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!
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.
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:
Last month, I did a long interview with Leigh Alexander for Gamasutra. We talked about the collective, abusive game design, B.U.T.T.O.N., broken games, and more. Read it here.
Here’s an excerpt:
At its best, abusive game design can create a kind of playful meta-game — a battle of wits and willpower between designer and player. The kind of abusive game design that interests me most is “dialogic,” in that it facilitates a back-and-forth — maybe not a literal back-and-forth, but something that feels like it, as if you and the designer were “in each other’s heads,” so to speak. [...] Thus, counter-intuitively, I think abusive game design can help humanize gameplay. It confronts the conventional and reminds us that play is something deeply personal.
Nordic Game Conference, in collaboration with the Copenhagen Game Collective, is pleased to announce the 2nd annual Nordic Game Indie Night showcase. The purpose of the showcase is to call attention to talented indie developers from around the Nordic region. Last year’s showcase featured a variety of different indies, from Swedish IGF Nuovo winner Cactus to the Norway-based D-Pad Studio.
This year, the showcase will once again be curated by the Copenhagen Game Collective. This time, however, we’re making an open call for submissions. Are you an indie developer based in the Nordic region? Are you working on a game that’s innovative, special, or noteworthy in some way? Or maybe it’s just really fun? We want to see it!
To submit your game, email the Copenhagen Game Collective (submit@cphgc.org) with the following info:
Title and description of the game
Links to screenshots and/or video
Background about you or your team, including where you’re based
The submission deadline is Tuesday, March 15. Monday, March 21.
In case you missed it, we finally released B.U.T.T.O.N. for Xbox Live Indie. Woo hoo! Just in time for all the New Years Eve revelry!
Check out the game’s new website, or follow news about the game on Twitter. The Xbox Live Indie service isn’t available in all countries – or at least not in Denmark (booo!). Fret not, we’ll be releasing a PC version of the game very soon. Stay tuned.
