Indiecade 2009 Finalist

Akrasia is a single-player game that challenges game conventions and is intended to make the player think and reflect. It is based on the abstract concept of addiction, which is expressed metaphorically throughout the game.

Spoiler Warning! The game is set in a maze that represents the mind. The maze has two states – a normal and a psychedelic state. To enter the game, the player has to collect a pill-shaped object and thus enters the game as "addict". From "chasing the dragon" and the experience of dependency to working your way through "cold turkey stage" where willpower is mapped onto navigation skills, this game models the essential dimensions of the addiction gestalt as identified by its creators.

In the world of GumBeat, you take the role of a defiant teenage girl who musters up the courage to stand up against the oppressive government.

Bubble gum is outlawed across the city! Anyone spotted chewing gum is severely beaten up. But oh, how unfair it is to prevent citizens to enjoy the sweet taste of bubble gum.

In this fun and lively casual game, blow bubble gum and gather enough supporters to your cause to topple the anti-gum government. Are you up to the task?

GumBeat is a casual Flash game built with the objective of weaving the ideas of political oppression into the heart of gameplay. Commercial games intended for fun rarely deal with the topic of political oppression, but GumBeat seeks to address this topic in a simple, engaging way. By casting the player in the roleof a normal civilian and setting the game in a police state where fun behavior is outlawed, GumBeat seeks to give a fresh take on how simple gameplay can engage with complex ideas.

Moki and his trusty mount Rooki embark on an epic quest to recover the lost treasures of his village. His journey takes him deep into lush tropical forests and treacherous mountains to regain his village's honor. The evil Chawi witches on their Uborgul war hogs hinder him at every turn. Bestowed with the last of his village's heirlooms, the Ancient Spear of the Moki, you are to help Moki and Rooki battle the forces of evil!

Moki Combat is a third-person action PC game. In the game, you will have to weigh the options of attacking and avoiding enemies. Precise strikes will yield better rewards. Moki will get exhausted if he swing recklessly and will become vulnerable to Chawi's attacks. Using the power of Moki's Spear will drain your stamina as well. Your goal is to defeat as many Chawi raiders as you can before you get knocked off your mount! Defeating them in the most efficient manner will earn you titles! Can you be the ULTRA MOKI?

Enter the fascinating world of Mūzaïc, where players take upon the role of growing and cultivating their own musical garden in order to create the ideal home for an endearing race of musical creatures known as Mūzes.

Interact with other players all over the world at your own leisure to breed your Mūzes together to grow the musical garden of your dreams.

Featuring a huge cast of the musical Mūzes, each with their own unique signature tune spanning across a wide range of musical genres, Mūzaïc is an audio masterpiece that is designed to be accessible to the visually impaired and yet appealing to sighted players at the same time.

Oozerts, Tastipet Inc's bestselling candy bar, is low on supply and they need help! In order to fulfill their shipment orders, you have been hired as an intern at the Candy Reclamation Plant. Your job is to dispense every monster's favorite candy bar into awesome-looking candy wrappers. Your supervisor, Scoop McGoop, wants you to fill each candy mold with precisely the correct amount of Oozerts. Can you survive the mechanical mayhem of the plant and produce enough Oozerts to please Scoop McGoop?

Based on the thrilling and magical world of Lure of the Labyrinth, Oozerts is an exciting and innovative puzzle game developed for the Nintendo DS. Players will work their way through 3 exhilarating levels, slicing, merging, and shoving delicious, slimy Oozerts up into the candy mold. Apart from being a great gaming experience, Oozerts will also convey the conceptual logic of fractions, a math concept only briefly addressed in the original Flash-based Lure of the Labyrinth PC game.

Developed especially for middle-school pre-algebra students, Oozerts will be a highly enjoyable and interactive experience for everyone, regardless of their age.

Phorm is a single-player puzzle game for ages 12 and above. You start with Osmo, a tiny amorphous alien escaping from his captors. After breaking out of his hourglass prison, Osmo is still trapped within a huge laboratory. Daunted by the unfamiliar environment and the complexity of the obstacles in his way, Osmo has to rely on his only ability to escape: the ability to morph.

You will help Osmo escape by drawing the avatar for him to morph into. If you draw avatar shapes with longer legs, Osmo will jump higher. Osmo will also be able to gain other physical attributes depending on the shape that YOU have drawn. Be empowered by what you draw! Play Phorm!

2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile Finalist: Next Great Mobile Game

Picopoke is an interpretive photo game which brings flexible play to a new level. The game revolves around weekly challenge rounds, involving fulfilling challenges by taking photos and voting to determine winners, both activities earning Picopoints! An expert player would acquire trophies and items to decorate a personalized photo gallery. Players are free to interpret how they tackle challenges, with the aspiration that their photos are attention-grabbing enough to impress the community. Voting has evolved such that it is no longer a simple thumbs-up or down, but is based on pre-determined adjectives. So does a photo of a hand-standing teenager submitted for the "Feet in the Air" challenge deserve the "Daring" award? Would you cast a "Literal" vote for a humorous photo of shoes propped up against an electric fan? You decide!

Developed to be an online Facebook game, Picopoke takes advantage of the social networking community. Picopoke can also be played with mobile phones via multimedia messaging service (MMS), capturing moments spontaneously with camera phones. These technological advantages create a persistent game encouraging the players in different locations or time zones to share lived experiences. The game would take players away from the computer and would integrate seamlessly into their daily lives requiring a low time commitment.

Be creative with your interpretation! Be thoughtful with your voting! Nothing is irrelevant. Picopoke can be played at http://apps.facebook.com/picopoke/.

NeuroTrance is an action puzzle game which references the fundamentals of neurotransmitter synaptic transmission to a wide audience. The player operates a nanobot as it moves through the brain of Larry the research scientist, and uses floating neurotransmitters (NTs)in the synaptic environment to alter Larry's mood and activity level of the scientist. By inputting different combinations of neurotransmitters, the player guides Larry through the ups and downs of his day.

NeuroTrance plays similarly to side-scrolling shoot-em-ups, but instead of shooting, we sought to emphasize placing NTs rather than shooting them (although that can be done as well). By associating colored shapes with actual NTs and their functions in the central nervous system. The player learns the effects of various NTs in a subtle fashion, without lengthy and tedious neuroscientific explanations.

Although the game currently represents just an initial foray into making these concepts accessible to lay audiences without significant neuroscience education, we expect the project could be commercialized given a longer development cycle. Afterall, researchers are constantly unraveling the secrets of the brain, and as they do so we expect the general public's interest in the subject to increase. Games like NeuroTrance could be used to jump start this lay audience's interest in neuroscience research and serve as their first step into understanding the complexities of their own minds.

GAMBIT: Ochos Locos is a variant of the classic Crazy Eights card game. Originally written in Python for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO computer, Ochos Locos is also available for Windows and Unix. Designed to teach young children worldwide the basics of mathematical reasoning in a language-independent interface, Ochos Locos combines a simple yet rich graphical user interface with accessible but addictive gameplay.

Players are dealt an initial hand and take turns matching rank or suit with the center card. Face cards add their own surprising twists to gameplay, each of which are indicated by pictographic clues. Players compete amongst themselves to see who can be the first to play all the cards in their hand in each round, and the winner is revealed after a selectable number of rounds.

As part of OLPC's open source initiative, Ochos Locos includes its own modifiable card engine, the Locos Engine. Perfect for beginning developers or grizzled veterans, the Locos Engine enables players to become creators in their own right. Create your own variant and share it with the world!

In Sc-rum'pet: The Om-Nom Adventures, you are Sc-rum'pet, a young alien who has just finished growing his wings. However, you can't truly fly until you collect enough ancient feathers, artifacts whose power give you the ability to use and control your wings.

These ancient feathers can only be found scattered throughout the wild regions of space, which are inhabited by the dreaded Om-nominous. These large stationary alien life forms attract objects to themselves in order to feed.

Luckily for Sc-rum'pet, members of his species have the ability to invert the attractive forces of the Om-nominous, creating a repulsive force instead. Unable to use his wings yet, Sc-rum'pet can use the forces of the Om-nominous to navigate through dangerous areas.