Euro unis lead IGF student contest

Five European academic institutions have been represented as finalists in the 2011 Independent Games Festival Student Showcase.

Students groups from the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland were five of the eight finalists, all whittled down from a record 280 entrants.

Academic institutions from the US and Canada completed the finalist set.

Each insitution, and the name of their winning project, are named in the list below.

All finalists will receive $500 and a trophy, while their projects will be available to play on the expo show floor at the landmark 25th Game Developers Conference.

A final winner will be announced at the Independent Games Festival Awards on March 2nd, and will pick up a $2,500 prize for Best Student Game.

The number of entrants for this year’s contest ramped by 47 per cent on last year.

A list of eight projects, their university of origin, and homeland, follows:

* E7 (Gymnasium Koniz Lerbermatt) – Switzerland
* Fract (University of Montreal) – Canada
* Glid (Bournemouth University) – UK
* Octodad (DePaul University) – US
* PaperPlane (ENJMIN) – France
* Solace (DigiPen Institute of Technology) – US
* Tiny and Big (School of Arts and Design Kassel) – Germany
* Toys (Future Games Academy) – Sweden