The Independent Games Festival has announced the finalists in the seventh annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) competition. Selected by a panel of industry professionals, game development teams will compete for more than $40,000 in cash prizes. Finalists will exhibit their titles at the Game Developers Conference, March 7-11, 2005 in San Francisco and winners will be announced at the Game Developers Choice Awards Ceremony March 9.
The 10 games selected for the "Open" category are (in alphabetical order):* ALIEN HOMINID by The Behemoth (San Diego, California)* DARK HORIZONS LORE by Max Gaming Technologies (Strongsville, Ohio)* GISH by Chronic Logic LLC (Santa Cruz, California)* HYPERBOL by Iocaine Studios (Yorba Linda, California)* KISSES by DigiPen Institute of Technology (Woodland Hills, California)* LEGION ARENA by Slitherine Strategies (Epsom, Surrey, U.K.)* PROTOTHEA by Digital Builders (Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Argentina)* STEER MADNESS by Veggie Games Inc. (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)* SUPREMACY: FOUR PATHS TO POWER by Black Hammer Game (New York, New York)* WAR! AGE OF IMPERIALISM by Donohoe Digital LLC (Castle Rock, Colorado)
The 10 games selected for the "Web/downloadable" category are (in alphabetical order):* CREATRIX by Ultrafish Games (Los Angeles, California)* DETECTIVE BRAND GOLD by Detective Brand Videogames with Chronic Logic (New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada)* GLOBAL DEFENSE NETWORK by Evertt.com LLC (Kirkland, Washington)* LUX by Sillysoft (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)* N by Metanet Software Inc. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)* ROCKETBOWL by Large Animal Games (New York, New York)* ROTATION by Alter Ego Games Studio (Sammamish, Washington)* STAR CHAMBER by Nayantara Studios Llc. (Charlottesville, Virginia)* WEIRD WORLDS: RETURN TO INFINITE SPACE by Digital Eel (Kirkland, Washington)* WIK AND THE FABLE OF SOULS by Reflexive Entertainment (Lake Forest, California)
"The quality of games submitted for this year's competition showed range and creativity; the selection process gets more difficult each year," said Alex Dunne, IGF chairman. "We're pleased to see developers take chances and explore new types of gameplay."
Winners will be announced at the Independent Games Festival Awards Ceremony on March 9 in San Francisco. Games in each category are eligible for six awards: Innovation In Audio, Innovation In Game Design, Innovation In Visual Arts, Technical Excellence, The Audience Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Independent Game of the Year, for a total of $40,000 in cash awards.
The IGF was established in 1998 by the CMP Game Group to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, the way Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. With more than 78 entries from all over the world, the IGF reflects how global the game development community has become.
More information about the finalist games can be found at www.igf.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
