purho [Sweden & Finland]
Mobiloid, by Monty Games [Denmark]
Nimbus, by Noumenon Games [Sweden]
Paul & Percy, by Mads Peter Vedsten Larsen, Klaus Kabel Kritensen, and Magnus Poppel [Denmark]
Spirits, by Spaces of Play [Sweden]
Vikings on Trampolines, by D-Pad Studio [Norway]

We received about 65 submissions, so competition was tough! There are so many games that we’re eager to share that this year we decided to expand this showcase to eight games (last year we showed six games). Additionally, one of these eight games will be selected for this year’s “Indie Sensation” award at the Nordic Game Award ceremony on May 11. Exciting!

Four of the games have not yet been released, so there will be lots to see and play this year! Nordic Indie Game Night 2011, a part of the Nordic Game Conference, takes place Tuesday evening, May 10, at Slagthuset in Malmö, Sweden. The showcase/party is free and open to the public. More details very soon, watch this blog and/or our Twitter feed for updates.

Our jury consisted of nine members of the Copenhagen Game Collective, and was chaired by Lau Korsgaard, Lawrence Johnson, and Douglas Wilson. Below, we’ve provided a brief statement about our selection process and the eight game selections.

More than anything, our jury was looking for games that had a certain indie “soul” to them. This “soul” is difficult to articulate. It lies somewhere in between the elements of gameplay, narrative, graphics, and sound, and is ultimately a product of how all these elements are combined into a unified whole. In some cases, we chose games that became a big hit around the office – games that we found ourselves returning to again and again. In other cases, we chose more unpolished prototypes that demonstrated a clear and promising vision. Some of the finalist games are quite small, while others are more ambitious in scope. More than anything, the games that ended up catching our attention were the ones that have a certain edge to them – a unique and personal style. We hope you’ll agree!

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Nordic Game Indie Track!

By Doug on April 13th, 2011

Ricky Haggett and a certain keynote speaker, playing Monkey See, Monkey Mime at our Killscreen vs Scandinavia party. Boy, our guests have to put up with all kinds of absurdity! (Photo by Elliot Trinidad)

We’re still busy making the final selections for our Nordic Game Indie Night showcase. We’re hoping to announce the final lineup this Friday evening – stay tuned!

Meanwhile, the full program for Nordic Game Conference 2011 was just announced today. This year, our collective was invited to “curate” a brand new Indie Track. Of course we were thrilled to jump at the opportunity! There is so much indie talent right here in the Nordic region, and so it’s about time that people here at “home” started recognizing that scene.

We arranged five sessions, including a four talks and one panel (moderated by yours truly). Most of the speakers are Nordic-based indies. But we also managed to rope in a few very special guests from abroad. In particular, we’re very pleased to announce that IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer (formerly of Offworld fame) will be giving a keynote. As you can imagine, we’re pretty damn excited.

One of the other track keynote speakers, by the way, is Jordan Mechner, the mind behind the original Prince of Persia. Awesome!

Below, I’ve copied the full list of Indie Track sessions. Hope to see you at the conference!

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On GIRP, Birds, and Abusive Game Design

By Doug on April 10th, 2011

Here at the office, we’ve been obsessed with GIRP, a brilliant new online game by Bennett Foddy.

And fuck! After 34 minutes of careful keyboard calisthenics, I was finally grabbing for my prize – the very last ledge – only to have the fucking bird beat me to it. Thing is, I think I might be as amused as I am frustrated.

My colleague Lau, by contrast, is quite the GIRP prodigy, and can beat the game in ~20 minutes. Geez, I have my work cut out for me.

Despite my epic defeat, GIRP has quickly become one of my all-time favorite web games. And until something better comes along, it’s my pick for Game of 2011. I love how the visceral physics of the death-defying climb are closely paralleled by my own struggle to keep my sweaty fingers on the keyboard. As Foddy himself observes, “You have to grip the keyboard just like you would cling to the cliff.”

Many of us have experienced the so-called Tetris effect, where thoughts of the game start pervading our thoughts and dreams, as if our brain was still running the game. Well, no joke, I’ve started to experience the “GIRP effect” – when I close my eyes, I start thinking about and feeling the physics of swinging from ledge to ledge. My brain just can’t put the game down.

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Brutally Unfair Knytt

By Doug on March 21st, 2011

To celebrate the PC release of B.U.T.T.O.N., we got together with our friend Nifflas for another silly collaboration!

We’ve prepared a very special B.U.T.T.O.N.-themed mod of Nifflas’ famous indie platformer, Knytt. Check out the mod here.

The official title is “Brutally Unfair Knytt,” but you can also call it “K.N.Y.T.T.” (Knytt Needs Your Tricky Tactics).

The mod features loads of new stuff: new item locations, a modified map, new backgrounds, B.U.T.T.O.N. characters, absurd B.U.T.T.O.N. content, a new ending, and lots of other secret goodies. Um, and there’s even an “Adult Mode” – yes, seriously. We promise that it actually has an effect on the game world. Those more perceptive of you may be able to figure it out

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B.U.T.T.O.N. is out for PC!

By Doug on March 21st, 2011

In case you missed during all the GDC madness: our silly party game B.U.T.T.O.N. is now out for PC! For a mere $3. Grab it now!

There are two places you can get the PC version:

1) The game is available on Steam, here. The Steam version features a bunch of zany/satirical achievements! Already, 1.1% of our players have unlocked the “Awkward Christmas” achievement. But wait, the game has only been out since late February… cheaters!

2) We’re also selling the game off our own website, here. Our website version, unlike the Steam version, features “Naughty Mode” (adult content!). What does that “naughtiness” entail, you ask? Naughty Mode introduces commands such as:

“Put on an article of clothing belonging to another player”
“All losers this round have to strip an article of clothing”
“All players who have ‘done it’ in public, kneel down”

Both versions feature a ton of new commands, and even some new music from Nifflas!

We’re also selling Nifflas’ excellent soundtrack, for only $2, here. Here’s a taste:

Kissing Another Player (B.U.T.T.O.N.) by Nifflas

Of course, we’re also still selling the game on Xbox Live Indie, here.

Some day we’d like to offer versions in other languages, and support user-written text more generally. We’ll do what we can!

If you like the game, please help spread the word.

Happy playing everybody!

And in case you’ve never seen the game before, this is what it plays like:

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Nordic Game Indie Night 2011 – Deadline Extended

By Doug on March 9th, 2011

Just a reminder that there’s still time to submit to Nordic Game Indie Night 2011.

We’ve extended the deadline six days to Monday, March 21. See here for full info on how and what to submit.

Remember, chosen game makers get a free trip to the event (in Malmö), plus a free pass and accommodation!

In addition to Indie Night itself, we’re curating the brand new “indie track” at the conference. For starters, we’re pleased to announce that IGF chairman Brandon Boyer will be flying over from North America to give the keynote! Soon, we’ll announce the rest of the indie speaker lineup. We’re quite excited about it! Stay tuned.

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Game Reactor video interview

By Doug on February 4th, 2011

At the Nordic Game Jam this past weekend, Lau and I chatted with the friendly guys from Game Reactor. Things got a little too silly (oops, my bad). Here are the results: