As a student, some of my favourite games included using ketchup instead of pasta sauce, writing essays based on Wikipedia entries, and losing my will to live on a daily basis. I thought I was pretty big deal for getting out with a degree, but the following disgustingly talented overachievers managed to make actual, working video games. Here’s the nominees for the Best Student Game at the IGF 2018. Bastards.
IO Interloper
DANG! Games’s IO Interloper is a hacking espionage game that puts you behind the keyboard of a spy on the hunt for valuable corporate secrets. Players will hack drones, cameras and other security devices whilst sleuthing for juicy intel. If you ever wondered ‘What would Watch Dogs be like if it wasn’t designed by the actual soulless corporate robots it’s attempting to parody?”, you might want to keep your lenses on IO Interloper.
Don’t Make Love
I wrote about Don’t Make Love for New Normative last year, praising the ‘exceptionally powerful writing’ and ‘beautifully drawn’ characters. Don’t Make Love is a charming, innovative gem that makes the player reexamine conversation mechanics from a new perspective.
Penny Blue Finds a Clue
An IndieCade 2017 Official Selection winner, Penny Blue Finds a Clue is an adventure game from DigiPen Institute of Technology students. As the ‘famous tween detective’ Penny Blue, players will attempt to solve a murder in a game the creators envisioned as ‘Nancy Drew meets Grim Fandango’.
We Were Here
Created by Total Mayhem Games, We Were Here ‘tells the story of two travelers separated from each other and locked away in different parts of the mysterious ‘Castle Rock’.’ A uniquely asynchronous two-player experience, We Were Here is an innovative take on the escape room genre.
Baba is You
Also up for Design Excellence, this is Baba is You‘s second nomination of the 2018 awards. What can we say? It looks excellent. But you really don’t get the point of being a student, do you?
Guardian of the Gears
Another DigiPen project Guardian of the Gears is a ‘3D puzzle adventure game where you navigate and control an interactive environment in order to breathe life back into a decaying world.’ As with their previous game, you can download it free online.
You can check out the rest of our IGF 2018 coverage right here.
