Congratulations to Indiecade Award Nominated Alums!

Report on the Death of Robert Evergreen, one of the projects of the 2023 NYU Game Center Incubator cohort, has been nominated for the Live Action category Indiecade award. Since its inception in 2005 Indiecade has been the only festival in the US that focus and supports exclusively independent games and it’s been compared to the Sundance festival, but for games.

The game is also running for the Grand Jury Award, Jury Prix, Innovation in Experience Design, Innovation in Interaction Design, and Developer’s Choice Awards. “The Local Rag was absolutely honored and delighted to receive news of these nominations'' says Sarah Doherty Granoff, project manager and narrative designer from the Local Rag, the team behind the game, “We are deeply grateful to everyone who has seen so much potential in our game thus far.”

Report on the Death of Robert Evergreen is a narrative journalism game about the unique social, political, and cultural environment of New York City in the early 1990s. As the newly hired editor-in-chief of struggling local newspaper The Local Rag, the player must decide how stories will be told in the paper’s headline articles. In making these decisions, the player must balance their own morals, journalistic ethics, and the need to keep their newspaper in business. The game can be played digitally and in a hybrid format that involves listening to interviews using an analog audio cassette recorder.

“I can’t wait to see where the team will take the project now” shares Matteo Uguzzoni, NYU Game Center Incubator admin, the program that is incubating the project “Report on the Death of Robert Evergreen has the potential to become a multi-hour experience exploring hidden New York stories that can be very interesting for a publisher looking for new audiences, that’s why our Advisory Board members selected it for the program.”

Report on the Death of Robert Evergreen is a very different game from a lot of the usual suspects, it plays with audio files, ethical choices and an aesthetic that is aligned with the era in which is set and the experience of being an up and coming reporter, “​​Report on the Death of Robert Evergreen is a game all about examining an important time in history through the stories of those standing in the aftermath” Sarah Doherty Granoff continues “Life and history aren't just about the big events, but about what we do with them afterwards. I think that our embrace of that perspective for the story of Robert Evergreen is what really sets our game apart.”

Report on the Death of Robert Evergreen is available on Itch.io and will be available on Steam after the Festival Award ceremony that will take place on November 4th 2023.

The Local Rag 

Ashley Eliassaint (BFA ‘23) - Programmer

Sarah Doherty Granoff (BFA ‘23) - Project Manager & Narrative Designer

Darcy Gutierrez (BFA ‘23) - Art Director & Programmer

Jackie Murray (BFA ‘23) - Gameplay and Narrative Designer

Nick Portugal (BFA ‘23) - Audio Designer