GDC Summer is over, but we’ve still got a lot of anticipation here at Indie Hoard! Did you miss out on seeing the games in the Indie Showcase? Don’t worry, because we interviewed the developers of the best games in the showcase and are ready to share them with you!
These are Indie Hoard’s top picks from the GDC Summer 2020 Indie Showcase:
CodeXAthena
CodeX Athena is an open-world metroidvania that takes team customization to a whole new level! Build your robotic team members, called S.A.I.N.T.s, with actual coding blocks to program their behavior, such as who they attack, where they focus their movement, how they prioritize healing, and so much more.
Play as Athena, an average girl sticking it to the man by playing an illegal, fully immersive VR game - illegal because in-game death is game over for real. Unlike other VR-centric stories that take place in one virtual world, CodeX Athena seamlessly blends multiple virtual environments to provide a more interesting and varied experience.
CodeX Athena is scheduled for release in the Summer of 2021 on Steam and Nintendo Switch from Watermark RPG, an indie studio of two brothers with experience at EA and 20 years of game creation. Visit their itch.io page for more information! Are you a publisher? Watermark RPG is looking for partners!
Tiny Rainbow Rebels
Do you dream of a crossover between Robin Hood and motocross? Us, too! Tiny Rainbow Rebels is a browser-based game where players perform motorcycle tricks, steal from the rich, and become fashion icons.
Developed by Joyce Lin on itch.io, the game is designed to meet “Cozy Game” standards and provide a fulfilling narrative experience. Tiny Rainbow Rebels continues to offer themes of inclusion, representation, and predicting a better future for BIPOC players, similar to Lin’s previous title, Queering Spacetime, which was featured at IndieCade and invited to be featured at the Queer Games Conference in 2020 before COVID-19 hit.
Tiny Rainbow Rebels is inspired by games that cutify important discussion topics such as Animal Crossing with capitalism.
enLIGHTen
The puzzle game that teaches you not only how to learn, but how you as a player learn best, enLIGHTen is a passion project from Design Oriented’s Richard Terrell. As a lover of puzzle games myself, it can be a challenge to instill enthusiasm for the genre to non-players or players of other genres, and enLIGHTen is here to help bridge the gap.
A traditional puzzle game at its core, enLIGHTen provides a series of lectures and activities to provoke thought and engage players’ problem-solving abilities. According to the developer, the beginning is a little slow due to being lecture-heavy, but the game really hits its stride after lecture 5.
The beta is already available, so check it out on the Design Oriented website and leave your feedback! The studio also holds community learning events such as using Super Mario Maker to learn level design.
Are you a publisher or investor? Design Oriented is looking for both for enLIGHTen!
Wira and Taksa: Against the Master of Gravity
Enter a world of beauty and magic with Wira and Taksa: Against the Master of Gravity, launching from 3S studios in August of 2020. This lovely title combines the awe-inspiring aesthetic of an Ori game with the quick-wit puzzles of Super Meat Boy and serves as a great thematic crossover for fans of both titles.
3S is a two-man core team in search of a publisher to carry the torch for Wira and Taksa after three years of development. As many game developers do, the team created a title that encompasses everything they wanted to see in a gameplay experience, from interesting platforming to puzzles that force players to adapt their perspectives.
Wishlist Wira and Taksa on Steam for updates as the game gets closer to launch, or be ready to snap it up on Xbox One and PlayStation 4!
Math Lines
Most of us remember struggling through math classes in school, but Mr. iO Games has taken math and made it fun! Using a traditional match-3 style gameboard, players create strings of numbers that add up to one of the target numbers for points.
Addition is the only mathematical function currently in the game, but the team is looking for investors so that subtraction, multiplication, and division levels can be added, for a total of 400 mathematically stimulating levels. The base game will be for casual players and fans of Sudoku, nonograms, and other number puzzles to enjoy; however, the team is very interested in creating a customizable classroom version for teachers to use with their students.
A demo will be made available on the Google Play store soon, but the full game will be made playable for free to both Android and Apple users in 2021.
SAMUDRA
Dive into this atmospheric, hand-illustrated, undersea adventure and experience a story about consumerism, pollution, and responsibility, all without any dialogue. Khayalan Arts launched the alpha for SAMUDRA last November, as well as a beta on itch.io in June. While we wait for the full release, interested players can access the demo on their website.
Built with accessibility in mind, SAMUDRA’s one-button mechanics make for an enchanting, surreal story that is enjoyable for all ages and abilities. By focusing on a visual -rather than mechanical - experience, SAMUDRA can help children create questions about pollution and how consumerism impacts the ocean.
As the developers state on their website, the goal of SAMUDRA is “to spread a deafening awareness of the consequence[s] of human neglect,” and this message is manifest throughout the game, along with other metaphorical themes.
Despite the lower threshold for successful gameplay, SAMUDRA offers truly challenging scenarios that steer away from combat and into reactionary and puzzle-focused scenes.
Look for SAMUDRA on PC, consoles, and mobile platforms in Q1 of 2021. Wishlist now on Steam to stay updated.
Khayalan Arts is currently in talks with publishers from around the world and is actively seeking funding.
Do Not Buy This Game!
Fans of The Stanley Parable rejoice! Kingblade Games is launching their comedic walking simulator in Q1 of 2021 on Steam!
Did you ever wonder what making a game was like? Do Not Buy This Game! lets players “build” a game while inside the game, providing accessible insight into the stress and chaos of developmental processes by interacting with the “creator” of the game. Meta, anyone?
The developer candidly told Indie Hoard in our interview that the game may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if comedy is your niche as a player, this is probably up your alley. After receiving positive feedback from a Steam Summer Festival demo, Kingblade Games will make a demo available again prior to launch, so wishlist Do Not Buy This Game! on Steam to keep updated.