"Lost Garden,” Final Project of Department of Visual Communication graduate, wins honorable mention at IGF Games Festival

The final project “Lost Garden,” created by Ori Shany, Ramon Zerem and Yoni Pushett, won  Honorable Mention in the Student Games category at the Independent Games Festival – the world’s most important indie game festival.

Ori Shany (a graduate of the Department of Visual Communication at Bezalel), Ramon Zerem and Yoni Pushett (graduates of the Games Division at the Hebrew University and assistants in the department) created the game out of a desire to reconnect with nature. Humans are born with an innate attraction to nature called biophilia, but over the years, this connection has weakened and become something that must be pursued and worked at. The game “Lost Garden” is a virtual space that represents the lost nature and invites the user to renew their experience of partnership and appreciation for nature through creation. The game offers an opportunity to sculpt a breathing system composed of soil, water and plants. This takes place in a process of development, discovery and progress, alongside disconnection and relaxation.

The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is one of the largest events in the field, and is designed to encourage innovation in game development and recognize the best independent developers from around the world. Every year, hundreds of games are nominated in the various categories, which are judged by a diverse group of leading industry professionals.

The final project was supervised by Eric Lerner and Doron Assayas Terre.

For the project on the Bezalel 2024 Graduates website