I'm super grateful to the guys at Area5 for devoting a good chunk of their latest CO-OP episode to the Game Over/Continue? event. The whole episode is great (even the Squarespace commercial is worth watching), but if you want to scrub ahead to the GO/C coverage, it starts at about the 27 minute mark.
It's an entire episode focusing on indie games, starting with innovative IGF titles like Blueberry Garden and The Unfinished Swan and finishing with an extended look at the art and games of Game Over/Continue.
These guys know what they are talking about. It's not surprising that the best video coverage of the videogame scene is being created by people who understand and appreciate indies as much they do the mainstream.
I was bummed at the thought of The 1UP Show coming to an end. But since its rebirth as CO-OP, I think the show has been better than ever. Like Jason says in the episode, they are free to cover what they want instead of doing things like running around GDC trying to film trailers and other nonsense. Hmmm, freedom and time to focus on quality… It's amazing what a little bit of independence can do.
Adam
April 06, 2009
Anna Anthropy / Area5 / art / artxgame / Cactus / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / CO-OP / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Octopounce / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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Wow. The Game Over/Continue? show at GRSF last Friday was crazy and fun. A big “Thank You!” to everyone who came, all of the game makers and artists, and the whole Giant Robot crew. Hugs and thanks are also in order for Brandon Boyer, Jenn Frank and Eric and JC over at Tiny Cartridge who all did a lot to help promote the show.
I drove up to San Francisco on Wednesday, and by Thursday night I was starting to stress just a little bit. Only Anna and Saelee had finished their game, and Cactus hadn’t even started yet! Luckily that night Cactus, Derek, Hellen, Calvin and I were able to make a trip over to Deth’s studio. Cactus started coding while Deth was painting and scanning his art. A part of me thinks Cactus was procrastinating just to prove that his GDC lecture, Four Hour Game Design, was more than just talk.
When everyone arrived at the show on Friday evening with their finished games, I was really impressed my mind was blown. All of the games were original, quirky and totally fun to play.
…that is, once you were able to push your way through the crowd and play them! There were way more people at the show than any of us had expected. People from every corner of the indie game scene showed up, and it was great to finally meet a bunch of “internet friends” in real life. It was particularly inspiring talking with Jim Munroe about all of the cool projects he has going on in Toronto.
Looking back through the pictures now, I’m noticing there were a bunch of people I didn't get a chance to talk to. Oh well, too many cool people, too little time. I guess we will have to wait until next year, Messhof, Tiff and Tale of Tales duo.
The games were only available to play the opening night of the show, but all the videogame-inspired art will be at the GRSF gallery until April 15th. If you are in San Francisco, you should definitely check it out. I’ll even provide a map for all you lazy lamb chops.
Keep checking the feed for another blog entry focusing on all four games from Game Over/Continue.
Update: Well, there's really no reason for me to give you a post summarizing the games when Brandon has already done it better than I could have.
Photos via my phone and Giant Robot’s Flickr
Adam
March 31, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / artxgame / Cactus / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / Eric Nakamura / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Octopounce / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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I can't wait to see everyone at the show!
What's this artxgame thing? Could there possibly be more collaborations in the future? Interesting…
Adam
March 16, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / artxgame / Cactus / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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Brandon over at Offworld announced an exciting project today that I've been cooking up with Eric from Giant Robot.
The Game Over II show will open on March 27th at GRSF in San Francisco.
We've partnered up artists and indie game makers to create four new games that will be showcased at the event.
The Teams
If you are going to be in San Francisco for GDC, make sure to stop by! GRSF is only a few miles away.
Go check out the post at Offworld for all the details, and keep watching this blog and Giant Robot for more updates.
Also, a big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the artists and indies that are participating. I can't wait to play your games!
Adam
February 11, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / Cactus / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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