Bringing the best indie games to Glasgow
The Glasgow Independent Games Festival is a celebration of indie games. We pride ourselves in showing the most interesting, the weirdest, the most moving and unconventional games from Scotland and around the world.
Expect lots of games to play - unreleased and upcoming titles from the most talented developers. And there's lots more too, we'll have interviews, talks, music and maybe even some poetry!
From the team that brought you the Southside Games Festival, we're back with a bigger and better event for 2024.
The Glasgow Independent Games Festival is an all day event. We'll have 10 amazing indie games for you to play, from some of the most talented developers in the country. During the day we have a series of developer talks, if you want to learn more about how the games you love are made. In the evening there will be live entertainment, music, poetry and an award ceremony for our audience-voted Best in Show.
12 unreleased & upcoming games to play
Morgan: Metal Detective
A cosy, first person metal detector adventure game, where you reunite residents of the beautiful Cornish island of Glasden with things they have lost. And with your late Grandpa's help, maybe restore magic along the way.
ZOE Begone!
Hand-drawn bullet-hell! A frenetic shooter combining the run-and-gun mechanics of Metal Slug with the infinite loops and shmup-ing of Resogun, wrapped up with old-fashioned drawn-on-film style animation. Fight your own creator as the artist bears down on you with pen and paintbrush!
Valley Peaks
In this ribbiting first-person climbing platformer, each mountain is like a puzzle, and it’s your job to make your way to the top of every ridge to place radio towers for the froggy inhabitants of Valley Peaks. Overcome challenges such as crumbling rocks, perilous spikes, moving minecarts, and much more as you strive to complete your mission—all while escaping the hustle and bustle of the city!
Left Upon Read
Player will take the role of a Knight on a mission to save a Princess at the behest of a King. To do this they will have to enter the Witch’s lair and fight her minions, all while replying to messages. The games mixes Dark fantasy genre with modern day internet humour to create a truly unique vibe, the in-game messages use a fusion of text-speak and shakespearean english to create a witty dissonance from the hectic and difficult combat.
It's Grim Up North
A quaint English village has been invaded by shape-shifting aliens! With his quick wit, skills and a bunch of sarcasm can retired detective (and pensioner) Terry Thomas uncovers the identities of all the aliens hiding among the villagers before his knees give way!?
Kevin (1997-2077)
Kevin wants to show what his life would be and why. 他用没人懂的语言写了一本书。 A language-deciphering game.
Anthology of the Killer
A collection of nine short, serialised horror-comedy games. Follow the adventures of BB, a new wave rat girl trying to make zines in a town whose sole economic export consists of themed serial murderers.
Apartment Story
Third-person drama meets The Sims in a single-room thriller
A story of three people and a gun unfolds in a single apartment through a third-person narrative and a Sims-esque needs-management system.
Deadlocked
Deadlocked: an adrenaline-packed Cartoon top-down shooter. Customize your loadout with unique weapons, unlock fun little pets, and upgrade your character. Master responsive gameplay and become a cutesy robot killing machine, There's one rule, Defy Deadlock
The Enjenir
Put your engineering and problem solving skills to the test in this sandbox physics building game! Enjoy the freedom of completely gridless 3D sandbox building combined with hilarious ragdoll third person controls, offering a truly unique and hilarious "Enjeniring" experience!
Tamagotchi Seance
Remember your old Tamagotchi. It's been a long time.
Maybe it's time to talk to it again.
Tamagotchi Seance is the third game in a series about loss and the internet by Nick Murray.
Slopecrashers
Slopecrashers is a mashup of a family-friendly party game and some hardcore, adrenaline-pumping snowboarding action. Imagine the casual vibes of Mario Kart combined with the crazy tricks of SSX.
Talks
Become Magnificent: Breaking Game Mechanics and Emotional Resonance
Video games are a collection of rules and limitations that respond dynamically to player input. These limitations are usually necessary to enforce the “rules” of the game - without limitation, the player can break the rules and will likely become bored.
In the right circumstances, however, breaking the established rules of the game can create entirely new gameplay experiences and build an emotional resonance in the player.
Ranging from something as simple as picking up a Quad Damage power-up in Quake multiplayer to teleporting robots in Zone of the Enders and instant-kill attacks in Final Fantasy XV.
This talk will explore case studies of interesting uses within games, how game mechanics can build strong emotion outside of cinematics, and how this idea can be flipped to build emotion through strife.
The key takeaways are for designers to consider the emotional impact that can be built through mechanics alone and how, through breaking expected game design norms, designers can create emotional resonance between player and game.
Developer Interview: The Enjenir
Cillín makes up half of PeatyTurf, the studio responsible for the physics building game The Enjenir. He is an Irish/French engineer living in Scotland, with a background in civil and structural engineering, primarily on nuclear and infrastructure projects. Himself and fellow co-founder Neil Mackenzie (also a civil engineer) have developed The Enjenir in their spare time over the past 3+ years. They are both engineers by day, and game developers by night!
Panel: Unconventional Game Design
Stephen Gillmurphy comes from Dublin and has been releasing shovelware cd-rom games for 16 years, the list of which includes Space Funeral, 10 Beautiful Postcards, Goblet Grotto and Murder Dog IV. His ambition is to become the oldest living game developer and get to lie about inventing Tetris.
Kevin Du, a trailblazing game designer, passionately explores the intersection of philosophy and experimental game design. With a keen interest in diverse cultures and religions, he envisions using games as a medium to unite people in unique, thought-provoking ways. Committed to crafting avant-garde experiences, he seeks to transcend traditional gaming paradigms, offering interactive platforms that prompt profound reflections and foster philosophical exploration.
Performances
Kaiju Ecopoetics
Kaiju Ecopoetics is a 25 minute performance game that invites the audience to create the past, present and future of a civilisation through map-making. Using an overhead projector and a series of performed poems, the game tells a story of climate collapse through giant monsters, urban sprawl and radical forestry.
Calum Rodger: Gamerpoet
Poet and former academic turned software developer. Pretentious book and game nerd. Former Scottish Slam Champion. Doctor of Scottish Literature. ‘The king of videogame poetry.’ Happiest when idle. That’s me!
The GGs
The GGs are a Scottish band with an equal love of music and video games. With a setlist that spans from the Amiga to PC games of 2024, the GGs pay homage to video game composers across the decades through meticulous arrangements and committed performances of fan favourites and deep cuts.
"In Fact, You Did So Well I’m Going To Note This On Your File In the Commendations Section. Oh, There’s Lots Of Room Here.” - GlaDOS
Stay a while and listen - Deckard Cain
'It dangerous to go alone.. listen to this!' - Old man
All three members of The GGs can be actively found gigging in numerous other projects. Keep up to date with them on Instagram:
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