This year’s GDC was a pretty awesome week for us. One of the highlights was being able to show off our upcoming release Pulse. We’re thankful it made a great impression on both Macworld and Pocket Gamer, but we’re also thankful we were able to play around with a lot of cool games from other developers. We were lucky enough to be judges for the IGF (Independent Games Festival), and want you to know about a few games we loved:

Solace, in all its glory.

• Solace is a great indie music game, and we love the guys behind it,who we fist met this past year at Indie Cade. Rob-thanks for giving Will a badge. Dan, you and the Danish game have a special place in our hearts. If the rest of you don’t know what we’re talking about here, that’s okay. The most important thing is that you give Solace a look. You won’t be disappointed.

• Helsing’s Fire, from Ratloop is an innovative puzzle game that’s a hell of a lot of fun. We met the guys behind the game when they presented at the Flash Gaming Summit. We truly love them, and love to see our friends doing well. Nice work, boys!

  

  Solipskier in action. See what we mean about the rainbows?!

• Solipskier is an addictive, fast-paced game created by our friends Mike and Greg. We have a lot of respect for them because they run a two-man studio, and crank out awesome games. Make sure to check out Solipski… especially because it has rainbows. Any game with rainbows is a win in our book.
• Bit.Trip Runner, by Gaijin Games – We love the Bit.Trip series, and the team over at Gaijin. We look to them for inspiration and always enjoy hearing about their successes, since we’re both similar studios. Chris Osborn, who’s had his hand in the game, was a wonderful addition to our GDC experience. The conference wouldn’t have been the same without you, buddy!
• Nidhogg. No seriously, Nidhogg. There’s not much to say about this fantastic game, except that it’s one of the best ways to kill a few hours. We played a round in the office not too long ago (Will won, of course) and can’t wait to make time for a rematch. Don’t let the old school graphics fool you: Nidhogg will rock your socks off.
• Shot Shot Shoot – This is Will’s personal favorite for the iPad, and a game that we feel is worthy of competitive gamers everywhere. It was one of the nominees for “Best Mobile Game” at IGF, and we couldn’t agree more. The visual simplicity of this “minimalistic dueling game” will have you trying to conquer your friends. Trust us; Will’s already clocked in some serious hours.

Honorable Mentions

• Amnesia won Best Audio, and for good reason: the game wouldn’t be what it is without the haunting soundtrack. The game shows off an attention to detail that we haven’t seen from anyone in quite awhile. Check this one out.
• Bastion is a neat action RPG that has some seriously awesome voice-overs. Overall, we dig this game.

PS: Minecraft.