Organizers have officially opened submissions for the 2012 Independent Games Festival, being held at the Game Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco next March 5-9.
The Independent Games Festival is
the longest-running and highest-profile independent video game festival,
summit, and showcase, and is now accepting entries to its 14th annual
edition, with deadlines in the Main and Student Showcase categories by
October 17 and October 31 respectively, and finalists to be announced in
January 2012.
All games selected as finalists will be available in playable form at
the IGF Pavilion on the GDC show floor from March 7-9, 2012, and will
compete for nearly $60,000 in prizes, a significant increase from last
year.
This includes the high-profile $5,000 Nuovo Award, honoring abstract,
short-form, and unconventional video game development, and previously
won by designers including Jason Rohrer (Between) and Messhof (Nidhogg).
In addition, awards for Excellence in Visual Art, Audio, and Design,
Technical Excellence, Best Mobile Game, the Best Student Game, and the
Audience Award each now receive a $3,000 prize, and the signature Seumas
McNally Grand Prize for the independent game of the year (won by
Mojang's Minecraft in 2011) has been increased by 50 percent to a record $30,000.
Winners will be announced on stage at the high-profile Independent
Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at the Moscone Center
in San Francisco. The Independent Games Festival Awards are held
immediately before the wider Game Developers Choice Awards.
Both multi-thousand person attendee award shows are part of the 2012 Game Developers Conference,
taking place March 5th to March 9th, 2012. GDC 2012 also includes the
2012 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its sixth year and
offers two days (March 5-6) of inspiration, practical lectures, and
rants from the top minds in the independent games world.
The Independent Game Festival continues to sit at a place of global
importance as the largest, most prestigious and all encompassing
showcase of independent game talent across the wide spectrum of
artistically and commercially aimed development. Notable former IGF
winners include landmark indie titles such as Minecraft, Limbo, World of Goo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter, Darwinia, Audiosurf and many more.
"All of us here at the IGF are excited for a new year of the
innovation and artistry we consistently see from the independent games
that enter the festival," said Brandon Boyer, chairman of the
Independent Games Festival.
"Our transition to a more expert-focused jury system last year was a
tremendous success, and we expect it will again lead to another stellar
set of finalists and winners that have made this festival the most
respected in the industry. Best of luck to all the entrants!"
Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2012 - organized by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, as is this website - are as follows:
- June 30, 2011 - Submissions are Open
- October 17, 2011 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
- October 31, 2011 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
- January 5, 2012 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
- January 12, 2012 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
- March 5 - March 9, 2012 - Game Developers Conference 2012
- March 5 - March 6, 2012 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC 2012
- March 7 - March 9, 2012 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2012
- March 7, 2012 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)
For a complete list of information on the 2012 Independent Games
Festival, including submission specifics, frequently asked questions,
and more discussion on this year's contest from the IGF Chairman, please
visit the official Independent Games Festival website.
