Did you know that there's a Nordic Game Jam? Well there is. I mean, there was, what with the 2013 one just wrapping up and all , crowning Knytt creator Nifflas' Spaceship with a Mace the Grand Prize winner, but with loads of other interesting games winning awards too. Several are available to play right now , although the Justin Bieber simulator remains tantalisingly out of my grasp. (Thanks a lot, IndieGames , for getting my hopes up.)
At the time of writing, the list of winners doesn't appear to have found its way online yet (it only wrapped up last night), but thankfully IndieGames have some of the details. Aside from Nifflas' Grand Prize winning multiplayer title Spaceship with a Mace ("Kill your friends with a huge mace in HYPERSPACE"), the similarly multiplayer-only Stikbold was deemed Most Fun, while Twisted was voted the Most Innovative. Here's what it's about: "A deformation of an arcade classic into a grotesque version - exploring the impact of continuous application/changing of basic rules, mechanics and environment and the use of new input forms available on the iPad, such as Gyroscope and touch interface." The screenshot suggests it's a twisty version of Tetris.
Games that don't appear to have won awards but should probably win all of the awards include the Hotline Miami-esque arena battling game Buddy Builder ("A gory and twisted arena game where you build a buddy, from spare body parts!"), and "voice controlled suicide side scroller" Pain Game . Oh, and here's that Justin Bieber game *vomits blood*.
That's a small selection of the ~80 games submitted, some of which are available to play online or download now . You'll probably see a few of those pop up again in Friday's Free Webgame Round-up, but until then, get to building buddies, deforming arcade classics and killing your friends with a huge mace in HYPERSPACE. Buddy Builder trailer below.