Indiecade weekend is still going strong, and the winners of the 2015 Indiecade awards have been announced. Taking the trophy for the Grand Jury award was Sam Barlow’s Her Story, a nonlinear detective game in which the player searches through a police database to solve a murder.
The game requires the player to search for keywords in a database of video interviews to solve a murder mystery. Literally every word in the interviews can be searched, though typing common words like “a” or “the” will only get you a handful of results in chronological order.
Creator Sam Barlow, of Silent Hills: Shattered Memories and Aisle fame, had this to say about the game mechanics:
If you can Google, you can play Her Story. The mechanic of searching for clips in the database is so simple that anyone can pick up and play. But it’s a mechanic that quickly reveals its richness and complexity. At times it can feel like you’re engaged in a genuine dialogue with this woman and her story.
In addition to Her Story, rewards were given out for eight other categories. Notably, Memory of a Broken Dimension received two awards:
- Visual Design and Audio Design Awards: Memory of a Broken Dimension by XRA
- Game Design Award: Line Wobbler by Robin Baumgarten
- Story / World Design Award: Donut County by Ben Esposito
- Technology Award: Fabulous Beasts by Sensible Object
- Impact Award: Consentacle by Naomi Clark
- Interaction Award: Tribal & Error by Grotman
- Trailblazer Award: Brenda Laurel, VR pioneer and founder of Purple Moon games
One day remains before Indiecade’s wrap-up and closing party on Sunday evening. Over 70 games are featured at this year’s event, making it the biggest Indiecade yet.
Image source: steamcommunity.com
