Bashar Alqassar
Bashar Alqassar, a graduate student in the Department of Interactive Media and Game Development (IMGD), was awarded the Boston Festival of Indie Games (BostonFIG) award for Excellence in Digital Design on December 7, 2025, for his game, A Color Theory.
BostonFIG is an annual event where dozens of locally developed independent games are showcased, and a select few are recognized with awards for excellence in 14 different aspects of the medium. Hundreds of games apply annually to be nominated. The Excellence in Digital Design award recognizes games that excel in the aspect of game design, mechanics, and innovation.
Alqassar began working on A Color Theory one year ago in an experimental course that explored designing experiences around the concept of generative AI taught by Gillian Smith, director of the IMGD program. He developed the prototype for the game as his final project, linking themes related to generative AI embedded in the project, while keeping the game free of AI-generated content.
A Color Theory is a puzzle game where colors determine what an object does in the game world. Instead of navigating a character to a flag in each level, you are guiding any blue object to any yellow object, no matter the shape of the object or what it is. Spikes sometimes don’t hurt you, sometimes you are the spikes, sometimes the spikes are the goal of the level.
“The game is all about playing with your expectations of established game tropes and obscuring puzzle solutions in abstraction.” Bashar says. “I did not expect this game to go as far as it did, and I am extremely thankful for all the support and feedback I have received along the way.”
You can find a free demo for the game on Steam
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