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IGF Main Competition Finalists Announced
We know your plate is already adequately filled with holiday releases, but between blockbuster hits it’s worth checking the best of what the thriving indie game circuit has to offer.
Today the main competition finalists for the twelfth annual Independent Games Festival were announced. Aside from a massive boost in exposure, what is on the line for these talented individuals? Almost $50,000 in prizes will be awarded on March 11, 2010 during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The largest of the prizes is the Samus McNally Grand Prize, which offers $20,000 to the top developer or development team.
This year saw 306 entries into the main competition, which has been whittled down to the 20 top contenders. Included in the final 20 are the IGF Nuovo Award picks, a special award set to honor “abstract, shortform and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games.” The idea behind this separate award is to allow ‘art games’ a chance to compete along peers.
The finalists for the 2010 Independent Games Festival and links to each individual game can be found below.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Joe Danger (Hello Games)
Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)
Excellence In Visual Art
Shank (Klei Entertainment)
Owlboy (D-Pad Studios)
Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
Limbo (Playdead)
Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
Excellence In Design
Miegakure (Marc Ten Bosch)
Star Guard (Sparky)
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard For Gravity (Dejobaan Games)
Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
Cogs (Lazy 8 Studios)
Excellence In Audio
Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)
Shatter (Sidhe)
Closure (Closure Team)
Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
Technical Excellence
Closure (Closure Team)
Limbo (Playdead)
Heroes Of Newerth (S2 Games)
Joe Danger (Hello Games)
Vessel (Strange Loop Games)
Nuovo Award
Today I Die (Daniel Benmergui)
A Slow Year (Ian Bogost)
Tuning (Cactus)
Closure (Closure Team)
Enviro-Bear 2000 (Justin Smith)
“We're happy to report that the IGF has seen another record-breaking year in volume and diversity of entries, another symptom of the continuing explosion of high-quality titles from smaller development teams and emerging creators,” said Simon Carless, IGF Chairman. “Congratulations to this year's outstanding finalists – we're looking forward to playing their games and honoring the overall IGF winners at Game Developers Conference this March.”
As with last year, we’ll dedicate a full week to these top indie games as the IGF competition draws to a close. Until then, have any games above grabbed your attention?
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