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MomoCon 2015 – Indie Game Awards Finalists Announced

In the Midnight Hour, She Wants Mo’ MoMo

MomoCon banner
Featuring big names from a variety of fields, MomoCon has become Atlanta, Georgia’s deepest bow to the worlds of animation, comic books and all forms of gaming. The event grew from its humble beginnings amongst a few dedicated students at Georgia Tech in 2004 into a gigantic annual affair. Boasting an impressive 105,000 square feet of all types of gaming, it’s now the southeast’s largest fan service convention.

Now Featuring Mo Indie Games

This year also marks MomoCon’s first foray into the realm of indie game showcases, and a large swath of the showcase floor has been allocated for exactly this. After poring over numerous submissions, here are the 20 finalists that have been announced, each of which is vying for a spot in the judge’s top five:

Among the Sleep

Krillbite Studio

Among the Sleep

Among the Sleep is a first-person horror adventure with a twist: you’re playing as a toddler. Everything is scary when you’re so little!

Get Among the Sleep on Steam

Avoid It

Studio RO


You can’t identify IT. For It takes many shapes. The only thing that is certain is that IT wants you dead. Avoid It is a one-button action game for iOS. Time your jumps to dodge the claws, fangs and horns of a relentless foe.

Get Avoid It from the App Store

Back to Bed

Bedtime Digital Games

Back To Bed screenshot 1

The dream world and reality blend as spirit creature Subob attempts to guide sleepwalker Bob from his slumber-inducing job back to the safety of his own bed. Back to Bed may well answer the age-old question “if Escher and Dali shared a brain and made a puzzle game, what would it look like?”

Get Back to Bed on Steam

Get Back to Bed from the App Store

Get Back to Bed from Google Play

Checkpoint Champion

Protostar Games


A free game for iOS and Android, Checkpoint Champion features racing and off-road driving with a simple two-button control system and lots of short but challenging levels.

Get Checkpoint Champion from the App Store

Get Checkpoint Champion from Google Play

Chronology

Osao Games

Chronology screenshot

A thoughtful puzzle platformer about an inventor and a snail, Chronology features clever time travel mechanics and lush animation inspired by Hayao Miyazaki.

Get Chronology on Steam

Createrria

Incuvo


So you want to create great games, but you have a slight problem: you have absolutely zero artistic ability, no clue how to approach sound design, and you can’t code without the aid of a ring from a 1950s era cereal box. Fear not! Createrria (for iOS) has you covered. With a few short clicks, taps and drags, you can create your own games. Make them light and simple, or weave in an involved narrative. Upload your creation to the community, and play through the creations of others. Learning to create games is a game unto itself.

Get Createrria from the App Store

Doctor Who: Legacy

Tiny Rebel Games


The legendary time traveler meets the ever-popular gem-matching genre in Doctor Who: Legacy. With over 60 hours of content and appearances by every incarnation of The Doctor from the television show (not to mention iconic monsters like the Cybermen), this is a surprisingly rich offering, especially for a free-to-play mobile and Facebook game.

Get Doctor Who: Legacy from the App Store

Get Doctor Who: Legacy from Google Play

Play Doctor Who: Legacy on Facebook

Dyscourse

Owlchemy Labs

Dyscourse screenshot

A Kickstarter success, Dyscourse is a narrative-driven adventure game with plenty of emphasis on choice. As an art school graduate crash-landed on a desert island, will you lead your quirky group of fellow travelers to survival?

Get Dyscourse on Steam

Hay Ewe

Rocket Rainbow


Help Matilda the sheep guides her lambs to safety through 70 levels in Hay Ewe, a puzzle adventure for iOS.

Get Hay Ewe from the App Store

Just Shapes and Beats

Berzerk Studio


Jumping with bass-heavy chiptunes, Just Shapes and Beats is a fast-paced space-avoider. As the beats reverberate, projectiles fly in every direction, so stay out of their way! As the tempo intensifies, it’s about as difficult as dodging raindrops in a hurricane.

Shapes and Beats – official site

Keebles

Burnt Fuse

Keebles screenshot - tree

IGR reviewed Keebles back in 2014. Fictivetruism explained how it “takes the game design concept [of games like Little Big Planet and Crayon Physics] and gives players the tools to create their own solution to a given level.”

Read our full review of Keebles.

Get Keebles on Steam

Lumini

Speelbaars

Lumuni screenshot

Relaxing but engaging, Lumini sees you guide a species to survival through an atmospheric, lushly colored world. Lumini was recently approved on Steam Greenlight.

Lumini on Steam Greenlight

Not A Hero

Roll7

Not a Hero: Screenshot

Clean up the city in this comedic but blood-soaked 2D shooter. Not A Hero features fast-paced and cover-based combat, brightly colored pixel art and a a time-traveling rabbit who is also the mayor.

Get Not a Hero on Steam

Reassembly

Anisoptera Games

Reassembly screenshot 600x338

Build yourself a spaceship and explore a multitude of procedurally-generated galaxies in Reassembly, a Kickstarter success with stunning vector-based graphics.

Get Reassembly on Steam

Rollers of the Realm

Phantom Compass

rollers-of-the-realm-screenshot

What starts as one girl’s quest to retrieved her stolen dog quickly escalates to the unearthing of an ancient threat to the realms of humankind. Each character is represented as a pinball, each one possessing a slightly different roll and special skills that can be activated. Each table’s main set of flippers take damage under enemy fire, getting shorter with each strike. RPGs and pinball may seem like an unlikely pairing, but Rollers of the Realm gets it really right.

Read our full review of Rollers of the Realm.

Get Rollers of the Realm on Steam

Shadow Puppeteer

Sarepta Studio

Shadow Puppeteer screenshot

Shadow Puppeteer combines platforming with puzzle-solving in a play of shadows and illumination. Inspired by Nordic art, the game tells the story of a boy and his shadow in an aesthetically interesting package.

Get Shadow Puppeteer on Steam

Spaera

Blazing Orb

Spaera screenshot

Spaera is a new take on the block-rockin’ beats style of Lumines Live.

Spaera – official site

StarCrawlers

Juggernaut Games

StarCrawlers Screenshot

StarCrawlers is a modern cRPG dungeon crawler set in a outer space that requires you to build a crew of renegade adventurers, taking jobs from mega-corporations to hunt bounties, sabotage rivals and conduct corporate espionage. Sounds like Legend of Grimrock meets Firefly, which is pretty fricken’ awesome.

Get StarCrawlers via Early Access on Steam

STASIS

The Brotherhood

Stasis screenshot

Another Kickstarter-funded offering, Stasis is a 2D isometric, point and click, sci-fi horror adventure game inspired by LucasArts classic The Dig. Stasis was recently approved on Steam Greenlight.

Stasis on Steam Greenlight

The Talos Principle

Croteam

The_Talos_Principle_robot_laser_beam_screenshots.600x338

Featuring ingenious puzzle mechanics and a heavy intertwined narrative, a robot seeks answers about the value of his own individuality, all the while led along by the voice of an invisible presence.

Read our full review of The Talos Principle.

Get The Talos Principle on Steam

20 Devs Enter, 5 Devs Leave

From these finalists, five titles will ultimately be crowned as MomoCon 2016 finalists. The teams behind these selections will each net a $1000 prize, a display area and a dedicated panel at the conference. Awards will be announced May 30th; the awards ceremony will also be streamed on Twitch.

Get more information for this year’s conference at the official MomoCon 2015 website