Tomorrow; Thursday 2nd February 2012, a – to put it in their own words - unique nights out of crazy, exuberant, social and sometimes physical gameplay is happening in East London. I, of course, am talking about the Wild Rumpus. If you are in the neighborhood, please feel free to check it out, since it is free and some interesting games are being showcased there.
We’re co-throwing a big party in Hilversum, Holland next week, as a part of the DiGRA conference!
There will lots of music and games, including a live performance by legendary turntablist/illustrator Kid Koala. Awesome! And we’ll be exhibiting five of our own party games, including a public debut of two new games – Egg Party and Pillow Time.
More info here.
Our friend Adam Henriksson at the Umeå Institute of Design is writing/making a thesis project about social interaction in games. He actually flew all the way down to Copenhagen for our Arcade Boat party to shoot some footage.
This week he edited this beautiful two-minute trailer! So inspiring, we’re so honored to be a part of it. Give it a watch:
And congrats to Adam, who apparently just won a “best project” award for the thesis! Well deserved.
Earlier this month we threw a crazy party/exhibition on Illutron, an art boat in one of Copenhagen’s harbors!
We had a blast! We’ll try to upload some video soon. Meanwhile, here are some nice photos by our friend Johan:
At Nordic Game Indie Night, Lau and I also did another video interview with our friends at Gamereactor. Yup, we played the fool, yet again:
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:
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.
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:
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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| 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!
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.
