Author: by Beth A.

DigiPen Institute of Technology’s Toblo, an intense flag game in a world of blocks, took away the Best Student Game award from the Student Showcase at the Independent Games Festival (IGF) put on by the Game Developers Conference. Along with the award, IGF gave a $2,500 cash prize, offered for the first time. Toblo, which was originally about two teams racing to build a tower to the heavens, shifted gears during play-testing to incorporate destructive gameplay, which turned out to be much more fun for players. The shift in gameplay highlighted their physics engine, inspired by the book Game Coding Complete by Mike McShaffry. Clearly a crowd favorite and a success in various competitions, Toblo has earned the audience award at the 2006 Northwest Games Festival, the $30,000 grand prize in Intel’s game demo competition for Best Game on the Go, and, in addition to being nominated for Best Student Game at IGF, was also nominated for Design Innovation. The team, made up of Steve Chiavelli, John Jensen, Brad Rasmussen, Ben Smith, and Zach Peterson invite anyone to play and create their own levels for Toblo through free downloads at their website.