With a burst of fanfare oddly fitting for a game based on the spectacle of the circus, GAMBIT is proud to debut our newest game, CarneyVale: Showtime! The game, a spiritual successor to our summer 2007 prototype game Wiip, was developed in our Singapore lab by a team of GAMBIT summer program alums and was just named the winner of Microsoft's 2008 XNA Dream-Build-Play challenge – a prize that includes US$40,000 and a chance at publication on Xbox Live Arcade. To say that we're proud of our team is a bit of an understatement!
In Showtime, you play as Slinky, a circus acrobat trying to rise up the ranks by performing acrobatic tricks and death-defying stunts through increasingly complex arenas. You can manipulate a wide variety of props to get Slinky through the arena:
- Catch and fling the ragdoll Slinky around using trapeze-like Grabbers
- Make Slinky grab onto flying Rockets and ride them through a maze of obstacles
- Avoid electrical and flaming hazards which cause Slinky to lose lives
- Dash in mid-air and burst trails of balloons along the way
- Perform special acrobatic tricks to gain more fans
The story has been getting a ton of press coverage, which we'll be adding to our Campaign: In the Press page shortly, but here are some of the top headlines so far:
MTV Multiplayer:
My #1 Favorite Dream-Build-Play 2008 Winner: 'CarneyVale: Showtime'1up.com:
Microsoft Announced Dream-Build-Play 2008 WinnersGamasutra:
Microsoft Reveals Dream Build Play Competition WinnersEuroGamer:
Microsoft reveals XNA compo winnersGamerBytes:
XNA Dream-Build-Play Winners Announced - Check Out These Videos
CarneyVale: Showtime was developed by Bruce Chia (programming), Hansel Koh (programming), Lee Fang Liang (programming), Adrian Lim (programming), Desmond Wong (artist), Joshua Wong (producer), and Guo Yuan (audio). More information on Showtime is available at http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/showtime.php.
More as this story develops, but for now... Way to go, team!
