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November 17, 2010

Hello, all! So, as you can see below, we've teamed up with NYC-based indie arcade collective Babycastles to run an Independent Games Festival 2010 exhibit at their Manhattan show-space.

The limited-time exhibition is opening this Thursday - November 18th, nightly through Saturday, November 27th, with special musical guests on the opening and closing nights.

IGF_AT_BABYCASTLES_WEB_3.JPG

I tried to bring together a wide-ranging group of both finalists and winners across all categories that -- most importantly -- would "show well" in a space where noise (and, for its opening and closing parties, sobriety) levels weren't guaranteed.

We think it turned out to be a nice mix that might introduce new people to games that are already out in the marketplace, as well as games that even many tried and true indie fans might not have had much of a chance to play, especially in public.

To that end, we've got last year's Grand Prize winner Monaco available for full-multiplayer testing, as well as a special build of Cactus's Nuovo winner Tuning, which -- if all goes according to plan -- will be projected across one of the show-space walls.

Babycastles has also put together a stellar lineup of chiptune artists for the opening and closing parties, the latter of which I'll be flying in from London on November 27th to attend, and hopefully get a chance to play some of the selections with you all!

You'll find more details on Thursday's free opening night show -- taking place at 217 E 42nd St -- via Babycastle's Facebook page.

Alternatively, you can also click the flyer image above for a slightly higher-res version perfect for printing and framing -- a huge thanks to friend of IGF Cory Schmitz for working up a truly beautiful show poster!

November 11, 2010

Organizers of the 2011 Independent Games Festival are pleased to announce the jury panel that will determine the finalists and winner of its Excellence in Audio award, a category which seeks to highlight the best musical & sound innovation, quality, and impressiveness in independent gaming.

Prior finalists and winners of the IGF Excellence in Audio award, which will be given out at Game Developers Conference 2011 next March, earned recognition for games that took an entirely new and unique to approach to sound in games or otherwise excelled at their craft.

These have included Queasy Games' abstract acoustic guitar shooter and 2007 award winner Everyday Shooter, 2008 finalist guitar-controller platformer Fret Nice, 2009's ultra-stylized finalist PixelJunk Eden from Q-Games and Osaka musician/DJ Baiyon, and the atmospheric 2010 award winning Closure (pictured).

This year, the jury will receive recommendations from the wider body of over 150 IGF Main Competition judges (itself including notable former IGF winners, finalists and indie game notables including Ron Carmel, Andy Schatz, Ramiro Corbetta, Kellee Santiago, and Olivier Lejade) as they consider the merits of each of the five finalists and eventual award winner.

The 2011 IGF Excellence in Audio award jury consists of the following:

- Danny Baranowsky (Founder of dB soundworks and musician behind games like Canabalt & 2010 Excellence in Audio finalist Super Meat Boy.)
- Vincent Diamante (Composer and sound designer behind PS3 indie hit Flower, audio & game design teacher at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.)
- Jordan Fehr (Sound designer/editor/mixer with credits on Super Meat Boy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, SteamBirds, Realm of the Mad God, & Spewer.)
- Dylan Fitterer (Creator of music-puzzle racer and 2008 IGF Excellence in Audio winner Audiosurf.)
- David Lloyd & Larry Oji (Respectively, musician and founder of game music site OverClocked ReMix; OCR head and soundtrack director on Capcom's Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.)
- Matt Piersall (Founder of GL33K, the indie audio studio behind games like Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, Epic Mickey & Donkey Kong Country Returns.)
- Emily Ridgway (Music director and audio designer on games like BioShock, Brutal Legend & Costume Quest.)
- William Stallwood & Dain Saint (Respectively, creative director & technical director of Cipher Prime Studios, creator of ambient music puzzler Auditorium.)
- Rich Vreeland (Composer, sound designer, netlabel curator, and chiptune musician performing as Disasterpeace.)
- Josh Whelchel (Independent composer behind The Spirit Engine 2 & Bonesaw: The Game and works for UbiSoft, MTV and Zynga.)

Continue reading "2011 Independent Games Festival Announces Audio Award Jury" »

November 05, 2010

The organizers of the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival -- the longest-running and largest festival relating to independent games worldwide -- are proud to announce another year of record entry numbers for IGF 2011's Student Competition, following its submission deadline this week.

In total, this year's Student Competition took in more than 280 game entries across all platforms -- PC, console and mobile -- from a wide diversity of the most prestigious universities and games programs from around the world.

While 2010's content saw an impressive 193 entries, this year sees that number increase another 47% to 283 total games, making the Student IGF one of the world's largest showcases of student talent.

Together with the record Main Competition entries, this year's IGF has taken in roughly 650 total entries -- the largest number in the festival's history across the Main and Student competitions.

This year's Student Competition includes a number of entries from students tackling intimate personal issues through the medium of games, including Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab's Elude, a game which mirrors "the rising tide of depression, and the search for a path to happiness".

Also in this vein is the University of Portsmouth team's self-reflective portrait of a single man in Dinner Date, which looks at "his desires and doubts to reflections on his friends and his place in the world" as he waits alone for a would-be romantic evening.

Continue reading "2011 Independent Games Festival Debuts Record Student Entry Numbers" »

November 03, 2010

Organizers of the second annual Independent Games Festival China have revealed finalists for both the Main and Student competitions, including over 10 stand-out indie games from across Asia.

High-quality submissions for the second iteration of the event -- a newly formed sister competition to the main yearly Independent Games Festival in San Francisco -- were received from multiple Chinese provinces, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, India and beyond.

Finalists were chosen by a panel of distinguished local judges, including representatives from Shanda Games, Tencent, IGDA Shanghai, TipCat Interactive and more.

IGF China finalists are invited to Shanghai for the Game Developers Conference China event from December 5th to 7th, where they will be showing their games at a special Pavilion on the Expo Floor, open to all GDC China attendees.

In addition, finalists are eligible to win up to RMB61,000 ($9,100) in cash prizes, as well as specially created awards and All Access Passes to GDC San Francisco 2011 worth thousands of dollars.

The Main Competition finalists for the 2010 Independent Games Festival China are:

Sugar Cube (Turtle Cream, South Korea)
Hazard: The Journey Of Life (Alexander Bruce, Australia)
Train Conductor 2 (The Voxel Agents, Australia)
Cut & Paste (Turtle Cream, South Korea)
Skillz: The DJ Game (Playpen Studios, Hong Kong)
ButaVX: Justice Fighter (Nekomura Games, Singapore)
Crossout (Coconut Island Studio, China)

The Student Competition finalists for this year's IGF China event are as follows:

Continue reading "2010 Independent Games Festival China Announces Finalists" »

October 29, 2010

If you've been planning to enter, the time is now! Submissions for the Student Showcase portion of the 13th annual Independent Games Festival are due in just a few short days, at 11:59 PM PDT on Monday, November 1st.

After breaking last year's record for the number of Main Competition entries, we're also rapidly approaching potential all-time high numbers for this year's Student Competition submissions. If you'd like to have your own voice as part of that chorus, submit your student game by clicking this link.

In the meantime, we're currently technically and compatibility checking 2011 IGF Main Competition games, and are in the process of opening up voting to judges. For mobile and iPhone/iPad entrants, we will be sending you key information that you require soon, including unique judge UDIDs!

As we said before, we're all looking forward to spending more time with your game in the coming months -- good luck to everyone involved!

October 28, 2010

Organizers of the 2011 Independent Games Festival are announcing the distinguished jury panel that will determine the eight finalists and overall winner of its Nuovo Award.

This special award, part of the IGF, which takes place at Game Developers Conference 2011 next February, is dedicated to honoring abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which "advances the medium and the way we think about games."

Now in its third year, the Nuovo Award allows more esoteric 'art games' from among the almost 400 IGF entries to compete on their own terms alongside longer-form indie titles, and has been newly expanded to include eight finalists.

The Nuovo has previously been awarded to Jason Rohrer's abstract multiplayer title Between and to Tuning [YouTube link] -- the perception-warping platform puzzler from Swedish indie Cactus.

This year's Nuovo Award jury has been selected to represent a diverse body of developers both independent and mainstream, academics, art world notables, and -- in general -- some of our industry's top thinkers on the future of art and the video game medium.

The jury will receive game recommendations from the wider body of over 150 IGF Main Competition judges (itself including notable former IGF winners and finalists including Petri Purho, Kyle Gabler, Jakub Dvorsky, Tyler Glaiel, and Dylan Fitterer).

The 2011 IGF Nuovo jury consists of the following:

Continue reading "2011 Independent Games Festival Announces Nuovo Award Jury" »

October 21, 2010

The organizers of the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival -- the longest-running and largest festival relating to independent games worldwide -- are proud to announce another year of record entry numbers for IGF 2011's Main Competition, following its submission deadline this week.

In total, this year's Main Competition took in just under 400 game entries -- many of them new titles from leading indie developers -- across all platforms.

This includes 150 entries for mobile hardware like the iPhone, iPad, DS, PSP and Android devices, with all mobile entries now eligible for all IGF 2011 prizes, including a unique Best Mobile Game award.

In-depth information and entrant-provided screenshots and videos on each of the IGF Main Competition entries are now available on IGF.com, a feature unique to the contest.

This total entry tally comprises almost 30 percent more games than last year's record 306 Main Competition entries, itself a 35 percent rise over the previous year -- emphasizing the continued popularity and importance of both independent games and the IGF itself.

Continue reading "2011 Independent Games Festival Announces Record Main Competition Entrants" »

October 19, 2010

In case you missed the news, IGF 2010 Grand Prize winner Andy Schatz, creator of Monaco, and Shadow Physics dev Steve Swink will be leading talks at the Independent Games Summit as part of the upcoming GDC China, this December 5th-7th in Shanghai.

Schatz will present his 'How to Win the IGF in 15 Weeks or Less' speech, while Swink will be presenting a focused design talk on the making of Shadow Physics and the unique development concerns of working in experimental games.

Also appearing at GDC China's IGS will be Wesley Bao of China's Coconut Island Studio (iDragPaper, which has tallied some 7 million downloads) with his talk, 'Surviving in the iPhone App Store - a Chinese Indie Story', and a research-oriented lecture by Dongfeng Wang of 4399, examining indie opportunities in web browser-based games.

All talks will be presented simultaneously in both Chinese and English. Visit the China GDC Indie Summit page for more information on the talks and registration.

October 12, 2010

[2011 Independent Games Festival chairman Brandon Boyer chimes in with a final reminder over entries for this year's IGF, which has a Main Competition deadline in less than one week.]

With just less than seven days remaining until the IGF's Main Competition deadline of October 18th at 11:59 PM PDT, we just wanted to write a quick update to say both thanks to entrants so far, and best of luck to all our entrants that have already or are in the process of submitting.

Across both the Student and Main competitions, we're already creeping quickly toward the 200-entry mark. Expect many multiples of that to follow in the next few days, since it wouldn't be the IGF without that final sprint to submit your game before the midnight deadline!

Looking over entries so far, we're all already incredibly pleased with the diversity of play styles, aesthetics and voices on display. As always -- and uniquely to the IGF -- we will release a public database of entrants just a few days after Main and Student Competition entries close, complete with descriptions, a screenshot and a video.

This means that entered titles should get much interest even separately of the final outcome, thanks to the tens of thousands who browse our entry database looking for unique and new independent games.

In addition, a reminder is due for our Student Showcase entrants that the deadline for that competition is November 1st. So time is also drawing near to enter for a chance to showcase your student-created title at GDC and compete for the Best Student Game Award. (Of course, you're welcome to enter your student game in both Main and Student divisions of the IGF.)

We're looking forward to spending more time with your games in the coming months, and in talking more about our stellar lineup of judges and jurists this year.

In fact, we are now assembling expert-specific juries for each individual IGF award, alongside our mammoth set of judges to help select and comment on the hundreds of entries. You'll be hearing much more about all this soon - so go enter now, and good luck!

September 28, 2010

indiesummit10ron.jpg

Organizers of the 2011 Game Developers Conference have announced that submissions are now open for next year's 2011 Independent Games Summit.

The event, which is part of the overall Independent Games Festival 2011, features lectures, postmortems and roundtables from some of the most notable independent game creators, and is looking for submissions from the indie game scene.

The 2011 Independent Games Summit, which'll take place on Monday, February 28th and Tuesday, March 1st 2011 at San Francisco's Moscone Center during GDC 2011, seeks to highlight the brightest and the best of indie development, with discussions ranging from game design philosophy, distribution, business, marketing, and much more.

Suggested topics include:

* Indie Business - how to make money, manage teams, and run a company without going insane
* Promotion & Marketing - how to get noticed when the 'Marketing Department' = you
* Design and Philosophy - deep dive into design techniques, for example: rapid prototyping, limitations, and the future of indie
* Case Studies and Postmortems - inspirational talks that demonstrate what worked, what didn't, what surprised you and made you wiser

All IGF finalists will be given free tickets to GDC as a whole, including the Independent Games Summit, and Summits/Tutorials-specific GDC passes will be available to buy later in October.

Visit the official 2011 IGS submission page to submit your proposal, before the deadline of October 14th, 2010.

September 15, 2010

2010deadlinecal.jpg[As the 2011 Independent Games Festival deadlines rapidly approach, IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer presents both a reminder to submit your game and a brief look at some of the most-asked questions for indies looking to make it big in this year's contest, festival and showcase.]

If your calendars aren't ringing at you already, consider this your first alert: there's just a smidge over one month left until the October 18th deadline for the 2011 Independent Games Festival Main Competition (add two more weeks if you're planning to submit to the Student IGF), and all of us here are quite excited to see what you're submitting!

To mark the occasion, I thought I'd offer the answers to a handful more frequently asked questions than covered on our submission page, and reiterate some questions that are answered there but perhaps not strongly enough, starting with:

Q: Can I enter a game if it's already available for sale?

A: Of course! While a large part of the IGF's mission is to shine the first light on works that will redefine how we think about games in the future, there is no mandate that a game be released to the public only after it takes part in the Festival. We love, and will always encourage, developers making their debut through it, but welcome anyone whose schedules demanded release before the deadline.

Q: Can I enter if I've already entered in previous years, or am thinking about expanding my game and entering IGF 2012?

A: Absolutely. Especially as more games become longer-term undertakings that evolve as a service or in response to player feedback, there is no rule against re-entering the Festival. That also includes games that were shown at very early stages in previous years that are now in more finalized form.

Continue reading "One Month To Deadline: An IGF 2011 FAQ" »

Independent-Games-Festival-165.jpg

As we noted back in early August, the IGF -- in partnership with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) -- brought a selection of 2009 finalists and winners to Sydney's iconic Opera House for a four day exhibition, open to the public from August 5th to 8th.

Represented at the exhibition were games demonstrating the diversity of IGF's nominees, including Q-Games' PixelJunk Eden, Erik Svedang's Blueberry Garden, Rudolf Kremers and Alex May's Eufloria, KranX Productions's Musaic Box, Amanita Design's Machinarium, Nicalis' Night Sky, Digital Eels' Brainpipe, Data Realms' Cortex Command, and Tale of Tales' The Graveyard.

Following the event, its organizers have sent on a collection of photos from throughout the four days, which follows below the fold, and demonstrates the wide range of attendees the exhibition gathered.

Continue reading "Gallery: IGF at the Sydney Opera House" »

September 13, 2010

The Independent Games Festival China, which runs in conjunction with Shanghai's GDC China this December, is reminding that September 15th is the final entry date for the pan-Pacific indie games festival -- which allows entries from any Asian or Australasian independent game.

Following on from its 2009 success, the Game Developers Conference China -- part of the UBM TechWeb Game Network, as is this website -- will continue to host the three main elements of IGF China, including the Independent Games Summit, which provides valuable conference sessions specializing in the challenges of independent game development.

These include the Independent Games Festival China Pavilion, an onsite exhibition of the very best in local indie games, and the Independent Games Festival China Awards, which honors the work of the talented pool of local independent game developers.

Continue reading "2010 IGF China Competition Reminds On Pan-Pacific Festival Deadline" »

August 06, 2010

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) has brought back its "Best Of The Independent Games Festival" exhibition and is inviting anyone interested in video games to play nine IGF 2009 winners and finalists for free at the Sydney Opera House from August 5-8 (10AM to 10PM).

The independent titles available to play include Q-Games' PixelJunk Eden, Erik Svedang's Blueberry Garden, Rudolf Kremers and Alex May's Eufloria, KranX Productions's Musaic Box, Amanita Design's Machinarium, Nicalis' Night Sky, Digital Eels' Brainpipe, Data Realms' Cortex Command, and Tale of Tales' The Graveyard.

The Best Of The IGF exhibit is running alongside the Sydney Opera House's Graphic event, which will feature reading by celebrated author Neil Gaiman for his unreleased story "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains" tomorrow night, a screening of Akira with a live score performed by Regurgitator, and more!

You can read more about the IGF exhibit and Graphic on the Sydney Opera House's site.

August 02, 2010

gdc_china.jpgOrganizers of the Independent Games Festival China, which runs in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference China, have officially announced its call for indie game submissions from the pan-Pacific area now through Wednesday, September 15.

Following on its 2009 success, GDC China -- part of the UBM TechWeb network, as is this website -- will continue to host the three main elements of IGF China, including the Independent Games Summit, which provides valuable conference sessions specializing in the challenges of independent game development.

These include the Independent Games Festival Pavilion, an onsite exhibition of the very best in local indie games, and the Independent Games Festival Awards, which honors the work of the talented pool of local independent game developers.

Continue reading "IGF China 2010 Opens Call For Submissions" »

June 28, 2010

igf2011.jpg The UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizer of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference events, is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the 2011 Independent Games Festival -- to be held at GDC 2011 in San Francisco next March.

The longest-running and highest-profile independent video game festival, summit and showcase is now accepting entries to the 13th annual Festival, with deadlines in the Main and Student Showcase categories by October 18th and November 1st respectively, and finalists to be announced on January 2011.

All games selected as finalists will be available in playable form at the IGF Pavilion on the GDC show floor, and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including the Nuovo Award, Excellence in Design, Art, Best Student Game, the Audience Award and the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Winners will be announced on stage at the high-profile Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The Independent Games Festival Awards are held immediately before the wider Game Developers Choice Awards, and both multi-thousand person attendee award shows are part of the 2011 Game Developers Conference, taking place February 28th-March 4th, 2011. GDC 2011 also includes the 2011 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its fifth year and offers two days of inspiration and practical lectures and rants from the top minds in the independent games world.

Continue reading "2011 Independent Games Festival Opens Submissions, Adds Mobile Category, Expands Experimental Focus" »

focusonthei.jpg[Following the announcement of the 2011 Independent Games Festival competition, IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer goes in-depth on the changes made for this year's Festival, examining the ethos for the competition and the major shifts in policy and rules for this year's 13th annual IGF experience.]

The IGF's mandate has been, since its inception, to provide the best showcase of both the evolution and the revolution the indie development community has continually provided, year after year, since the festival's foundation in 1999. And while -- from my outsider's perspective -- it has succeeded at doing so, part of my own mandate as its new chairman is to help the festival itself undergo that same evolution as it grows in terms of both simply size and in importance to the wider game development community.

Over the past month, I've been in discussions with not only the IGF team itself, but with a wide variety of indie developers, to figure out what we can do to make this year's lucky-13th festival even more successful than it has been in the past. What follows, then, is the three main changes -- minor tweaks and major restructuring -- that hopefully will make the new IGF the most inclusive, responsive and fair festival we've put together yet.

And this first step's a doozy...

Continue reading "Letter From The Chairman: Explaining IGF's Changes For 2011" »

June 02, 2010

brandonnnforigf.jpg[In his first message as IGF Chairman following his appointment, Brandon Boyer talks about his background in games and the indie scene, introducing himself to the community and talking about his plans for the Festival along the way.]

Hey all, Brandon here to say hello for the first time since the announcement of myself as the new chairman. First off, thanks for all the congratulations and digital high-fives you've sent over the past few weeks -- I am, as you can imagine, quite pleased to be part of the organization here.

For those of you that had or have no idea who I am, let me start off with a quick introduction. My involvement with the games industry came after several years in entirely-unrelated Flash and multimedia development before being given an opportunity to contribute to Edge Magazine, where I quickly staked my claim as their resident indie games archeologist.

narbacularedge.jpgThis was, happily enough, at a time when the indies were truly coming into their own as a scene and a movement, and it was a constant thrill to be among the first to bring word of Cave Story, Cloud and flOw, Narbacular Drop before its re-imagining as Portal, Facade, Alien Hominid, and the dual Kyle's early Experimental Gameplay projects (before they'd go on to create World of Goo and Henry Hatsworth) to a wider audience.

Obviously, the Independent Games Festival itself had much to do with the successes many of them would become, and I've often said that Introversion's unforgettable Darwinia acceptance speech (and the deafening applause that followed) at the 2006 ceremony marked an epochal, line-in-the-sand moment that clearly stated, "It's our time now".

Continue reading "Message from the IGF Chairman: Brandon.. Who?" »

May 12, 2010

The UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizers of the yearly Independent Games Festival and Independent Games Summit has announced that scene notable Brandon Boyer has been named Chairman of the IGF, as it continues to expand its role in evangelizing and rewarding the best indie games.

In his new role, Boyer will oversee submission and judging operations, provide community outreach and support, and help shape the structure and continued growth of the IGF -- the longest-running and largest event relating to independent games worldwide.

This follows the event's all-time record 607 game submissions in 2010 across the IGF Main Competition, Student Showcase and IGF Mobile competitions, including high-profile titles like Monaco, Limbo and Super Meat Boy.

The 2010 Independent Games Festival saw thousands of visitors to its Pavilion [picture gallery] and more than 3,000 attend the IGF Awards Show [picture gallery] in March 2010. The associated Independent Games Summit [picture gallery] had nearly 1,000 attendees for its 2010 keynote session on the Indie Fund.

Both events are part of the larger Game Developers Conference, which is returning to San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center Monday, February 28 to Friday, March 4, 2011.

Continue reading "Independent Games Festival Names Boyer As Chairman" »

March 15, 2010

Organizers of this year's Game Developers Conference and Independent Games Festival have been documenting the March 9th-13th San Francisco event in visual form.

In addition to pictures from the Indie Games Summit and from the IGF Awards Ceremony, here's a selection of pictures from the IGF Pavilion on the GDC 2010 show floor, which was open from Thursday, March 11th through Saturday, March 13th to all event attendees.

Also in this set of pictures are several from 'The Nuovo Sessions', a special GDC Main Conference event featuring mini-talks from finalists and honorable mentions for the IGF Nuovo Award for this year, alongside like-minded individuals. The indie-centric Gamma IV showcase and GDC show floor Pavilion are also showcased in pictorial form.

IGF Pavilion: Main Competition finalists


Ian Bogost's A Slow Year

Continue reading "Gallery: 2010 IGF Pavilion, The Nuovo Sessions and Gamma IV" »

March 12, 2010

Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper, Monaco, was the big winner at the Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival Awards, which was hosted by the Game Developers Conference 2010 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

Monaco received the top award at the ceremony, earning the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design.

Other IGF award recipients for 2010, as judged by over 170 industry veterans, independent developers and indie-friendly journalists, also include PlayDead's starkly beautiful silhouetted platformer, Limbo, which won the awards for Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence. Closure Team's puzzle platformer, Closure, earned the award for Excellence in Audio.

Noted independent developer Cactus received the inaugural Nuovo Award for his abstract visual puzzle game, Tuning. The Nuovo Award honors "abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games."

Continue reading "GDC: Monaco Takes Grand Prize at 12th Annual IGF" »

Organizers of this year's Game Developers Conference and Independent Games Festival have been documenting the March 9th-13th San Francisco event in visual form.

First, here's a look at pictures from the the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards, where Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper Monaco was the big winner of the night, nabbing the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game in front of a crowd of over 3,000 GDC attendees.

The 2010 IGF hosts, Kyle Gabler (2D Boy) and Erin Robinson (Puzzle Bots)


igfbefore.jpg

IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards guests.

Continue reading "Gallery: 12th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards" »

March 10, 2010

Organizers of this year's Game Developers Conference and Independent Games Festival have been documenting the March 9th-13th San Francisco event in visual form.

In addition to a gallery of the IGF Awards, here's a look at the scene around the IGF-affiliated Independent Games Summit, which took place on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the five-day event, and included lectures from notables like 2D Boy's Ron Carmel, Tuning's Jonatan "cactus" Söderström, and Thatgamecompany's Robin Hunicke and Kellee Santiago.

Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked, Ron Carmel

Continue reading "Gallery: Independent Games Summit 2010" »

March 05, 2010

2010 Independent Games Festival Awards organizers have confirmed that next week's awards shows will be streamed live on GameSpot.com, with TV network G4 also present to capture highlights of the IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards for a GDC special.

The major CBS-owned GameSpot.com website has set up a special Game Developers Conference 2010 landing page for its coverage, and will be exclusively live-streaming the awards, which take place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 6:30 pm PT.

The ceremonies kick off with the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards, this year presented by indie developers Kyle Gabler (World Of Goo) and Erin Robinson (Puzzle Bots), and honoring an outstanding set of finalists from the world of independent games.

With over $40,000 in awards given out, including the prestigious Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the Audience Award, and the 'art game'-centric Nuovo Award, as well as exclusive videos on indie games filmed by comedy troupe Mega64, the event should be a highlight of the awards calendar.

Following the conclusion of the IGF Awards, the live stream will showcase the Game Developers Choice Awards, now in its tenth year, and the leading mainstream game awards voted on by video game creators. Both ceremonies, which take place in North Hall, Hall D, Moscone Convention Center, are open to all Game Developers Conference 2010 pass-holders to attend.

March 03, 2010

Game Developers Conference 2010 organizers have confirmed the final set of independent game-specific content, including Ron Carmel on the just-debuted Indie Fund, the Gamma IV party/showcase, and the EGW-replacing Nuovo Sessions game showcase.

The newly confirmed details round off a multitude of independent game-specific content at the March 9th-13th event, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, including the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival -- featuring over 30 top indie games playable on the GDC Expo floor from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th, as well as the major IGF Awards on Thursday 11th at 6.30pm.

In addition, the 4th Independent Games Summit on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th has added and clarified a number of sessions, with 2D Boy's Ron Carmel kicking off the event with 'Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked', now confirmed to discuss the new Indie Fund organization.

Another major new panel, 'Tripping The Art Fantastic', features Spelunky creator Derek Yu, Braid artist David Hellman and Super Meat Boy co-creator Edmund McMillen discussing "how each one of these figures influences the state of game art, from hand painted epics to short form experimental Flash games."

Continue reading "GDC 2010 Preview: IGF 2010, Indie Games Summit, Nuovo Sessions..." »

February 26, 2010

Independent Games Festival organizers and sponsor Direct2Drive have announced the finalists for the D2D Vision Award, with games including HurricaneX2 and Nyxquest competing for a $10,000 cash prize at the IGF Awards on March 11.

Digital game distribution site Direct2Drive, the event's official download partner, set up the Vision Award in 2009 to "honor independent developers whose games present the new ideas and concepts that will help spark innovation in gaming."

The winner, picked from the five finalists -- all indie games from the more than 300 IGF main competition entries -- will be presented live on stage by IGN on-air personality Jessica Chobot at the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards.

The awards themselves take place on Thursday, March 11 during the 2010 Game Developers Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. The winning team will receive a $10,000 prize from Direct2Drive.

The five finalists for the Direct2Drive Vision Award for this year are:

Continue reading "IGF, Direct2Drive Announce Finalists For $10,000 D2D Vision Award" »

February 20, 2010

As the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival at Game Developers Conference 2010 rapidly approaches, we're delighted to note that a lot of prominent video game outlets are covering this year's finalists.

In fact, the coverage is coming thick and fast, even before journalists get to chat to creators in-person at the IGF Pavilion, attend the Independent Games Summit, and see who wins at the IGF Awards on March 11th.

In particular, we wanted to highlight the following articles and series from third-party sites, and thank them for their coverage of IGF-honored indie games:

Continue reading "Road To The IGF: Coverage Of Independent Games Festival 2010 Finalists" »

February 08, 2010

2010 Independent Games Festival organizers have revealed the five IGF Mobile category finalists battling it out for Best Mobile Game at GDC, also debuting the IGF Audience award and revealing the hosts for this year's IGF Awards.

IGF Mobile Category Winners

After announcing finalists and honorable mentions late last month, the 2010 Independent Games Festival Mobile has named the category winners that will show their games at GDC and battle for the Best IGF Mobile Game prize.

After battling it out from a field of 170 top-notch entries, winners thus far include Secret Exit's physics-heavy Stair Dismount for iPhone, Powerhead Games' cunning color-based puzzle game Glow Artisan for DSi, and Tiger Style's acclaimed action game Spider for Apple's handheld.

The category winners for the 2010 IGF Mobile competition -- an event that celebrates excellence in games for the iPhone, other cellphone and smartphone OSes, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and other handheld devices -- are:

Continue reading "2010 IGF Reveals Mobile Category Winners, Audience Voting, Award Hosts" »

February 01, 2010

In partnership with the Independent Games Festival's organizers, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne is running a free exhibit featuring a selection of IGF 2009 competition finalists and winners.

The Best of IGF 2009 showcase invites visitors to not just view but also play ten indie games, some even projected on walls (Blueberry Garden, Night Sky, PixelJunk Eden, and Osmos).

ACMI sent over these photos from the show since it opened last December, showing kids and adults exploring the games and their concepts -- the gallery's curators say it's a popular exhibit for both experienced gamers and neophytes. The space also provides a pleasing sonic atmosphere with Osmos and NightSky playing over the speakers in different rooms (other game setups use headphones).

The Best of IGF 2009 showcase runs until February 15th, so you still have time to check it out if you're in the area! You can find more information on the exhibit and see the full list of games on display at ACMI's site. We've included more images of people playing the games in the extended entry:

Continue reading "ACMI, IGF Partner For 'Best Of IGF 2009' Public Showcase" »

January 26, 2010

The 2010 Independent Games Festival Mobile, an event that celebrates excellence in games for Apple's iPhone, other cellphone and smartphone operating systems (OS), Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation Portable, and other handheld devices, has named the finalists for its third annual competition, with a host of outstanding portable titles showcased this year.

This year's IGF Mobile marks a record number of entries with 170 titles submitted for the competition, up nearly 65 percent from last year's total, which itself was double over the previous year. The finalists for IGF Mobile will compete for $5,000 in prizes, including specialized awards for art, design, audio, technical prowess, and iPhone game creation, as well as the IGF Mobile Best Game award.

Some of the notable titles nominated for this year's IGF Mobile Awards include iPhone games such as double nominee, Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor, downloadable games for Nintendo's DSi including Powerhead Games' Glow Artisan, and promising titles from a host of worldwide indie developers, from England's Studio FungFung through Finland's Secret Exit and beyond.

More information on the finalists is available at the official IGF Mobile website.

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