2013 Independent Games Festival student winners include Zineth, Knights of Pen and Paper

Organizers of the 2013 Independent Games Festival announced the competition's eight Student Showcase winners today, which include mobile role-playing game Knights of Pen and Paper and Jet Set Radio-style runner Zineth.

Over 300 projects across consoles, PC and mobile were submitted to the competition this year. The eight Student finalist games will be playable on the show floor of the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this March. Each winning team will receive a $1,000 prize and all are eligible for an additional $3,000 prize to be awarded to the Best Student Game overall.

This year's finalists include:

• Meta game ATUM, from the International Game, Architecture and Design program at the NHTV Breda University of Applied Science
• Back to Bed, in which players must guide a narcoleptic sleepwalker through hazardous environments, from the Danish Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment
• Stealth horror game Blackwell's Asylum, from the Danish Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment
• Farsh, a carpet-rolling game from the International Game, Architecture and Design program at the NHTV Breda University of Applied Science
• Pen-and-paper-style mobile RPG Knights of Pen & Paper from developer Behold Studios Jogos Eletronicos, students at the University of Brasília Higher Institute of Teaching
• The mindfulxp volume, a collection of eight minigames that mix different types of mechanics, from the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center
• First-person suspense-survival title Pulse, from the Vancouver Film School
• Cel-shaded movement title Zineth, from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Honorable mentions include:

• 16-bit action-adventure Anodyne, from the University of Chicago and Carleton College
• 3D puzzle platformer Chrono Disfunglement, from DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore
• The Moonlighters, a heist RPG from the University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division
• Narcosis, a first person survival-horror title from the National School of Video Games and Interactive Media in France
• Plushy Knight, a game centered around a young girl whose plush teddy bear fights battles for her, from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy
• SerpenteS, in which players must coordinate and manuever a two-headed snake, from the National School of Video Games and Interactive Media in France
• Stealth platformer SneakSneak from the Utrecht School of the Aats
• Open-world action adveneture Tales From The Minus Lab, from the University of Southern California

The eight winners, as well as the chosen finalist for Best Student Game, will be awarded at the Independent Games Festival Awards on March 27.