Final Project 'Breaking News' Wins Grand Prize at the Figgie Festival

'Breaking News' – the final project by Danil Bialo, Tamir Herzberg and Evyatar Cohen won the Figgie Award for 'Excellence in Design' at the Figgie Indie Games Festival in Boston. The project was also nominated in the Excellence in Visual Art and Best Student Game categories.

The project was created in collaboration between Danil, a graduate of the Visual Communication Department at Bezalel, and Tamir and Evytatar, graduates of the Games Division at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The three began the project in the 'Digital Game Development' course taught by Eran Haleli, Doron Esias and Idan Rosa, which they continued to develop into a joint final project supervised by Rotem Fish and Yuval Markowitz. The game was presented at the 2024 Bezalel Graduates Exhibition, for which they received the Meisler Prize.

The game presents a chaotic interactive experience that allows the player to change the reality broadcast through physical contact with the television set. Through a series of iconic television images and scenes, designed in an abstract and humorous language, the user can control the outcome and change it to their advantage.

Project page on the 'Bezalel 2024 Graduates website'