Eighteen years in a row. That’s quite a track record for the Indie Game Festival, and it has come a long way since its early years. Last year, in particular, showed signs of growth with a record-breaking nearly 1000 entries! That’s some beefy competition, especially as participants will be duking it out over as few as eight awards.
Rough odds aside, the cash prices are – or should be – quite frankly just one of several reasons to partake in this grand event. I mean, submitting does come with a fee ($75 for regular, $25 for students), but even if you don’t win, only reaching the finals, that’s still quite an achievement, and one well worth the money, I’d say. Even more so, since the IGF Pavilion, on the GDC show floor, will feature every single finalist in playable form. Some extra PR/playtesting/word-of-mouth goodness is rarely a bad thing.
On a related note, IGF 2016 is also one which sees a rather major change, including a bit of restructuring: Brandon Boyer – chairman for more than five years – has decided to step down. Kelly Wallick, perhaps known by most for her work on the Indie MEGABOOTH, will be taking his place, making minor changes to the rules, as well as slight modifications to submission fees. Well, the show must go on and the times are changing.
Now, as for the deadline – you have until October 26th, 2015 to submit, and then, come January 2016, finalists will be revealed, with a combined prize pool of over $50,000. That’s a lot of money, so best not to dilly-dally as you might end up forgetting about it, and suddenly… well, the deadline has come and gone.
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.
To further emphasize the importance of its victors, winners will be announced on-stage, on March 16th, 2016, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, as part of Game Developers Conference 2016! Groovy. No better time than the present to be an indie developer, that’s for sure. Oh and in case all those dates are making your head spin, I’ve listed the lot below for easy reference:
- July 31, 2015 – Submissions are Open
- October 26, 2015 – Submission Deadline
- January 2016 – IGF Finalists Announced
- March 14 – March 18, 2016 – Game Developers Conference 2016
- March 14 – March 15, 2016 – Independent Games Summit @ GDC 2016
- March 16 – March 18, 2016 – IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2016
- March 16, 2016 – IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners announced!)
(Source: igf.com)
