According to the organizers of the 2010 Independent Games Festival (IGF 2010) the annual event dedicated to all things indie gaming that runs during the Game Developers conference has received a record number of entries to the Main Competition. In total, this year’s Main Competition has has right around 306 game entries, many of which were created by leading independent game developers. This represents a 35 percent increase over last year’s 226 entries, which was a 30 percent increase over the previous year.
From this pool of 306 entries, finalists will be decided by 150 industry judges. Finalists will be announced in January 2010. Games selected as finalists will be available in playable form on the GDC show floor and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award and the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Winners will be announced at the IGF ceremony, taking place March 11, 2010, during the Game Developers Conference.
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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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Osmos now available on Steam and Direct2Drive
IGF nominated indie game Osmos is now available via Steam and Direct2Drive, according to developer Hemisphere Games. Osmos is a clever little game where Osmos that takes the principals of osmosis and implements into a game where size matters and growth is paramount to survival. Playing as a mote (a cell) that absorbs other motes to get bigger, and as you grow in mass you can consume bigger motes. There are other mechanics at play too like gravitanional pulls from organisms that are planet-like and a mechanic to repel around the crowded map to avoid being absorbed. I could talk about it more but seeing it in action is much more revaling. Check out the video below:
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2010 Independent Games Festival submissions welcomed
Submissions are now open officially open for the 2010 Independent Games Festival. Nominees for both the main categories and the student showcase need to be submitted by of this year, with the main competition finalists to be announced on January 4, 2010. As always, those games selected as finalists will available in playable form on the Game Developers Conference IGF pavilion and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes divided among a number of categories including Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award. All will be competing for the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
Winners will be announced on stage at the Independent Games Festival Awards show on Wednesday, March 11, 2010, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco - right before the Game Developers Choice Awards. A list of important deadlines can be found below:
July 1st, 2009 - Submissions are Open
November 1st, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
November 15th, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
January 4th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
January 11th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
March 9th-13th, 2010 - Game Developer’s Conference 2010
March 9th-10th, 2010 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC
March 11-13th, 2010 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC
March 11th, 2010 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)
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Ride the Brainpipe on Steam
Digital Eel’s award winning (winner of a 2009 IGF award for sound design), Brainpipe is now available via Steam. Brainpipe is a arcade action game where players are charged with navigating the psychedelic sights and sounds of the mind, using hand-eye coordination to collect illuminated glyphs while avoiding nasty obstacles.
The game offers trippy graphics and sounds, 10 levels of play, eight types of obstacles to avoid, odd eyeballs buttons, colorful three dimensional visuals and mouse, joystick, and gamepad support.
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Game Developers Choice, IGF Winners
The 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, the only honors for developers as voted on by developers, were celebrated tonight in a packed hall full of exuberant developers and media. The event was hosted by Double Fine founder Tim Schafer, whose one liners may indicate a career to fall back on should this game development gig fall through.
Harmonix co-founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy received the Pioneer Award for their innovation in the music game genre with such games as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, while Video Games Live co-founder and founder of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Tommy Tallarico, was honored with the Ambassador Award for helping to advance game audio, music and games. Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Kojima said that there were a lot more things that he wanted to do with his life, like maybe write a novel, or direct a film - but he also said that he has a long career ahead in the game industry.
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Kojima to Recieve Lifetime Achievement Award
Think Services Game Group’s 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, will honor Metal Gear Solid developer Hideo Kojima with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony taking place at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). Kojima is Corporate Officer, Executive Producer and Director of Kojima Productions and creator of the Metal Gear series. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of developers who have made an indelible impact on the craft of game development, as Kojima has with over twenty years of work on Metal Gear and other notable franchises.
Presented by GDC and Gamasutra, the awards ceremony is held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival and will be hosted on March 25, in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Center. For complete details, please visit www.gamechoiceawards.com.
Hideo Kojima will also be making his Game Developers Conference speaking debut at GDC09 when he gives the keynote lecture, “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible,” the morning after the Choice Awards Ceremony, on Thursday, March 26, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PST in the Esplanade Room of the Moscone Center’s South Hall.
The games we're pulling together in this feature won't appear on any of those best-of lists and get confused looks when you mention them in conversation. Just because time has forgotten these titles, though, doesn't mean you should forget them, too.
According to the organizers of the 2010 Independent Games Festival (IGF 2010) the annual event dedicated to all things indie gaming that runs during the Game Developers conference has received a record number of entries to the Main Competition. In total, this year’s Main Competition has has right around 306 game entries, many of which were created by leading independent game developers. This represents a 35 percent increase over last year’s 226 entries, which was a 30 percent increase over the previous year.
Submissions are now open officially open for the 2010 Independent Games Festival. Nominees for both the main categories and the student showcase need to be submitted by of this year, with the main competition finalists to be announced on January 4, 2010. As always, those games selected as finalists will available in playable form on the Game Developers Conference IGF pavilion and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes divided among a number of categories including Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award. All will be competing for the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
Think Services Game Group’s 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, will honor Metal Gear Solid developer Hideo Kojima with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony taking place at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). Kojima is Corporate Officer, Executive Producer and Director of Kojima Productions and creator of the Metal Gear series. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of developers who have made an indelible impact on the craft of game development, as Kojima has with over twenty years of work on Metal Gear and other notable franchises.