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12th annual Indie Games Fest finalists revealed

More than 300 entrants in annual competition whittled down to five contenders in each of six categories; winners to be named at GDC 2010.

Indie gaming has been growing in leaps and bounds in recent years, a fact to which the Independent Games Festival can readily attest. The IGF today announced finalists for its 12th annual awards competition, with nominees pulled from a pool of 301 entrants.

The IGF features a mix of console, PC, browser-based, and iPhone games.

The IGF features a mix of console, PC, browser-based, and iPhone games.

That's the largest number of entries in IGF history, shattering last year's record of 226. Although the contestants are competing for a pool of $50,000 in prizes (with the Seumas McNally Grand Prize commanding a $20,000 award), the potentially greater takeaway comes in the form of exposure and feedback.

All of the nominated games will be on display at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, with winners named in a lead-in to the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony. Additionally, entrants will receive written feedback from judges, regardless of whether or not their games were nominated.

Last year's Seumas McNally winner was Erik Svedang's Blueberry Garden, a minimalist platformer, which debuted in commercial form on Steam later in the year. As can be seen in GameSpot's video of the awards ceremony below, other high-profile finalists included PixelJunk Eden, Zeno Clash, The Maw, and Puzzlegeddon.

The IGF award winners will be revealed March 11, in a ceremony at the Game Developers Conference 2010. For more information on each of the nominees, check out the IGF's official Web site. The full list of nominees and their creators follows below.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Joe Danger (Hello Games)
Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)

Excellence In Visual Art
Shank (Klei Entertainment)
Owlboy (D-Pad Studios)
Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
Limbo (Playdead)
Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)

Excellence In Design
Miegakure (Marc Ten Bosch)
Star Guard (Sparky)
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard For Gravity (Dejobaan Games)
Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
Cogs (Lazy 8 Studios)

Excellence In Audio
Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)
Shatter (Sidhe)
Closure (Closure Team)
Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

Technical Excellence
Closure (Closure Team)
Limbo (Playdead)
Heroes Of Newerth (S2 Games)
Joe Danger (Hello Games)
Vessel (Strange Loop Games)

Nuovo Award
Today I Die (Daniel Benmergui)
A Slow Year (Ian Bogost)
Tuning (Cactus)
Closure (Closure Team)
Enviro-Bear 2000 (Justin Smith)

29 Comments

  • asian_pride69

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 10:29 am GMT

    Great time for indie gaming. It's really got me interested what small developers have to offer.

    On the list, Shank, Super Meat Boy, and Joe Danger caught my attention. I will check out the rest though; they seem to have a lot of potential

  • kubicz

    Posted Mar 10, 2010 2:20 am GMT

    Limbo lol This game still exist ?

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 10:12 pm GMT

    Super Meat Boy! (by Team Meat) is not exactly out yet, but then this event is more for the developers than the games industry as a whole.

    Do check out the videos for this game, people. They make me poor knees weak - with glee!

  • grasshopper6

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 9:51 pm GMT

    hmmmm interesting

  • telvisnostic

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 8:48 pm GMT

    Best of luck to all.

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 6:41 pm GMT

    Good luck to all the contestants!

  • tmaclabi

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 5:23 pm GMT

    @ausgamer529-It's because i really enjoyed the show so much

  • ausgamer529

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 5:19 pm GMT

    any reason you commented to mutch?

  • tmaclabi

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 4:58 pm GMT

    VXLbeast-Yeah, i agree, Indie games rock!

  • tmaclabi

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 4:54 pm GMT

    Hehe, that vid is full of humor

  • tmaclabi

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 4:49 pm GMT

    Tag really deserves the student award.

  • tmaclabi

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 4:44 pm GMT

    These Developers are really great.

  • tmaclabi

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 4:41 pm GMT

    Yeah,these guys deserve the awards, nice show

  • Giratina98

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 3:51 pm GMT

    301 entrants

  • Tat77

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 2:42 pm GMT

    "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard For Gravity" sounds fun

  • blargishness

    Posted Mar 9, 2010 2:34 pm GMT

    I'm surprised that Bit.Trip Runner isn't up for any awards here.

  • VXLbeast

    Posted Jan 7, 2010 5:30 pm GMT

    Indie games rock.

  • grasshopper6

    Posted Jan 6, 2010 10:48 pm GMT

    damn video won't load

  • haydergm

    Posted Jan 6, 2010 12:31 pm GMT

    get two mic instead of switching places for the mic

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jan 6, 2010 2:42 am GMT

    The more successful the indie market gets, the bigger the indictment of mainstream PC gaming. Retro PC gaming is growing in leaps and bounds for the same reason. Less and less fun in modern AAA PC titles, more and more fun to be had from these indie games and the old pre 2005 classics! (One might argue indie games look, sound and play like the imaginative PC games we used to get back in the day!

    Seriously, do you think the next X-Com or Tetris is going to come from a major multi-national publisher, or like me do you think it's much more likely from an indie company?!

  • zbiggie

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 10:51 pm GMT

    great show enjoyed watching, actually got me to a few of those

  • BlsPinkMouse

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 8:07 pm GMT

    I'm all for this but the award guy scares me a little.

  • joksterz78

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 7:27 pm GMT

    I'm surprised Trine didn't make the list but, oh well..

  • Jak_Napier

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 6:35 pm GMT

    nice, good luck to all

  • Dualmask

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 5:37 pm GMT

    Can't wait for the day when I join their ranks.

  • MaximSagan posted Jan 5, 2010 5:16 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    MaximSagan

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 5:16 pm GMT (hide)

    Who plays these games? How do they even find them? Can't all this stuff be released on Xbox Live to eliminate distribution costs?

  • acer_062 posted Jan 5, 2010 4:37 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    acer_062

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 4:37 pm GMT (hide)

    Who are these people?

  • Hakud0ushi

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 4:30 pm GMT

    Shank looks pretty neat!

  • Zazabar11 posted Jan 5, 2010 3:31 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Zazabar11

    Posted Jan 5, 2010 3:31 pm GMT (hide)

    lol indie games

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