San Francisco, Calif.
- Think Services, organizer of the Game Developers Conference (GDC)
events, has announced that submissions are now open for the 2010
Independent Games Festival (IGF). Entries to the 12th annual festival
are due in both Main and Student Showcase categories by November 2009,
with Main Competition finalists to be announced January 4, 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 coveted $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Winners will be announced on stage at the prestigious Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 11, 2010, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
The Independent Games Festival Awards are held alongside the Game Developers Choice Awards and both award shows are part of the 2010 Game Developers Conference. GDC 2010 also includes the 2010 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its fourth year and offers two days of inspiration and practical lectures and rants from the top minds in the independent games world.
Notable evolutions to this year's Festival include a substantial increase in the number of hand-picked IGF judges - chosen, as always, from notables practicing both mainstream and indie game development, as well as discerning indie-minded games journalists.
The judging pool has more than doubled over last year's event, allowing each individual game entry to be played in much greater depth. The IGF is also adding compulsory (previously optional) written judge feedback alongside scores, an important part of deriving value and takeaway from entering the Festival, even for non-finalists.
Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2010 are as follows:
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 11th-13th, 2010 IGF Pavilion @ GDC
March 11th, 2010 IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)
Sponsors already confirmed for the 2010 Independent Games Festival include Official Download Partner Direct2Drive and Platinum Student Showcase sponsor DigiPen Institute Of Technology.
For a complete list of IGF 2010 event information, please visit http://www.igf.com/.