The 2020 Game Developers Conference is just months away, and today organizers are excited to debut the 21 games selected to exhibit at alt.ctrl.GDC, the on-site showcase of alternative control schemes and interactions in games.
One of these games will win the alt.ctrl.GDC Award -- which includes a $2,000 prize plus a special trophy -- at the IGF ceremony during GDC, with judging taking place on-site!
No matter who wins, all GDC 2020 attendees who stop by the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibit will have the chance to play all of these inventive and innovative games using unique, one-of-a-kind controllers. You could, for example, reach out and touch The Sutured City, a nod to classic point-and-click adventure games that's played across a beautiful handmade interactive tapestry.
Or throw a leg over one of the stuffed giraffe controllers and race a friend in Neck 'n' Neck, a special head-to-head giraffe-racing game played by manipulating your stuffed steed. And if you've got two teams of two, why not drop by and check out Milk!That!Cow! from MTC Industries, perhaps the world's first competitive milking simulator?
As always, it's shaping up to be a one-of-a-kind creativity showcase. This year's roster of alt.ctrl.GDC finalists is as follows:
Far Away Cage (Team Nuestromo): Far Away Cage is an immersive experience (heavily inspired by Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien) in which you play as a mechanic trapped in the escape pod of his spaceship. A creature roams in the hallways of the ship, and you have to guide the last survivor to your location in order to escape!
Plug-Plug (François Iakouchev, Matthieu Chapeland, Thomas Giuliani, Adrien Six): A multiplayer game made with love.
People of the Moon (Jean-Pierre Chastagnol, Maëlle Fanget, Simon Giraud, Jérémy Guarober, Morgan Jobbins, Louis le Gacq): A two-player cooperative game, People of the Moon lets you glide above a partying island to collect a maximum of lights. Once you have as many as you want, the people of the island can go to sleep. Now it's up to you to share those lights with other players, as stars and galaxies in the night sky.
Kaleida (Benjamin Mora-Davison, Justin McKague, Mary Andrea Arroz, Xinran Ma): Kaleida is an arcade-style alternative controller game where players must blast incoming enemies by pumping and tilting the Kaleida. Tilting the Kaleida rotates the game space, and pumping fires a laser that destroys enemies.
Neck 'n' Neck (Paraxonia Productions): Neck ‘n’ Neck is a 2D side scrolling “giraffe” racing game focused mainly towards children. Speed is controlled by dodging obstacles by moving the “giraffe's” neck up and down and jumping over ground obstacles.
<iframe title="Embedded content" height="360px" width="100%" data-testid="iframe" loading="lazy" scrolling="auto" class="optanon-category-C0004 ot-vscat-C0004 " src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/305407964" data-gtm-yt-inspected-91172384_163="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-91172384_165="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-113="true"></iframe>The Unfathomed Voyager (Chenchen Ava Tan, Ruoxi Li, Boyi Liu, and Matthew Bofenkamp): Three players work together to pilot a malfunctioning submarine with the hope of capturing a blobfish. Each player has a unique control panel and one instruction to operate one control (which may or may not be on their control panel) in a specific way. Players must work together to make sure all tasks are followed.
Ready? Set. Haiya! (Geeky Planet Studio): Ready? Set. Haiya! is a motion-based fighting rhythm game, where players use an alternate controller, which is a live sized kung fu wooden dummy as the input, and try to imitate various kung-fu poses displayed on the screen on the wooden man, to eventually achieve a high score. The closer the match is, the higher you score.
Vincere (Red Planet Games): Vincere is THE top-down roman chariot racing game that puts players in control of their own chariot, using actual reins and balance boards. Prove your worth to the Roman Empire as a racing champion in the legendary Circus Maximus!
Guilty Smells (Molleindustria & Heather Kelley): Guilty Smells employs a custom made 4-channel scent diffuser controlled by an Arduino board. The government has taken a major step in opposing foreign influence in our way of life. Starting today, the possession of un-American food is illegal. You are a sniffing dog for the Department for the Enforcement of the American Diet. Your job is to approach the suspects, sniff them, and bark if you detect foreign food smell!
Our Sutured City (Tabitha Arnold, Corey Arnold, Richard Vallett, Andrew Cotter): An interactive tapestry game inspired by the golden age of point-and-click adventure games.
Wizard's Warehouse: The Magick of Retail (Mike Salyh): Do you have what it takes to run the busiest store in the kingdom? Wizard’s Warehouse is a collaborative, immersive, shopkeeping game. Wield a barcode scanner and get ready to serve up potions, swords, and mutton!
Pat Pat Please! (André Ruiz, Leticia de Vicq and Lucas Lima): Pat Pat Please! is an alternate control game in development! You can play the game by patting a dog! Here's it's trailer!
Ozone (Ozone Project): A game about communicating to survive, developed by students participating in a hackathon on the theme of alternative game controllers.
MAD - Mutually Assisted Destruction (Clément Amendola, Nicolas de Castro, Adrien Dourgnon, Emile Chuffart, Emmanuel Lataste, Samuel Tunnell): A cooperative game about an aircraft crew working together to take out enemy bombers.
Hug Machine (Gel Pen Collective): A silly game built with a dress form torso game controller.
Twined (Tissue Drop Games): Twined is a game about cooperation, climbing and the curious connection between the two player characters. Grab whoever is closest and master the challenges thrown at you.
<iframe title="Embedded content" height="360px" width="100%" data-testid="iframe" loading="lazy" scrolling="auto" class="optanon-category-C0004 ot-vscat-C0004 " src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/376492309" data-gtm-yt-inspected-91172384_163="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-91172384_165="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-113="true"></iframe>Cursed! (WeHaveNoCat): A two-player game of competitive alchemy, replete with swirling cauldron.
<iframe title="Embedded content" height="360px" width="100%" data-testid="iframe" loading="lazy" scrolling="auto" class="optanon-category-C0004 ot-vscat-C0004 " src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/331805686" data-gtm-yt-inspected-91172384_163="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-91172384_165="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-113="true"></iframe>Buy! Sell! (Mouse & the Billionaire): Buy! Sell! is a fast-paced multi-player stock trading game that uses analog telephones as game controllers. Watch a terminal full of charts, graphs and breaking news and make split second decisions to buy or sell stocks like, pizza, candy and gold. Dial the number for a stock and shout “Buy!” or “Sell!” into your phone before your competitors do. Their transactions will affect the stock price. The player with largest portfolio at the end of the trading day wins.
Milk!That!Cow! (MTC Industries): Introducing MTC Industries' groundbreaking competitive milking simulator!
The Sword (Takahiro Miyazawa): A great sword rests in an ancient stone. Can you free it?
Bruce and Box (Wataru Nakano x MIYAZAWORKS): Bruce and Box is an action game operated with a cardboard box.
As always, the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibit is open to all GDC attendees and will make its seventh appearance at the conference from Wed-Fri, March 18th through 20th in the Moscone Convention Center.
