Increasingly, the Independent Games Festival is where smart game publishers go to find tomorrow's big hits. Games like Braid, World of Goo, flow and Everyday Shooter all had their start here.

So it's worth checking out which games have piqued the interest of the judges for this year's festival. The list of finalists includes five games that I've already played a bit of and 17 others that I can't wait to sink my teeth into as a judge.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
* Blueberry Garden
* CarneyVale Showtime
* Dyson
* Night Game
* Osmos

Excellence in Visual Art
* Cletus Clay
* FEIST
* Machinarium
* PixelJunk Eden
* Zeno Clash

Excellence in Audio
* Blueberry Garden
* BrainPipe
* Musaic Box
* PixelJunk Eden
* Retro/Grade

Excellence in Design
* Musaic Box
* Night Game
* Osmos
* Retro/Grade
* Snapshot

Innovation Award
* Between
* Coil
* The Graveyard
* Mightier
* You Have To Burn The Rope

Technical Excellence
* Cortex Command
* IncrediBots
* The Maw
* Osmos
* PixelJunk Eden

Full descriptions and links to the games can be found over on the Independent Games Festival site. Congratulations to all of the finalists.

The Finalists [IGF]

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