The third Global Game Jam at the Cologne Game Lab just went over and it gets better each year. This time we had over 15 contributions – in total over two hours of presentation time. Also the platforms, game-concepts and realization of the games and game-prototypes really went into a mature state. I try to highlight some of the great works. Follow the links to get downloadable files! Here is a list of all submissions.

Obelisque

A 3d-exploring game. You start as a robot, that woke up in an ancient, abandoned city on an planet far away, trying to research about what happened and what this is all about. A work with a strong mood – maybe close to “notgame” as well. Check it out! (Jammers-Site).

Sequpes

A music-toy, exploring game-mechanics and the joy of making music with two players. Player A plays a little melody and player B confirm this melody, by playing the same melody after some delay – or rejects it by not playing the melody. It uses simple music-phrases in the background and pentatonic scales. A unique fun experience – worth checking out! (Jammers-Site)

Nordic Bondage Hero Vikings

A mature fun game. Two players – bound to each other – have to collect and drink as much beer as possible. If drank enough, they enter “Valhalla Action Hero”-mode. When in this mode, player must kill himself to enter Valhalla. While you are running, you are tied to a second player with a rope. You can pull the other player and help or annoy him. If you begin to glow, try to kill yourself and die as a hero before the other player becomes a hero. (Jammers-Site)

Mindloop

An experimental exploration of a new input-device. The game uses a “mind-feedback-machine” as input. The player has to change “calm” and “focus” state of minds, to progress further in the loop. Polished graphics – things to build upon. (Jammers-site)

Don’t be square aka “The revenge of the psychedelic boring boxes” aka “vice versa”

A flash-experimentation game, exploring visual effects over gameplay. Something nice to tinker into – and to get inspired! (Jammers-Site)

Sifteo Specials!

Two remarkable works put a game on a new platform, called Sifteo. The tangible objects can be programmed, to also games can be run on them. We had a snake-game (unfortunately they did not provide the game on the Global Game Jams site yet) and Krystian Majewski once again launched a homing missile to out heart by bringing the Nyan Cat to the Sifteo! Programming by @mczonk (Jammers-Site)

Recommended

Feel free to look also into this works: Giant Robot Snake, The Tale of Archy, Loopy Island, Punxatawney Adventures. You can see, lots and lots of contributions. I made also a project – not finished unfortunately. If interested, look at Internity.

The third Global Game Jam at the Cologne Game Lab just went over and it gets better each year. This time we had over 15 contributions - in total over two hours of presentation time. Also the platforms, game-concepts and realization of the games and game-prototypes really went into a mature state. I try ...

Square is a small experimental flash game made by Etienne Perin. A little variation of the “Snake-game” category. In Square you do not fight against the length of your own tail like in Snake-games, but against black blocks on the field and time constraints. A well executed and fun to play game. Just check it out.

Square is a small experimental flash game made by Etienne Perin. A little variation of the "Snake-game" category. In Square you do not fight against the length of your own tail like in Snake-games, but against black blocks on the field and time constraints. A well executed and fun to play game. Just check ...

Monday, 8th August 2011 – this is the day, the game Trauma from Krystian Majewski will be finally available in the public! I already played the game and enjoyed this unconventional gaming experience very much. And I think you will do as well.

We continue with the good news: The game Trauma is available for Win PC, Mac OS-X and Linux systems. The game is available in Steam as well (including Mac). And the game is available for only 5 Euros and with no DRM. That sounds like a fair deal!

Here is the official website traumagame.com, Twitter-Account @traumagame and a little bit of pre-release chit-chat at Krystian’s GameDesignScrapbook-blog.

PS: You can experience this game at the Notgames Festival on the 15. / 16. August 2011. In the CologneGameLab, just at the same time the GDC Europe and Gamescom is in town!

Monday, 8th August 2011 - this is the day, the game Trauma from Krystian Majewski will be finally available in the public! I already played the game and enjoyed this unconventional gaming experience very much. And I think you will do as well. We continue with the good news: The game Trauma is available ...

I just discovered the game “Smurfs Village” for iPhone and iPad, that was made by Capcom Mobile, and that is surprisingly well made. This days everywhere are the trailers for the Smurpfs movie are popping out, but I somehow dislike the way, the 3d-characters are made in the movie. Compared to the movie, this game is really close to the original Smurf-comics when it comes to the look and feel of the game. And this is really the quality.

The gameplay is really exactly like in Farmville: you create crops, harvest berries, build houses, make friends and visit other villages. There are some sublime differences and additional gameplay, for example you can mix Potions at Papa Smurf’s House or send Smurfs into the forest, to look out for the cat Azrael. This all sounds familiar, since the “additional gameplay” is 100% derived from the comic books. Even the graphics, in handdrawn-style, are more or less 1 to 1 taken from the original comic-books. But this indeed is the quality of the game: if you ever loved the Smurfs in your childhood, you will instantly love this game, because it has this strong and original vibes, the books have. Even if not, the Smurpf’s world is really unique at its own.

Although this is game from a comic or movie (that go normally wrong) I really can suggest this free to play game. If you play it through facebook, you can add me as a friend.

I just discovered the game "Smurfs Village" for iPhone and iPad, that was made by Capcom Mobile, and that is surprisingly well made. This days everywhere are the trailers for the Smurpfs movie are popping out, but I somehow dislike the way, the 3d-characters are made in the movie. Compared to the movie, this ...

Dear Esther looks like a very interesting, upcoming gaming experience. That game has an interesting story in its creation. Originally started by Dan Pinchbeck in 2007 as a mod in the context of a research-project at the University of Portsmouth the game hit some serious audience. It also won the best world/story award at the IndieCade festival in 2009. So there was clear evidence, that Dear Esther got the potential, to become a successful title on the market. And that is how the game became the 4th funded title of the Indie Fund – a collective that funds and invests in unique indie games.

Indie Fund about titles like Dear Esther: “While Indie Fund is looking for unique gems that exemplify the indie spirit, it is not a charity, and the funding partners hope that they don’t lose their investments. (…) the time is right to find out just how commercially viable such offbeat titles really are.” (quoted from Gamasutra).

Creative Indiegames like Dear Esther are fundable, because there are small teams working on the title, not teams that are like 20 or 100 members big. Original indiegames can make enough money, to refund, but do not necessarily be real million sellers. This is why this could be the right time with the right opportunities for getting big in being indie. Let’s look forward to it! (via)

Dear Esther looks like a very interesting, upcoming gaming experience. That game has an interesting story in its creation. Originally started by Dan Pinchbeck in 2007 as a mod in the context of a research-project at the University of Portsmouth the game hit some serious audience. It also won the best world/story award at ...

Just in case you missed the beta of the game FRACT: just don’t miss it. FRACT is a somehow abstract adventure game, that plays in a virtual world, reminding of TRON or something like The Sentinel, Rez or Darwinia. It is not only the look, but excellence also comes from the sound-design. Extremely well made sounds totally support the games experience. (The game was selected as one of the Independent Games Festival student showcase winners as well.)

For my opinion the riddles are a little too abstract, but walking through this designed landscape alone is worth the try. The beta is available for download the the FRACT website, is available for Mac or PC (and is about 170 Megabytes, just in case you ask). The game was made by Richard E. Flanagan, linger in his portfolio as well!! (via)

Just in case you missed the beta of the game FRACT: just don't miss it. FRACT is a somehow abstract adventure game, that plays in a virtual world, reminding of TRON or something like The Sentinel, Rez or Darwinia. It is not only the look, but excellence also comes from the sound-design. Extremely well ...

CityHero, the game that you play with your friends and your city, is finally available in the AppStore! The game is a little like a mix of Foursquare (checkin-based stuff), Monopoly (become the greatest and richest) and Sim City (build the most interesting town). One of the main goal is, to build the city with the highest value. You also play with your friends: if with them or against them – this depends on your choice! There is a global hiscore-list and a hiscore-list of your friends.

Gameplay: You basically do checkins at real places to earn virtual money: the so called coins. With that coins you can buy yourself real-places in the city, that go directly into your personal virtual portfolio: displayed as iso-view. Now every item in your city has a coin-value – calculated upon the number of actual checkins. So the price of each item in your portfolio changes every day! At the same time: if somebody checks-in at a place you own, you will earn some money automatically. So having popular places is the key, to get successful in the game.

Socialize yourself: CityHero is also a social tool. You can use CityHero, to check-in at Facebook Places, Foursquare or post your checkins to Twitter. You can browse your surroundings and get dynamic information, i.e. from Facebook. You can also use CityHero to check, if your friends are nearby. So lots of stuff to explore!

I am one of the developers and co-founders of CityHero, so there is a very good chance, that you get exclusive and news early on CityHero on this blog Digital Tools – besides the CityHero-Website, CityHero-Twitter or the CityHero-Facebook page.

Right at the moment, the app is currently available only with a German UI. That means, that you can play the game on the whole world, but the UI is in German. But we are already working on the localisation of the UI in other languages.

CityHero, the game that you play with your friends and your city, is finally available in the AppStore! The game is a little like a mix of Foursquare (checkin-based stuff), Monopoly (become the greatest and richest) and Sim City (build the most interesting town). One of the main goal is, to build the ...