So, I moved back to Japan last week (Hurrah!). To make use of my new locality, I went to check out the Tokyo Game Show, which is a huge exhibition of video games housed in a series of Airbus hanger-sized halls. Kotaku has coverage of it: @

After slowly wading through the regular assortment of flashy trailers, noisey swag peddlers, and booth babes with tired smiles, I reached a slightly more peaceful area. There are a whole bunch of game design schools in Tokyo, and they show up to TGS each year to form a little cluster of colourful booths at the far end of the exhibition space. Each school shows a selection of student work, and the games' authors are often on hand to demonstrate their creations.

The games are nothing extraordinary, but often inventive and charming nonetheless. So I thought I'd share a few with you..

Gravity Rabbit Game. The cursor is a hand signalling the rabbit to walk towards it. When you touch one of the arrows, gravity changes to that direction. You can't jump, so have to carefully plan gravity changes to reach the exit.

Cloud Jumping Game. Sort of like the cloud jumping in Wonder Boy, but extremely difficult and unfair. As a consequence, completely enjoyable.

Paleontology Game. Dig out fossils using various tools and add them to your collection. This shell required a small pick to remove the surrounding earth, and use of the 'blow on' tool to remove the remaining dust. There wasn't any point to it that I could tell. Perhaps later on you can destroy the fossils if you're not careful.

Sky Diving Tricks Game. There are a whole bunch of commands you can use to pull off various tricks. All of the tricks are completely absurd. For example, in this shot you can see the player after he has removed his head, let it float around a bit, and then kicked it back into place.

I watched the guy who wrote this play it for a while. The object is to produce the number on the top left (41) by recombining arithmetic expressions, which are formed from blocks falling from the top. Each time an expression is completed (2+7), the blocks disappear, and the single result remains.

Even the design schools have booth babes.

A Smash Bros kind of thing.

More falling blocks action. In this one, you can remove blocks by pairing up weather elements. e.g. sun blocks cut through the snowmen ones as they fall down.

Video Filing Game. The player has to quickly shelve a bunch of VHS tapes in order before the time runs out. I love the stark visual style of this one. Flat shaded polygons rock (when used responsibly).

Path Wandering Game. The player can rotate any of the tiles at any time, and all of the characters wander along the paths they are on. The object is to to guide the girl to a series of pick-ups before the exit opens, while keeping her away from bad guys.

Where's Wally Generator. A whole bunch of pixeled characters are generated and placed randomly in a scene. You have to find the one shown to you at the top left. Fairly boring, but very cute.

Helicopter Rabbit Game. Hit birds with your spinning ears to get rid of them.

Indeed.

Thanks for this nice roundup. I hadn't heard about this Japanese game design school thing. That is an interesting bunch of game ideas, and it's also nice to know they have a place at TGS.