Once a year, I lecture a group of young interaction designers at about indie games. I wanted to share some of the indie games we've been exploring in class. These games tackle complex emotional subjects and/or offer unique gameplay experiences.
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1/ A Normal Lost Phone is a game that explores the intimacy of someone's phone. It's a unique and thought-provoking experience that allows players to piece together the story of the phone's owner. The ending is powerful. anormallostphone.com
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2/ Today I Die by is a poem-based game that uses words as a way to switch between different modes. It's about depression and finding a way out. The best version was on iPhone, sadly now it's not available, nor the Flash version. Win version: ludomancy.com
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3/ Passage by is a non-game(?) that pushes linearity to the extreme. It's a game about life and love. Rohrer is a cult game creator with a software ethical code, all of his games are open source. Play it here: hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage
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4/ SNAKISMS by is a game that presents 22 philosophies/ideologies ("-ism") through the classic game Snake. It's an Oulipian exploration of gameplay. Play it here: pippinbarr.github.io/SNAKISMS/
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5/ Super Hexagon by is a brutally difficult game, where players lose in seconds. It pushes the diktat that mobile games should be short to the max. It was a success as an indie paid game, selling 50k copies on iOS in its first few months superhexagon.com
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6/ Dear Esther is the game that created the walking simulator genre. It focuses on storytelling and exploration. When it shipped in 2012, it was often decried as "not a game!" by frustrated players expecting a more traditional game experience
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I aim to give my UX design students new perspectives, and indie games are a great opportunity to try and feel how powerful interaction can be, beyond copy/pasting existing apps and digital products. These games are but a small sample of the incredible work of indie game designers
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Once a year, I lecture a group of young interaction designers at @StrateDesign about indie games. I wanted to share some of the indie games we've been exploring in class. These games tackle complex emotional subjects and/or offer unique gameplay experiences.
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