ITU alumni among nominees at Independent Games Festival

Game companies emerging from the IT University of Copenhagen are in the international top league – three companies founded by former students are among the nominees at the 2016 Independent Games Festival Awards.

Entrepreneurship computer games awards Martin Pichlmair

Written 13 January, 2016 12:23 by Vibeke Arildsen

With three nominations or honourable mentions, former ITU students are strongly represented at the upcoming Independent Games Festival Awards. The winning games will be announced at the 18^th edition of the Independent Games Festival (IGF), which will take place in San Francisco from March 14-18. A jury of industry experts have selected the games from among more than 750 submissions.

Progress to 100 is nominated for the Nuovo Award. This iOS game has the player touching the screen with the nose, pretending to fly and tapping the screen like a madman, according to one reviewer. The game was co-created by former ITU student Tim Garbos.

Affordable Space Adventures received an Honourable Mention for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the Nuovo Award. In this game for Wii U, players can live out their astronaut dreams and embark on space adventures from the couch. One of the two companies behind the game, KnapNok, was founded by ITU alumni Lau Korsgaard, Dajana Dimovska and Sebbe Selvig.

Sentree received an Honourable Mention for the Nuovo Award. In this mobile multiplayer game, players work together to help each other to survive a night in a dark, unfriendly forest. The game was made by Glitchnap, a company founded by Mads Johansen Lassen, Jonas Maaløe and Joon Van Hove, all former ITU students.

The Sundance of indie games

According to Martin Pichlmair, Assistant Professor at ITU, the awards are the most prestigious in the independent video games community.

“The IGF is for independent games what the Sundance Film Festival is for independent films – the most important festival of the year. The Nuovo category of the award, where the games by ITU alumni are listed, celebrates the most innovative games of the year. Every one of them would deserve the prize, but being mentioned alone is a seal of quality.”

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