Independent Games Festival China winners announced
The organizers of the inaugural Independent Games Festival China (IGF China) announced the winners for the event at GDC China on Oct. 11th in Shanghai. The very first IGF China Best Game award, including a RMB 20,000 ($2,900 U.S.) cash prize and two all-access GDC 2010 passes, went to Australian creator Farbs and his unique modular 2D space adventure game, Captain Forever. How very ironic.
This year’s finalists from multiple different Chinese provinces, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia, and over 15 countries were represented in the over 100 entries in the first-ever year of Independent Games Festival China.
You can learn more about the winners, finalists and the even by visiting gdcchina.com.
The full set of IGF China 2009 winners after the break:
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Independent Games Festival China finalists announced
Organizers of the inaugural Independent Games Festival China (IGF China) revealed that over 100 entries were received for the first showcase of Asia-Pacific indie games, and finalists have now been decided for both the Main and Student competitions, with winners revealed next week at GDC China in Shanghai, China.
Chinese submissions for the first-ever independent games event targeting this area were received from Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Jiang Su Province, Guang Dong Province, Sichuan Province, and Zhejiang. In addition, overseas submissions from Asian, Asia-Pacific and Australasian nations including the Philippines, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Pakistan, Australia, Iran, South Korea and India were considered.
Finalists were chosen by a panel of local judges, including representatives from IGDA Shanghai, FZD School of Design, Activision and many more. IGF China winners will be showcased at the GDC China event, and are eligible to win up to RMB20,000 ($3,000) in cash prizes, awards, and All Access Passes to GDC San Francisco 2010.
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Nexon America’s Min Kim to keynote GDC China
Min Kim, vice president of marketing at Nexon America, is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference China. GDC China will take place at the Shanghai International Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year. The event is being presented by Think Services.
In his keynote address titled “A Fantastic Westward Journey,” Kim will share with Chinese developers Nexon’s experiences in bringing popular Korean games and new business models to North America. Once relegated to the continent of Asia, microtransactions have become a catalyst for the North American games market thanks to hit imports such as Nexon’s successful MapleStory franchise.
Nexon is also well known for developing the world’s first internet quiz game, QPlay, setting a world record of 700,000 concurrent users in China in 2004 with Crazy Arcade BnB, and developing South Korea’s most played online game KartRider (over 30% of the population). Nexon plans to re-launch its publishing efforts under a new portal, BlockParty.com, which will house a total of eight titles in the US by the end of 2010 including Dungeon Fighter Online (due to launch later this year) and Dragon Nest.
Speakers line up for GDC China
Game Developers Conference China (or GDC China if you like) revealed its lineup of speakers from noted industry players including Blizzard Entertainment, creators of World of Warcraft, Maxis, creators of Spore and The Sims, Dice EA, creators of Mirror’s Edge, and many more. GDC China is being presented by United Business Media’s Think Services, and will take place at the Shanghai Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year.
Chris Hecker will be presenting a session on the challenges and meaning of user-generated content in Spore, Colt McAnlis of Blizzard will be addressing the technical challenges of generating and affixing art to the massive terrains of World of Warcraft, and Tobias Dahl and Mikael Lagre of Dice EA will discuss creating a robust perspective for Mirror’s Edge, a game emphasizing fluid first-person movement and perspective. People from Activision, Take Two Asia, Volition and Ubisoft Chengdu will also be among the roster of speakers presenting talks.
Headlining this roster of speakers is Jordan Mechner, game designer, programmer, screenwriter, and creator of Prince of Persia, who will be providing a keynote lecture titled “Prince of Persia: 20 Years From Game to Film.” The full list of featured speakers at GDC China is available after the jump.
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Prince of Persia creator to keynote GDC China
Jordan Mechner, creator of Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia franchise, will deliver a keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference China. GDC China - the game developer’s event hosted by Think Services and not the other event which has caused more than its fair share of confusion - takes place at the Shanghai International Convention Center on October 11-13, 2009.
Mechner’s keynote address will attempt to explore the success of the Prince of Persia series, as well as his own success as a game designer, programmer, director and screenwriter.
For more information about the Jordan Mechner keynote at GDC China 2009, visit www.gdcchina.com.
Independent Games Festival China details
Think Services announced that the first-ever Independent Games Festival China (IGF China), will be held in conjunction with the 2009 Game Developers Conference China. GDC China returns to the Shanghai International Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year.
After 11 years of the main Independent Games Festival competition being held at GDC in San Francisco, the Independent Games Festival will present itself to Shanghai, China for the first time in 2009, in a competition specifically designed to showcase smaller companies in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Independent Games Festival China will feature three main components: the Independent Games Summit event held on the opening day that will feature multiple sessions with smaller, entrepreneurial Chinese and Asian firms showcasing their work; an IGF Pavilion that will showcase all finalists’ games on Sunday and Monday (October 11th and 12th); and the Independent Games Festival Awards ceremony to be held on Monday evening.
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China’s Ministry of Culture approves GDC China
The 2009 Game Developer Conference China (GDC China) has become the first game development event to be approved by China’s Ministry of Culture (MOC) as part of the People’s Republic of China’s new process to approve organized cultural events related to Chinese animation, comics and games.
“The GDC is proud to be aligned with an organization such as the MOC,” said GDC China event director Meggan Scavio. “The steps the Ministry of Culture is taking are in the best interest of the developers and the future of the games industry. GDC China, being the first officially recognized game developer event by the Ministry of Culture in China is a win and step forward for the games industry in China.”
For more information on this year’s GDC China visit www.gdcchina.com.
