Outstanding games honored at GDAP Game Development Festival

(Manila, Philippines, January 24, 2013) — Philippine-made digital games Streetfood Tycoon, Word Stack, Undead Fever, Puzzle Pets Adventure, Purefoods Tender Juicy Shop for Mommy, Innkeeper HD, Grav, and Noypi Nota were honored at the 3rd Philippine Game Development Festival (PGDF) for their excellent overall visuals, graphics, design, and function.

Sponsored by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), the festival featured digital games in various categories. Top game developer companies from the Philippines, including Kuyi Mobile, MochiBits, Anino Games, NuWorks Interactive Labs, Soupware, BL-ED, Zeenoh Games, Kongregate, Komikasi, and Armorgames, participated in the event.

Streetfood Tycoon by Kuyi Mobile won the Cultural Award and the Best Handheld/ Mobile Game. Considered the number one strategy game in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Asia, the game allows players to establish their own food cart and sell a variety of street food. Meanwhile, MochiBits’ Word Stack, a word association game where the player must group words that are synonyms, antonyms, or compound, received the Innovation Award.

Undead Fever and Puzzle Pets Adventure, produced by Anino Games, were honored as the Best PC/Mac Game and Best Browser-based Game, respectively. Undead Fever is a time management game that focuses on putting the undead where they belong while making money for the funeral parlor while players can battle, collect, and raise pets with special powers in the match-3 puzzle role-playing game (RPG) Puzzle Pets Adventure.

A video game where mothers and kids can bond, Purefoods Tender Juicy Shop for Mommy developed by NuWorks Interactive Labs won Best Advergame. It was played 38,893 times with 4,720 installations and 2,460 registered users. Because of the game’s popularity, it boosted 57,904 Likes on the Purefoods Tender Juicy fan page.

Marvin Apacible bagged the Best Indie Game award for Innkeeper HD. This hotel management game, set on the island of Siquijor, aims to help a family run their business amid mysterious rumors about the aswang (mythical vampire-like creatures).

The Open Class award was given to Soupware’s Grav, a 2.5D platform game that revolves around gravity and solving puzzles. Meanwhile, Team BL-ED went home with the GameOn! Master Class award for Noypi Nota, which was inspired by rhythm-based games. GameOn Philippines is a game development competition that allows student teams to team up with industry veterans throughout the development stage.

“We want our game development industry to be as rich and vibrant as that in other countries. This festival is our way of showing how successful we can be,” said GDAP president Alvin Juban.

This year’s PGDF, with the theme “The Power to Create, The Power to Rule”, was supported by the Department of Science and Technology—Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) and the University of the Philippines—Association for Computer Machinery (UP ACM). GDAP also held a two-day event at the Department of Computer Science in the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Various international and local speakers from GDAP member companies held conferences and workshops for students.

“The country’s game development industry is getting bigger and more complex. There are about 3,000 creative professionals in our local industry working for about 60 companies. This should have turned over an estimated US$70 million by end-2011 to early 2012. About five percent work on console game services while the rest are for mobile and social games, and the latter 15 percent does other services like game design consulting, and game community support,” said Juban.

“We want the Philippine game development industry to be as rich and vibrant as that in other countries,” said Alvin Juban, president of GDAP and head of operations of Secret 6.

The Game Developers Association of the Philippines capped 2012 with the Philippine Game Development Festival.

Undead Fever by Anino Games
Best PC/Mac Game

Puzzle Pets Adventure by Anino Games
Best Browser-based Game

Innkeeper HD by Marvin Apacible
Best Indie Game

Purefoods Tender Juicy Shop for Mommy by NuWorks Interactive Labs
Best Advergame

Noypi Nota by BL-ED
GameOn! Master Class

Grav by Soupware
GameOn! Open Class

Word Stack by MochiBits
Innovation Award

Streetfood Tycoon by Kuyi Mobile
Cultural Award and Best Handheld Game

About the Business Processing Association of the Philippines
The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) is the enabling association for the IT-BPO and GIC (global in-house center) industry in the Philippines. BPAP serves as the one-stop information and advocacy gateway for the industry. With approximately 300 industry and support-industry members, including five associations—the Animation Council of the Philippines, Contact Center Association of the Philippines, Game Developers Association of the Philippines, Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, and Philippine Software Industry Association—BPAP plays a pivotal role in sustaining rapid growth of the IT-BPO and GIC industry by working to ensure an enduring supply of high quality labor, supporting service innovation, and providing country visibility.

BPAP assists investors in setting up operations easily and quickly in the Philippines. Relevant research, introductions to key government and industry officials, and a series of briefings at each step of the investment process ensure a seamless development process. On-going support is provided through a wide variety of initiatives, including programs for HR development, business development, and on-going knowledge sharing and networking opportunities.