igf-2009 posts

If we were to judge a competition by simple the number of entries received, then the 2010 edition of the Independent Games Festival is already a huge hit. The 12th annual indie games competition had 306 entries for its Main Competition, which is its highest number in its history.

You can check out all of the entries at the IGF's official web site.All the games submitted will be reviewed by over 150 judges. The finalists will be named in several categories in January and the winners will be named in a ceremony to be held at the Game Developers Conference in March 2010 in San Fransisco.

The game Osmos may seem, at first glance, much like other absorption games. Run over things smaller than you, get bigger and bigger until you reach the target size. There is a reason that it received much more notice than that of a simple clone, however. After all, it did win the D2D Vision aware at the 2009 Independent Games Festival for a reason. So while you are spending $40 to $50 on the latest and greatest triple-A titles, please consider just saving it and putting $10 of your spending money towards Osmos on any platform. You won't be disappointed.

Those looking forward to the elegant and serene-looking Osmos don't have to wait much longer. The IGF finalist and winner of the D2D Vision Award will be available for download from Direct2Drive, Steam, and the official website come August 18th. It was also announced as a member of the PAX 10 for 2009 just recently, so if you are going to PAX, it may be a good time to try it out!

Osmos revolves around clever use of gravity and thrust to absorb enemies and make yourself larger. Every time you propel yourself, you shoot out smaller motes that then drift around and are absorbed. You have to balance attractive and repulsing forces, inertia, and all sorts of other basica physical forces in order to finish the levels. It's great stuff. Don't believe me? Try out the demo!

[Via IndieGames]

Later this month the Independent Games Festival will hold its 2009 edition at the Game Developers Conference. Recently the organization behind the largest event supporting independent game creation announced an upgrade to its Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Normally the prize would be $20,000 to the development team behind the game that wins but thanks to a sponsorship from Mountain Dew the grand prize amount has increased to $30,000 for the 2009 edition

Meanwhile voting has begun for the Audience Award category with 15 games from the main competition that have playable demos picked to get your votes. The winner will be announced along with the other categories during GDC on March 25. If you want more info on the various games in the 2009 edition of the IGF check out our extensive multi-part series.

It's perhaps the highest profile contest for indie game developers and today the Independent Games Festival announced the finalists for the 2009 edition in several catagories. The games were chosen out of 226 entries this year with the finalists picked by a number of game developers and journalists.

Winning one or more of the awards in the past has lead to bigger things for the games and their creators. Last year's winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize (worth $20,000) was Crayon Physics which, ironically, is due to release its commercial version for the PC later today. Hit indie games World of Goo and Audiosurf also won IGF awards last year before being released to great acclaim and sales.

The winners of the 2009 IGF will be announced on March 25 during the Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco. Check out the nominees after the jump:

If you are an independent game developer looking for exposure for your title, there's no better way to do it than entering the Independent Games Festival. Today the organizers of the IGF announced that submissions are now open for the 2009 edition of the festival. This will be the 11th annual edition of the IGF which in the past has awarded cash prizes to such acclaimed games like Everyday Shooter, Audiosurf and World of Goo.

The deadline to submit games to the 2009 IGF is November 1 for the main competition and November 15 for the student competition. The awards will be given out on March 25 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Over $50,000 in cash prizes will be given out in several categories, including the new Innovation Award. The big one remains the Seumas McNally Grand Prize where one game's dev team will receive $20,000.