The Independent Games Festival is a yearly competition for independent games started in 1999 where game developers can submit their games and get fabulous prizes. Currently the entry fee is $95.
IGF Logo
Deadline for IGF Main competition 2011 entry: 18 October.
New rules for IGF 2011: check it
The IGF has a couple of Competitions for entry:
- The Main Competition
- IGF China (Australia and Asia only)
(Captain Forever won it in 2009)
for mobile devices like iPhone, Android.
free to enter, but requires you to be a student at the time of development.
Controversy
Edit
The IGF has been criticized for a confusing and misleading judging process, for a relatively high entry fee, for the requirement that you be physically present in California at the GDC in order to qualify for the prizes, for favoring unreleased games which are not publicly available to play, and for favoring "mainstream-lite" or very polished indie games rather than truly innovative or creative indie games.
"I think the only real valid issue with every bitch and moan people have about the igf can be traced back to the fact that their judging system is extremely and obviously flawed." -Edmund McMillen
"what if youre the kinda person who throws out 100s to things you like, and 0s to things you dont. if you had 3 judges, 2 of them gave you 90s and the other gave you a 0 because they didn't like the genre of game then your pretty much fucked." -Edmund McMillen
There are many suggestions for improving the judging process: have judges rate more games than just a few, get rid of judges who leave bad feedback or wait until the last minute to play and judge all the games, but so far the only advice the IGF have taken is to require feedback from all judges (starting in IGF 2010), other than that the judging process has remained essentially the same from when there were only a few games being entered into it in 1999.
Update: The judging process for the next IGF (IGF 2011) seems to be taking into account many of the criticisms here: announcement
ReferencesEdit
- Anna Anthropy's criticism of the IGF: here
- 2009 finalists awards (YHTBTR controversy): here
- Wolfire's claim that IGF judge selection process has problems with bias: here
Award Categories and Previous WinnersEdit
youtube playlist of all IGF 2010 entry videos
note: the double winners in some years mean one won an award for that category in the Web/Downloadable and the other in the Open category.
Seamus McNally Grand Prize: named after late indie developer Seamus McNally:
- Monaco by Andy Schatz (2010)
- Blueberry Garden by Erik Svedang (2009)
- Crayon Physics Deluxe by Petri Purho (2008)
- Aquaria by Bit Blot (2007)
- Darwinia by Introversion (2006)
- Wik and the Fable of Souls and Gish by Cryptic Sea (2005)
- Savage: The Battle for Newearth and Oasis (2004)
- Wild Earth (2003)
- Bad Milk (2002)
- Shattered Galaxy (2001)
- Tread Marks (2000)
- Fire and Darkness (1999)
Excellence in Visual Art:
- Limbo by Play Dead (2010)
- Machinarium by Amanita Design (2009)
- Fez by Polytron (2008)
- Castle Crashers by Behemoth (2007)
- Darwinia by Introversion (2006)
- Wik and the Fable of Souls by Reflexive Entertainment and Alien Hominid by Behemoth (2005)
- Spartan and Dr. Blob's Organism (2004)
- Wild Earth (2003)
- Banja Taiyo (2002)
- Hardwood Spades (2001)
- King of Dragon Pass (2000)
- Crime Cities (1999)
Technical Excellence:
- Limbo by Play Dead (2010)
- Cortex Command by Dan Tabar (2009)
- World of Goo by 2D boy (2008)
- Bang! Howdy (2007)
- Darwinia by Introversion (2006)
- Alien Hominid by Behemoth and RocketBowl (2005)
- Savage: The Battle for Newerth and Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates (2004)
- Reiner Knizia's Samurai (2003)
- Ace of Angels (2002)
- Shattered Galaxy (2001)
- Tread Marks (2000)
- Terminus (1999)
Excellence in Audio:
- Closure by Tyler Glaiel (2010)
- BrainPipe (2009)
- Audiosurf by Dylan Fitterer (2008)
- Everyday Shooter by Jonathan Mak (2007)
- Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space (2006)
- Steer Madness and Global Defense Network (2005)
- Anito: Defend a Land Enraged and Dr. Blob's Organism (2004)
- Terraformers (2003)
- Bad Milk (2002)
- Chase Ace 2 (2001)
- Blix (2000)
- Terminus (1999)
Audience Awards:
- Heroes of Newerth (2010)
- Cortex Command by Dan Tabar (2009)
- Audiosurf by Dylan Fitterer (2008)
- Castle Crashers by Behemoth (2007)
- Dofus (2006)
- N by Metanet Software and Alien Hominid by Behemoth (2005)
- Savage: The Battle for Newerth and Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates (2004)
- Pontifex II (2003)
- Kung Fu Chess (2002)
- Shattered Galaxy (2001)
- The Rift (Far Game) (2000)
- Fire and Darkness (1999)
Student Category:
- Continuity (2010)
- Tag: The Power of Paint (2009)
- Synaesthete (2008)
- Toblo (2007)
The Nuovo (previously Innovation) Award:
- Tuning by Cactus (2010)
- Between by Jason Rohrer (2009)
- World of Goo by 2D boy (2008)
- Everyday Shooter by Jonathan Mak (2007)
- Braid by Jonathan Blow (2006)
- Gish by Cryptic Sea and Wik and the Fable of Souls (2005)
- Bontago and Oasis (2004)
- Wild Earth (2003)
- Insaniquarium (2002)
- Shattered Galaxy (2001)
- Tread Marks (2000)
- Resurrection (1999)
