LOGOUT

Quinn is a citizen of the social media-obsessed society of Outpost 72. As Quinn, send messages and emojis to others in the city to affect their behavior. Use these methods to solve puzzles, distract guards, and explore the world through the short narrative stealth adventure game of LOGOUT.

GET LOGOUT FREE on Steam

Platform: Desktop/PC

Genre: Experimental, Indie, Adventure

Credits

Nancy Newren: Gameplay Engineer/Designer, Lead Level Designer
Tools used: Unreal

PlayWrite Studios team: (Listed in no particular order): McKensie Felix, Jensen Lillywhite, Yukun Peng-Drew, Andrew Liu, Brian Alexander, Lytal Ouska, Alanna Carroll, Ajay Sathish, Zeno Saviour, Chelsey Thompson, Mark Smith, Arpit Aggarwal

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The Dangerous Unknown

The dangerous unknown is an experimental twist on hidden object games. I made this game concept in less than an hour.

Download for free! The Dangerous Unknown

Platform: PC/mobile
Controls: tap/mouse click; PC only: r to reload, esc to quit

Play goals: to be pranked. (Make sure your sound is on!)

Genre: Hidden object with a twist. Experimental.

What people are saying:

“I think we just got pranked…”

Credits

Nancy Newren: Original concept, sole developer
Tools used: Unity, C#, git, quick coding

Special Thanks: Jose Zagal for the theme.

Constraints: theme, less than an hour

Inspiration Theme: Hidden Object with a Twist

Read more about the inspiration and development journey here.

Prideful Eyes

You are a shadow in the universe, and the light has its prideful eyes on you. There is no sure safety: only mutual destruction.

Free download: Prideful Eyes

Platform: PC
Controls: WASD/Arrows to move, space to jump. R to restart the level. Esc to quit.

Play Goals: Destroy the light before it destroys you. Upon death, you’ll respawn in a random spot on the map. There is only one level.

Genre: Experimental. A dark twist on experiential 3^rd person games
Genre Inspirations: 3^rd person, physics-based movement, experiential

Praise for this game:

“I like how the physics movement is free form.”

–Jose Zagal Ph.d. (Associate Professor, EAE Univeristy of Utah)

“I like the character. He looks funny.”

–Ezekiel Newren (Computer Scientist, Gamer, Cryptographer)

“This is my favorite part!”

–Edward Newren on Falling (Software Engineer 40+ years)

“I like the circular movement of the lights.”

–Several people (gamers and game developers)

Credits

Nancy Newren: Original concept, Sole developer, AI, game design, level design, more
Tools used: Unity, C#, git

Special Thanks: Jose Zagal for the theme, Ezekiel Newren for sparking the game idea.

Inspiration

Read more about the inspiration and development journey here.

Tech Escape: If You Can!

You are either a really dumb tech out to prove your boss wrong, or you’re just a really dumb tech who’s about to be fired. Maybe if you can do some damage and not get caught or killed, you’ll show your boss what’s what. Which you are on your way to doing. That is, if you can remember how to close all those stupid programs and get the heck out of dodge before the thing in the room gets you…

Test your keyboard command skills in this fun and short gamebook adventure featuring keyboard controls!

Play now for free on the web

Platform: Web Browser
Controls: Read and click! (You can do it!)

Play Goals: Choose the path that gets you out alive!

Genre: Experimental, Gamebook,
Genre Inspirations: Text Adventures, Gamebooks, Fighting Fantasies

Praise for this game:

“Oh man, Nancy’s game looks great!”

–Stephen Dona (Game Designer, Engineer)

“Her game had the best graphics. By far.”

–Jose Zagal Ph.d. (Associate Professor, EAE University of Utah)

“Cute, but short. Hopefully we see more from you in the future!”

–Pascal666

Credits

Nancy Newren: Original Concept, Sole developer, game design, narrative, cover image, more
Tools used: Unity (created the game cover image), Quest, Chrome, Writing Skills 😉

Special Thanks: Jose Zagal for the theme, Rhett McNamara for the initial game idea.

I hope you make your way to the happiest of endings…

Want to learn more?

Read the inspiration and development journey here.

To Save or NOT to Save…

You are Rudey, a cool guy who finds himself in a universe alien to him. Impending destruction hovers over the unaware but cutest of inhabitants: bunnies. It’s always bunnies! Unsure of what to do next, and unknown here, you find yourself immediately faced with a decision: to save or NOT to save them. Even your indecision leads to consequences that are inescapable. What do you choose?

To Save or NOT to Save is an ethical dilemma game where player decisions create game-world consequences which the avatar is forced to experience. Careful your decisions! They are not free!

Download a FREE copy!

(easy one-click download)
And tell me what you think!

Platform: PC premium (but could be modified for mobile later on)
Controls: Movement is WASD/Arrow Keys, and “E” for the quick time event for bunny saving

Play Goals: It is up to you! Before the countdown ends: try to save the bunnies by picking them up, kill them by running into them, or be indecisive. But don’t worry, you’ll be judged no matter what you choose. (There is only one level.)

Genre: Experimental
Genre Inspirations: Runners, push your luck, 3D platformers

Credits

Nancy Newren: Everything! Original concept, game design, gameplay programming, unique camera, UI/UX, more
Tools used: Unity, C#, git, brains 😉

Special Thanks: Jose Zagal for providing the theme (Push Your Luck!)

Learn more

Continue exploring this universe by reading the development journey to discover how this game was created.

Match This!

Use your well-developed little brain to match the 3D objects to their photographs or not. 🙂 You’ll get fun feedback when you make a match!

I made this game in a week with nothing but a graphics engine and rudimentary game loop (for submitting the graphics assets every frame, of course!), and the assignment to “make something interesting!” Okay, so it’s not pretty, but I made it in a week, during finals!

This game is not the prettiest, but it was fun to make and present to my class. It was one of only three unique games made out of a class of 30.

Free Download: Fun Shape Matching Game!

Platform: PC, but works on wine 🙂

Controls: Use arrow keys to move the 3D object to its matching card.

Praise for this game:

“Thanks for taking the time to discuss your project so thoroughly, and also for spending so much time making a cool game. I was impressed!”

— John-Paul (Professor for EAE 6310:Game Engineering II, real-time graphics engineer, and graphics engineer on the Infinity Disney games.)

Credits

Nancy Newren: Original concept, SOLE developer, game designer, gameplay programmer, game engine engineer
Tools used: C++, D3D, OpenGL, Beefed up JP game engine

Special Thanks: John-Paul Ownby

Development Journey

I kept a weekly record of the development of the game engine leading up to and including the creation of this game. Read all about it here.

Schrodinger’s Uncertain Butterfly: A Principle in Perception

Become a butterfly and explore a meadow of treasures. But beware: things are only as you perceive them to be! (This is one of my personal favorites.)

Experience life as the uncertain butterfly.

FREE download: Uncertain Butterfly

Platform: PC
Controls: Use the mouse for the menus. Then discover a different way to move with the same WASD

Play Goals: Use your sphere of perception to avoid monsters and find seeds. Collecting seeds plants beautiful flowers! Plant them all!
Genre: Experiential, Experimental, calming

Judges Choice, Global Game Jam 2014

Praise for this game:

“OMG this game rulezzz!”

–Roger Altizer Ph.d. (Associate Director, EAE University of Utah)

Credits

The More Betterflies team

• Nancy Newren: Team lead, gameplay engineer, unique player movement, original concept, game design
  Tools used: Unity, C#, SVN
• Shane Sumsion: artist/tech art
• Swapnil Sawant: engineer
• Casey Deans: producer

More Betterflies is on Facebook. We’d love to hear what you think!

Armadillo Smash N’ Roll

Armie has been a “lab rat” — nearly nothing to compares to that insult! — to aliens for far too long. But what the aliens haven’t realized is that they’ve trained and taught him, possibly enough for Armie to make a daring, and fun, escape!

Help Armie smash n’ roll his way to freedom in this fun experimental mobile game for windows 8!

Editor’s Pick Award, 2013

Unfortunately, this game is no longer available for play.

Platform: Windows 8
Controls: Touch the direction on the circle to roll armie up and maneuver your way to freedom!

Credits

My contribution: UI/UX, platform build and publishing engineer, ideation
Tools used: Unity, C#, SVN

Rest of the team:  Gagan Singh (engineer), Nancy Newren (engineer), Robert Guest (artist), Casey Deans (producer), Brad Dedea (producer).

Soon after this fun little project, and before we could refine our level designs, our small team moved on to bigger things, but we’re on Facebook!

80’s Arcade: MOD

Test your gamer skills against this difficult arcade game! Remember it only counts as winning if you carry the plumber with you to the little blue “door” at the bottom. You’re wearing heels so you can’t jump on/off ladders, and carrying him really slows you down, but you can’t leave him behind! Jump over the barrels or, in a pinch, throw him at a barrel to avoid getting hit yourself. He’s a man. He can take it! At least a couple times…

This game is really tough. Many have played. Few have won. Good luck!

This is concept art for future levels that sadly will never be made.

Unfortunately, this game is no longer available to play

Platform: Web

Controls: Noted on the webpage. Be sure to click on the game window before attempting to make your escape!

Credits

Nancy Newren: gameplay engineer, player controller, design, and the juiciest and most important part: the plumber toss!
Tools used: ActionScript, git

Rest of the Team: Swapnil Sawant (engineer), James Hulse (producer/engineer), Christopher Cherrington (artist), Travis Turner (producer)

What Inspired Us

To promote girl power, I had to include this fun little game we made in ActionScript. The assignment was to take an 80’s arcade game and riff off of it. We decided to base our game on the arcade game where a certain plumber goes against a certain giant monkey; only this time, the woman gets to be the hero! That poor, tall plumber dressed in green did everything but stay conscious after defeating that monkey. Now this strong woman has to carry his heavy body out of the building while jumping over and dodging barrels, and all while in a dress and high heels! Her date just had to end badly…