As a sequel to a commercial game, Dark Archon II is a little different from the other entries in the showcase.  This game combines RTS with world building, but focuses heavily on completing missions.  As the sole survivor of the Archonian conflict you play the role of the Earthlings.  As you play through the game you meet up with different races and can build alliances with them by helping them complete specific quests, or turn them into enemies by firing on them, their planets, or their space stations.  Each race comes complete with their own personality that you need to learn to work with or you may end up destroyed by them.  The game is a pseudo combination between games such as Master of Orion II, a space-based RTS, and the original adventure based Dark Archon Invasion.  Dark Archon II is a game that has been created by someone who has sold other commercially successful games, and it appears that they will continue that trend with this interesting and difficult to categorize space sim.
 

Visit the Dark Archon II website for more info

For those wanting some serious blast away action from the top of an off-roadster, Fatal Traction does not disappoint.  The game isn't big on storyline, but what kind of storyline do you need when you can take a buggy onto the beach and blast away at everything you see?

The main highlight of the game is really the graphics, which are bright and beautiful to behold.  Fatal Traction takes place on various islands that are uninhabited other than the other off-road vehicles that are also blasting their way around the island.  For a student project, the game does an amazing job of making each computer player adapt to the terrain which runs from rugged to sandy beaches.  Those looking for a nice diversion should give this game a look.
 

Visit the Fatal Traction website for more info

The IGF is all about games that break away from the mold, and Growbot definitely does that.  This game is really a very fast action puzzle game.  In the game you have various things that are growing.  There is a robot on the screen who goes around harvesting the different plants.  Your goal is to get him to harvest all of the plants needed (shown in the lower right-hand corner of the screen).

The robot doesn't move on its own unless there is a plant that it can harvest in front of it.  Every couple of seconds a new plant starts growing.  You have a limited time to move that plant, within a small area, or the plant will stay where it grew.  The idea is to line up the plants in such an order that harvestable plants are in front of the robot.  If you corner in the robot with un-harvestable plants your garden wins.  Harvest all the plants and you move onto more difficult levels that include obstacles to make the game more challenging. 
 

Visit the Growbot website for more info

Hexvex reminded me a lot of Chomp! Chomp! Safari, one of the IGF download/open category finalists, in the sheer quality and completeness of the games.  Honestly just playing around in the menus is somewhat amusing as they are very nicely put together. 

The game is a new twist on puzzle games...literally.  In Hexvex, the goal of the game is to take different colored balls and put them on the board in such a fashion as to form circles with them.  Typically you are completing multiple circles at the same time while also using a various other items to move the colored balls already present on the playing board, or maybe even just blow them up. 

Even though Hexvex isn't quite finished yet, the quality is certainly up to professional standards, and it might have even  been a finalist in the downloadable category had it been submitted there.
 

Visit the Hexvex website for more info

The screenshot is certainly no lie.  Hyperbol is likely the best looking of all of the student showcase games, and this year that is really saying something.  The game occurs on a battleground that is somewhat reminiscent of the Open category finalist Bontago.  However in Hyperbol the game play is completely different.  The game has the feel of a great multiplayer strategy/action game.  In Hyperbol, you build up bases and projectiles.  The game is played by throwing the projectiles at the other players compounds on the battlefield hoping to destroy all of their buildings and therefore win.

Of course that is a description that does not the faintest bit of explanation of how much fun the game is.  Certainly a game to check out at the IGF for those who get to attend.
 

Visit the Hyperbol website for more info

Like many Indie gamers, I've been playing games for a long time, one of the first games I played was Scorched Earth, a fantastic multiplayer game.  Those who remember that game will instantly see some connections between it and Ice Wars.  In Ice Wars, however, you will see very solid graphics and a variety of characters, all hell-bent on destroying you. 

This is another project that isn't quite finished.  Still, the game looks good as is, and it plays fairly well.  Ice Wars puts you in control of a squad of different Polar characters such as Polar Bears and Penguins, and gives you the task of using their great variety of weapons to destroy other players on the screen.  Those who enjoyed Worms and Snails will likely enjoy this one as well.
 

Visit the Ice Wars website for more info

Certainly one of the more polished looking games in the IGF Student Showcase is Kube Kombat.  The game is not really a new concept, but it works better in Kube Kombat than it does in most games.  What is the concept?  Combining fighting action with a puzzle game. 

Kube Kombat plays you versus a human opponent for a number of rounds.  There are various welcome modifications to your typical block puzzle game, in addition to several power-ups that make the game even more interesting to play.  In playing the game, what you are trying to do is damage your opponent to the point of winning the round.  Once that has been accomplished, you continue on to the next round until a victor is crowned.  Though I ran into a couple of technical problems with the game, I'm confident this will be one of the busiest booths at the Student Showcase when the IGF comes around!
 

Visit the Kube Kombat website for more info

At first glance you might not thing much of scrapped.  The graphics certainly have a dated feeling to them even though the slick menu screens and cool weapon effects help to dispel that feeling.  However, as most reasonable people know, there is a lot more to games than graphics. 

Scrapped has a wide variety of options for players to choose from, with multiple types of robots and weapons.  The goal is to hunt down and destroy other bots.  This can be done in single-player mode of course, but multiplayer/network play is also available for more fun.  Being able to use a joystick would have been a big plus, but even without it, the arena feel and action of Scrapped makes the game fun to play in groups. 
 

Visit the Scrapped website for more info

Treefort wars is one of the coolest sounding concepts at the GDC.  Unfortunately, the game also has the most stringent suggested system requirements of all the games at the Independent Games Festival.  On my fairly speedy system (AMD 2000XP, GeForce2, nForce Motherboard, 512MB RAM) the game is completely unplayable due to the slowdown present.  My hope is that the game will be parried down to something more playable as the name is enough to get most people interested in playing the game.

The concept is built around building a treefort, and then trying to destroy other people's treeforts while also defending your own.  The game play is more like a SIM game than anything else, with a heavy emphasis on the intangible "team morale."
 

Visit the Treefort Wars website for more info

Zaxxon is a game that many current games probably don't even remember.  The same isometric game play was revitalized on the Neo Geo with the game Viewpoint several years later, but most probably didn't even have a chance to play that stellar game.  Now, through the help of a student team, the same game idea has take to 3D with the game Xazzon.

The graphics are certainly a highlight to the game.  Recently the website for the game has been launched which gives you some great screenshots of levels in the game.  Aside from the great graphics Xazzon is quite a bit more difficult to play than many of the finalists, though for those who stick it out, the game offers a fair amount of fun.
 

Visit the Xazzon website for more info