RMIT Games students showcase mind-blowing games

Pixellated by Zahraa Al Zubaydi and Naomi Ruys sets a cyborg child among a multi-dimensional universe. The game starts with a painted watercolour style in a colourful home. The player explores their surroundings, putting pieces together about how the blue-haired character is adapting to the world around them.

After stepping into a dimensional rift, the game becomes pixel art with a key-press mini-game. The two opposing worlds they are apart of represents a cultural subtext. Zubaydi and Ruys representation of differing art styles reflects adapting to different cultures in real life. The difficulty with finding oneself in a new city or learning the ins-and-outs of another home is a powerful subtle subtext.

Zubaydi and Ruys aim to bring the game to online stores like Steam in future. It is currently on itch.io for anyone to experience. Pixellated only left players wanting more, and everyone will be waiting to see how the game evolves.

David Chen and Danna Yun put together one of the most impressive games of the night. Spiritwell is “an RPG about a lost child who falls down a well into a world of spirits“. The game features a beautiful retro pixel-art style and hilarious writing that feels like Mother. Set within a fictional, Japanese inspired world full of takoyaki and mushroom creatures, a real sense of love for design is present.

Something about the use of vibrant colours against detailed environments makes this stand out against indie-retro games available. It’s strange, it’s funny, and it’s a story-rich journey that attendees loved. Chen and Yun plan to release a demo for Spiritwell in early 2020.

crtl//SHIFT is a typing RPG set in Melbourne CBD with its own mechanical keyboard customiser. Veronica and Ben, the two-person team, are lovers of all things anime and PCs. Starting as an experimental keyboard designer, the pair decided to turn it into a game with Persona dialogue within a cyber Jet Set Radio styled world.

The AR dominated Melbourne Central features a crew of cyber-graffiti artists who hack into environments by speed-typing. Farell, Ain, and Sofia get into mischief and build word banks as the player types to electronic-art victory. ctrl//SHIFT is striking and undoubtedly special. Mechanical keyboard diehards will not want to miss this on itch.io.

Queer Space Pirates created a crowd simply for its fantastic name. A passionate team of five behind this vibrant Point-and-Click gave a quick glimpse into this episodic adventure. Apollo, the captain of a strikingly styled vessel, encounters a critical failure… when a long-lost friend (and potential lover) comes to their aid. It’s all about queer romance, jaunty visual novel fun, all wrapped with light-hearted writing and design.

Nathaniel Bott, Alex Leheny, Wei Yeh, Clair Cooke, and Avery Hutley put outrageous amounts of creativity into this project. Playing Queer Space Pirates demo at the RMIT Games Showcase is like going to an ice-cream shop and tasting a flavour before buying. You leave only wanting more and more and end up buying a quadruple scoop with extra rainbow sprinkles.