A larger than expected group of game developers came together for the first ever Game Dev Hacker, held in the Microsoft offices in Times Square.
While the conference room was much too small for the assembled group, the games presented did not have the same problem. Ranging from platformers and shooters to MMOs and kids game, from PC to console to mobile, there was something for everyone – on every platform.
The prize: an opportunity to present their game at a larger gaming conference coming up in January. While they all look like a lot of fun, as always, there can only be one winner. Here are the players who competed. Let the games begin:
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Kitty in the Box
A simple one-touch control game for mobile devices, Kitty in the Box is exactly what its name implies: it’s all about getting the kitty into the box. Pleasantly plump kitties slide across cake floors into cardboard boxes – just don’t send them sliding too hard or they’ll go off the edge. The game is aimed at girls and kids and is far more adorable than it has any right being.
The freemium game is currently expanding. Right now it’s simple and addictive, with a singular game mode, but there are a few plans in the pipeline, including a multiplayer mode that requires a small hop and more cats to slide into boxes.
Seeking to trade on its adorable protagonists, they are also preparing to release a line of plushies – plush stuffed animals, for people to buy.
Guns of Icarus
Probably the most ambitious of the games presented, Guns of Icarus is a PVP (player vs player) oriented MMO (massively multiplayer online game). In classic steam punk style, which seems to be tragically underused in modern times, you fly about in airships, fighting over resources. There’s no landing. There’s no fighting on the ground. It’s all-high-in-the-sky, pirate style action. Shoot at your opponents with huge guns and hopefully blow them out of the sky before they do the same to you.
The game has been going on for a while, and seems to have built a fairly decent player base, but the reason this game was presented was its new game mode: Co-OP. It was once only a game where you would team up with your friends to fight other players. Now there is a mode for those who aren’t into competitive action. After seeing how the community they had built plays, the developers have taken those lessons and applied it to the AI of the computer and hope to deliver a similar experience, only with less stress for those who aren’t into PVP.
Amerikids: Green Kids
Most younger readers who had computers in the mid to late nineties will probably remember the educational games of the time, which combined lessons about math, science, literature and other subjects with simple yet enticing gameplay. Since that time, the number of such games has gone down, but Amerikids seeks to step in to fill the void.
A game about saving endangered species, Amerikids seeks to blend gameplay and education. While trying to save, say the panda for example, the player will learn about them, and that knowledge becomes crucial to completing the mission.
Each animal chosen will have its own game mode and mission. The developers are also teaming up with some noted conservationist societies and other such organizations in order to not only develop the game, but it help promote it. The first mission – saving the panda – will be free, but every mission after that will have a price tag.
And the winner is…
Organic Panic
Organic Panic is a puzzle style platform that pits living vegetables – each with a unique super power – against both meat enemies and the environment itself. By using these powers, which range from control of water to control over gravity, the characters navigate through puzzles.
While each puzzle is short, each character has a large number of them. There is also a multiplayer mode in which players can pick their favorite vegetable and face off against others. Beyond that, there is a level editor – the same one the developers used to create the levels, which will allow they players to trade levels and extend their playing experience.
The game itself is on Kickstarter and has been chosen as one of the Greenlit games on Steam. In addition there will be versions of the game for each console and mobile devices at a cost of $9.99.
