MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Submissions are now open for the 2014 Independent Games Festival, the competition championing indie games, to be held for a 16th year during GDC 2014 in San Francisco next March.
This follows a record-breaking year, which saw nearly 900 entries for the 2013 event, including top prize winners like FTL: Faster Than Light, Cart Life and Kentucky Route Zero.
The deadlines for the Main and Student Showcase categories for the 16th IGF are October 19th and October 31st, 2013 respectively, with finalists announced in January 2014. Finalists’ games will once again be playable at the IGF Pavilion on the Game Developers Conference 2014 Expo Floor, and will compete for nearly $60,000 in prizes.
These plaudits include the Excellence in Visual Art, Audio, Design and Narrative Awards, which will have an expanded amount of six finalists each, with the winner getting $3,000 in each category. There will also be an expanded 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 again honour ‘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 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 and Everyday Shooter.
Winners will be announced on stage at the high Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, with the IGF Pavilion open from March 19th to 21st, and the sister Independent Games Summit event taking place on March 17th and 18th.
The Independent Games Festival is a part of the 2014 Game Developers Conference, which will be held from March 17th to 21st, 2014 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
“During the past 16 years, we’ve had the pleasure of recognising some of best talent in the independent games community and look forward to continuing that tradition with IGF 2014,” said IGF chairman Brandon Boyer.
“Each year, the games of the IGF have upped the ante in truly innovative ways, creating unique entertainment experiences that can only be told through the medium of games. We are very excited to see what this year’s competitors have in store.”
Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; the deadline dates for IGF 2014 are as follows:
• October 19th, 2013 – Submission Deadline, Main Competition
• October 31st, 2013 – Submission Deadline, Student Competition
• January 7th, 2014 – Finalists Announced, Main Competition
• January 13th, 2014 – Finalists Announced, Student Competition
• March 17th to March 21st, 2014 – Game Developers Conference 2014
• March 17th to March 18th, 2014 – Independent Games Summit @ GDC 2014
• March 19th to March 21st, 2014 – IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2014
• March 19th, 2014 – IGF Awards Ceremony (winners announced)
For a complete list of information on the 2014 Independent Games Festival, visit the official website.
