Microids is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners in international markets. Through expanding its staff and development teams, Microïds generated funds to expand from just development to publishing and distribution and opening international offices. The company merged with MC2 in 2003 to create MC2-Microïds, whereafter it acquired publishers Wanadoo Edition and Cryo Interactive. Grassiano left MC2-Microïds in 2005; under new management, MC2-Microïds was briefly renamed MC2 before returning to the old Microïds name. It was then acquired by Anuman Interactive in 2010, which itself was renamed Microïds in 2019.
Fez is a 2012 indie puzzle-platform game developed by Polytron Corporation and published by Trapdoor. The player-character Gomez receives a fez that reveals his two-dimensional (2D) world to be one of four sides of a three-dimensional (3D) world. The player rotates between these four 2D views to realign platforms and solve puzzles. The objective is to collect cubes and cube fragments to restore order to the universe.
Super Meat Boy is a 2010 platform game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes under the collective name of "Team Meat". It was self-published as the successor to Meat Boy, a 2008 Flash game designed by McMillen and Jonathan McEntee. In the game, the player controls Meat Boy, a red, cube-shaped character, as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the game's antagonist Dr. Fetus. The gameplay is characterized by fine control and split-second timing, as the player runs and jumps through over 300 hazardous levels while avoiding obstacles. The game also supports the creation of player-created levels. Super Meat Boy was first released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, and was later ported to Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch. A Wii version was in development but was ultimately cancelled.
Edmund Charles McMillen is an American video game designer and artist. He is known for his Adobe Flash games with unconventional visual styles. His works include 2010's side-scroller Super Meat Boy, 2011's roguelike game The Binding of Isaac, and its 2014 remake The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
Hidetaka Suehiro, known as SWERY or Swery65, is a Japanese video game director and writer. He was one of the founding members of the game development studio Access Games which is based in Osaka. His roles in the company included director, designer, and writer. He is the director of the games Spy Fiction, Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die. He then left the company in 2016, and he founded his own studio, named White Owls Inc.
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in Europe, South America, and Australia, and on February 22, 2014, in Japan. A console of the eighth generation, it competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U and Switch.
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! is a 2014 cinematic platform video game developed by Just Add Water and published by Oddworld Inhabitants as a "ground-up remake" of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. The game was released in North America on 22 July 2014 and in Europe on 23 July 2014 for the PlayStation 4. The title was also released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U. It has been ported on iOS and Android and released worldwide on 14 December 2017. A Nintendo Switch version was released on 27 October 2020.
Philippe Poisson, better known as Phil Fish, is a French Canadian former indie game designer best known for his work on the 2012 platform game Fez. He was born and raised in Quebec, where his experiences with Nintendo games in his youth would later influence his game design. He studied game design at the Montreal National Animation and Design Centre, and worked at Ubisoft and Artificial Mind and Movement before starting Polytron in 2008.
MonoGame is a free and open source C# framework used by game developers to make games for multiple platforms and other systems. It is also used to make Windows and Windows Phone games run on other systems. It supports iOS, Android, macOS, tvOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It implements the Microsoft XNA 4 application programming interface (API). It has been used for several games, including Bastion, Celeste,Fez and Stardew Valley.
The Escapists is a strategy game played from a top-down perspective. The game was developed by Mouldy Toof Studios and following a Steam Early Access release in 2014, was released in 2015 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It was released on iOS and Android in 2017. A Nintendo Switch version of the game containing all downloadable content was released in 2018. The game was launched on the Epic Games Store on 23 September 2021, with the weekly free game campaign of Epic Games. Players assume the role of an inmate and must escape from prisons of increasing difficulty.
Donut County is a puzzle video game developed by American designer Ben Esposito and published by Annapurna Interactive in 2018. The player moves a hole to swallow objects, which makes the hole increase in size. The concept originated in a game jam based on pitches from a Twitter account parody of game designer Peter Molyneux and later added a mechanic similar to that of Katamari Damacy. Other inspirations for the game included Hopi figurines—a theme Esposito later relinquished—and locations from Bruce Springsteen songs. Donut County was released in August 2018 for iOS, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows platforms, while versions for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch were released in December 2018. It was also released for Android in December 2020.
Megaton Rainfall is an action video game developed by Pentadimensional Games for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. It was released on October 17, 2017, for PlayStation 4 as a timed exclusive and later on November 17, 2017, for Microsoft Windows. It was released on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One on August 9, 2018. It is also compatible with Sony's virtual reality headset, PlayStation VR, and was made compatible with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on August 9, 2018.
Beyond Eyes is an adventure game developed by Tiger & Squid and published by Team17.
Pillar is an independent video game designed by Michael Hicks for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Described as a collection of minigames where each game represents a different type of personality found in people, each level in Pillar has different gameplay mechanics to examine various personality traits and themes. Reviewers noted the game's exploration of themes such as love, religion, capitalism, aging and regret.
Deliver Us the Moon is an adventure-puzzle video game developed by Dutch game development studio KeokeN Interactive. It was first self-published as Deliver Us the Moon: Fortuna for Windows on September 28, 2018. The game later saw an expanded release on October 10, 2019, with Wired Productions serving as the publisher for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions on April 24, 2020. The game was released for Google Stadia on June 1, 2022, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 23, 2022 and for Nintendo Switch on July 16, 2024.
Christian Whitehead, also known as The Taxman, is an Australian video game programmer and designer. He is most recognized for his work creating updated ports of early games in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as being a lead developer of an original game in the series, Sonic Mania. In late 2018, Whitehead co-founded indie development studio Evening Star, which launched its first game, Penny's Big Breakaway, in early 2024.
Beholder is an adventure video game about life in a totalitarian police state. The game was developed by Warm Lamp Games and published by Alawar Entertainment on November 9, 2016. The game is supported on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.
The Path of Motus is a puzzle-platform game designed by Michael Hicks for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The game follows a goblin named Motus who is trapped inside a mysterious forest. He plans to escape by building bridges through the forest, but his determination is challenged by bullies that use their own words to destroy him. The game was made using the MonoGame framework.
Antigraviator is an anti-gravity racing video game developed by Belgian developer Cybernetic Walrus and published by Iceberg Interactive on June 6, 2018, for Microsoft Windows. It was ported to PlayStation 4 on October 29, 2019, and to Xbox One on May 1, 2020.
Summer Game Fest is a live video game event organized and hosted by game journalist Geoff Keighley. The event takes place annually over multiple live streams during the North American summer period, the most notable of which is the "main show" which usually airs on the first day of the event and showcases upcoming major releases. The "main show" is usually then followed by a "Day of the Devs" after-show that is focused on indie titles. Multiple other streams showcasing other upcoming game titles that are both affiliated and unaffiliated with the official Summer Games Fest event also occur in the few days following the main show. It was created in 2020 following the cancellation of the industry's most prominent events such as Gamescom and the now-discontinued E3, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
