Submissions are now officially open for the 2015 Independent Games Festival, the signature competition for indie games, to be held for a 17th year during GDC 2015 in San Francisco next March. This directly follows a record-breaking year which saw nearly 900 entries for the 2014 event, including top prizewinners like Papers, Please, Luxuria Superbia and DEVICE 6.
The deadlines for the Main and Student Showcase categories for the 17th IGF are October 22th and October 31st, 2014 respectively, with finalists announced in January 2015. Finalists' games will once again be playable at the packed IGF Pavilion on the Game Developers Conference 2015 Expo Floor, and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes.
These awards include the Excellence in Visual Art, Audio, Design, and Narrative Awards, which will have six finalists each, with the winner getting $3,000 in each category. There will also be six finalists for the $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
This year also sees the return of the Best Student Game award, with eight finalists ($3,000 prize), and the special Nuovo Award ($5,000, eight finalists) will be offered again to honor 'abstract, shortform, and unconventional' games. Finally, the IGF Audience Award ($3,000) will be decided by a public vote from all of the Main Competition finalists.
The Independent Games Festival is the longest-running and highest profile independent video game festival, summit and showcase. It has served as a springboard for several games that have gone on to become critical and cultural hits. Previous IGF prize winners from the past 16 years include Spelunky, Fez, Minecraft, Limbo, World of Goo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter and many more of the game industry's breakthrough independent titles.
Winners will be announced on stage at the high-profile Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, with the IGF Pavilion open from March 4-6th, and the sister Independent Games Summit event taking place on March 2nd and 3rd.
The Independent Games Festival is a part of the 2015 Game Developers Conference, which will be held from March 2nd through March 6th, 2015 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. IGF continues to be the largest annual gathering of independent video game developers, showcasing top talent across the industry and keeping a pulse on the future of independent games.
Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; here are the important dates you should mark on your calendar as you prepare for IGF 2015:
o August 6, 2014 - Submissions are Open
o October 22, 2014 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
o October 31, 2014 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
o March 2 - March 6, 2015 - Game Developers Conference 2015
o March 2 - March 3, 2015 - Independent Games Summit @ GDC 2015
o March 4 - March 6, 2015 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2015
o March 6, 2015 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners announced!)
For a complete list of information on the 2015 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics and frequently asked questions, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website.
