BIG, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, approaches fast. It’s now the largest indie games event in Latin America, and one of the three most important in the world. It received 646 submissions for its main competition this year, and 420 of those were Brazilian games. Only 54 games have been selected to compete in the 14 categories of the event, and one of them is Best Game. BIG Festival happens in São Paulo, Brazil, from June 23rd to July 1st. Last year, the Festival received 20.000 visitors, and generated more than US$ 18 million in business.
Of all 54 finalists, 18 games are from Brazil. And it’s the first time that two Brazilian games are competing for the Best Game Award. The very first time a national title ran for the most coveted trophy in the festival was in 2015, when Horizon Chase, by Aquiris, ended up winning the Best Game title. The arcade racing game became a worldwide success on smartphones and has just recently been launched on PS4 as Horizon Chase Turbo.
These figures show that Brazil has indeed become a gaming powerhouse in the world.
The Brazilian highlights
The two games running for the Best Game award at this year’s BIG Festival are Galaxy of Pen & Paper, developed by renowned Behold Studios (creators of Chroma Squad and Knights of Pen & Paper). And UNSIGHTED, by newcomer Studio Pixel Punk. It is their debut game, being developed by only two people: Tiani Pixel, responsible for art and coding, and composer Fernanda.
“It has always been a personal objective of mine to participate [in BIG Festival],” Tiani wrote on Facebook after her game had been selected. “I’m quite happy to have made it, especially as there are such wonderful games competing as well.”
UNSIGHTED
UNSIGHTED is a retro-styled Action/Adventure game, inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Metroid. Unlike other games of this genre, however, UNSIGHTED takes place in a dystopic Cyberpunk future. One of its (many) differentials is that it features local co-op, which few games have nowadays. The studio has promised other features, such as, procedurally generated maps, RPG elements, several weapons that can be combined in combat, and extra challenges for those who opt to play alongside a friend. UNSIGHTED’s art direction and sound design are amazing and is one of the major promises of Brazilian game development.
Check out the first official trailer below:
Galaxy of Pen & Paper
Behold Studios, on the other hand, is already pretty well-known throughout the global gaming community. They developed Knights of Pen & Paper back in 2012, a meta-narrative game where players take on the roles of players taking the roles of characters in a retro-filled session of tabletop RPG. And Chroma Squad in 2015, a game where players command a Super Sentai show, inspired by Power Rangers.
Galaxy of Pen & Paper continues the meta-gaming style of its predecessor, but now players have left the medieval fantasy setting and have blasted off to space. Players will go through a cosmic campaign of tabletop RPG, rolling dice in 1999. Gamers have to create their own game sessions, including every player at the table and the Dungeon Master.
Galaxy of Pen & Paper launched in 2017, and is available on Android and iOS devices, and on PC via Steam. Check out the official launch trailer below:
For the full list of nominees at BIG Festival 2018, visit the official website by clicking here. Or you can read our latest story about BIG Festival here.
By Greg Candalez
Latest publications:
Brazil’s Independent Games Festival unveils list of 54 finalists
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