The halls of the Alliant Energy Center bustled with activity. It’s the MDEV exhibitor hall where students and established indie developers alike show off their work. I spent quite a few hours traveling up and down this hall, trying out as many games as I could. Here are some (but not all) of the gems that I played, in no particular order.

1. Trash Dungeon

Trash Dungeon is a dungeon roguelike about a rabid racoon eating trash and killing things. On account of the raccoon’s rabies, you must continue to keep you combo meter running high throughout the event.

Trash Dungeon does a fantastic job of making you feel like a frantic, greasy creature wreaking havoc around a dark and disgusting place. Even as someone who likes slower-paced, strategic games, I found playing the game delightful.

2. Periphery Synthetic

Periphery Synthetic is a blind-accessible exploration game, where the player traverses procedurally generated “sonified” environments. Periphery Synthetic succeeds greatly at creating a feeling of mystery and intrigue, and it accomplishes that largely through game audio. The sounds that the environment produce, as well as the ambient background cords are both incredible.

The game also has a mode where you can use the controller as an instrument to jam out. I found it fun and satisfying even though I don’t have any real musical chops.

3. Hypertyper 2000

HypertTyper 2000 is a bullet-hell typing game where, with your right hand, you use the arrow keys to evade enemies, and with your other hand, you type words to destroy said enemies. Playing this game long enough will make you an expert typist for words that use the left half of the keyboard. I found the game quite challenging, even on “easy mode”, where you only have to type individual letters in order to kill enemies. Even so, the game is addicting to play, and even to watch.

4. Monolith

I have a soft spot for card games, especially when mashed with other genres. Monolith is a low-poly tower defense game with card and deckbuilding mechanics. At the start of the game, you choose one of three classes, each of which has a different set of cards. In between relatively traditional waves of enemies marching toward your tower, you spend resources to play some of said cards, in order to build more towers, explore further into the map, or get other benefits. The game also has an interesting set of building placement mechanics, which had me irresponsibly trading good tower positioning for better resource acquisition.

5. Archon

Archon is a grand strategy game about the heir of a broken and fractured human interstellar empire. The game is played in two modes – a galaxy map where you enact policies and read through intelligence reports. Then, you select on worlds with encounters to play through the narrative portion of the game. Though the base mechanics of the Archon are simple, the narrative is rich. Each situation has advisors, perhaps with their own interests, vying to steer your decision making. My choices mattered more than in any other grand strategy game that I’ve played.

Conclusion

Gordon Bellamy, a keynote speaker and professor at USC said it best: “The Midwest has always been a quiet powerhouse in game development, where creativity, collaboration, and perseverance converge to shape the industry in profound ways. From pioneering studios and independent innovators to the emerging voices in the Collegiate Games Challenge, the Heartland continues to define what’s next for our medium. I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend time with this community, to celebrate its legacy, and to share in the optimism and ingenuity that continue to drive it forward.”

The speakers and organizers have consistently hammered home the creativity of Midwestern game developers. And I’m inclined to agree. The games I saw at the Aliant, often exhibited by a solo dev or small team, showed a ton of promise, fascinating mechanics, and great gameplay. I only wish I had more time to try to them out while I wait for them to release on Steam or Itch.io.

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