GarageGames' Players Choice Awards Gets Zapped
by Kit

Thursday, October 14 2004

IndieGamesCon '04 Players Choice Awards

Independent game developers from around the world brought their game creations to IndieGamesCon'04 last weekend in the hopes of walking away with the coveted "Player's Choice Award". The competition was stiff this year with over 36 independently developed games making a strong showing. When the dust finally settled late into Saturday night after the intense LAN party, ZAP!, a retro-action, fraq-filled game took the top honors as the 2004 IGC Players Choice Best Overall.

dRacer, an exciting arcade racing game from BraveTree Productions, blew by the rest of the games and won the 2004 IGC Players Choice Best Singleplayer game. After two years of hard work, Pinoli Software and 21-6 Productions brought TubeTwist back to IndieGamesCon and managed to take home the 2004 IGC Players Choice Most Innovative award. But the most exciting game of IndieGamesCon, winning the 2004 IGC Players Choice Best Multiplayer and Best Overall awards, was ZAP!, a frenetically-paced retro-action game by GarageGames that had participants screaming with anguish and victory while sitting on the edge of their seats throughout the competition.

Roundup of winning games:

ZAP! - A frenetically-paced retro-action game that showcases the strengths of the Torque Network Library (TNL) by providing a lag-free frag-full multiplayer experience. Winner of Best Multiplayer and Best Overall(GarageGames.com, Inc.)

dRacer- A supercharged competitive arcade racing game that challenges the player to post a better time by constantly racing against your best time. Winner of Best Singleplayer and also took 2nd Place in Best Overall (BraveTree Productions)

TubeTwist - You are the assistant to a professor whose experiments have unlocked the secrets of time travel! In an attempt to find the missing professor, you must reconstruct the experiments of Project TubeTwist. Winner of Most Innovative (Pinoli and 21-6 Productions)
Other notable games:

Dark Horizons: Lore - A fast paced action game that thrills even die hard mech fans. The player is thrust into a massive Cold War as three superpowers fight for ultimate control. Won 2nd Place for Best Multiplayer (Max Gaming Technologies)

GISH - Players journey deep into the underworld, manipulating their gelatinous bodies through levels filled with deadly turns, boggling puzzles, and hours of wild gameplay as they seek to rescue Brea from unknown vile kidnappers. Won 2nd Place for Best SinglePlayer (Chronic Logic)

Little Soldiers - A mind bending, strategic-puzzle game that places you and your compatriots on a range of challenging, classified military missions. Won 2nd Place in Most Innovative (Phelios)

Orbz3 - An action/arcade game set in colorful 3D environments with the object of shooting your orb at targets and acquiring the most points in a race to the finish. Won 3rd Place in Best Overall (21-6 Productions)
BoomBall - A futuristic blazing fast soccer game with rocket launchers. Won 3rd Place in Best Multiplayer (BraveTree Productions)

BitShifter - A 3D Arcade Strategy game where you must save Bit World from infection by an evil Virus! Won 3rd Place in Best Singleplayer (Plastic Games )

AddEmUp - Have a blast with this fun puzzler while raking in points and sharpening your mind. Won 3rd Place in Most Innovative (BlueBugGames)

About GarageGames:
GarageGames mission is to change the way games are made and played. GarageGames provides the technology, community and market to empower game makers to build commercial quality multiplatform games. Known for bringing the no royalty, publish anywhere, Torque Game Engine, to independent developers for $100, GarageGames is located in Eugene, Oregon and on the web at http://www.garagegames.com.

--- Kit