I wasn't able to do a dump (not that kind) last week, because Brian Crecente was on vacation and I was doing the Day Note to end my shift each day. I can only write so many soul-revealing personal posts 24 hours, you know?

But the Dump's back this week. My notebook's got some extras.

The IGF Gavel: I'm spending part of my weekend finishing my first round judging duties for the Independent Games Festival. This is something I always want to write more about, but I think judging, for VGAs IGF awards and other awards I'm not running, is best kept private. Nevertheless, it can have a major influence on what I write based on the exposure it grants me to more games (Being a VGA judge, for example, got me to see Assassin's Creed II a little earlier this fall than I would have otherwise). As far as the IGF judging goes, I've enjoyed doing it each of the past few years, getting a chance to see some wonderful, small, mostly PC games early. I played Braid more than a year before it was released, and World of Goo about half a year before it was out. I've played side-scrollers that you control with a Guitar Hero guitar and eventual award-winners such as Blueberry Garden. I don't want to say much about the 17 first-round games I'm judging this year yet, but just imagine having to judge a game called Don't Shit Your Pants on a scale of 1-100 in matters such as graphics, design, sound and so on. It's a fun exercise. Once I'm further into the process and I get the ok, I do hope to turn some of these IGF playing experiences into posts.

EA's PSN/XBLA Future: I interviewed EA CEO John Riccitiello a couple of Wednesdays ago and published a bunch of articles from it. But not everything. It's amazing how much you can fit in to a one-hour chat. I still have big chunks of the interview that I didn't publish. Some of that isn't post-worthy. Other stuff is good food for thought that I'll use as a basis for reporting in the future. Here's a bit I thought I'd get to but doesn't seem like I'll be able to advance any time soon. He had mentioned EA's commercially and critically successful 2009 XBLA and PSN game Battlefield 1943 a couple of times in our chat, and I asked him what his take on that market was. EA had, to the best of my memory, published only one downloadable game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 before that. He said: "We looked at [the XBLA/PSN market] and saw there's a lot of stuff up there that generates about $500,000 in terms of revenue. And they're generally spending $495,000 to a million in dev. And while that equation is very cool, it's a hobby, it's not a business. And while the gamers are having fun with it, they're not having that much fun with it. And to be honest, how many board games do you want to play on your Xbox? So we looked at that and said, 'This isn't being addressed in the right way.' So we tripled our budget and made something we thought would be really good, with no understanding of what was going to happen. We got a really great outcome with not just highly profitable business but one where consumers far and wide lauded it as a great game. We're learning from that and there will be more like that." Got that? More big XBLA/PSN games coming from EA.

Next Year, Already: There's some other stuff in my notebook about games that I can't write about yet. Publishers are always setting up new dates to define when a game they've offered an early glimpse of can be covered. It's part of the deal of seeing this stuff in advance. Let's just say there were games at Sony and Ubisoft events this week that remain under such embargoes. More exciting, though, is that I have preview copies of a trio of 2010 games that I know people will be excited about, and I'll be able to write impressions of them on Monday, Tuesday and the Monday following. I mention this as a way to show how the years keep churning. I just wrote my last disc-game review of 2009 on The Saboteur and I'm already shifting in to playing major-label 2010 games. Some folks rightfully lament the gaming media's constant look to the next big thing. It feels like eons since we last covered Halo 3: ODST in any meaningful way, for example, though that game was a big deal, just three months ago. We're trying to look back a little at least with some of the catch-up reviews we've been publishing. Hopefully we'll find other ways, too, to keep an eye on the games of recent past and the experiences gamers have with them.

Review Addendum: I always jot notes down in my notebook before I write a review, but I realize now that I omitted from my review this week of The Saboteur something that I thought was a telling problem: It takes three button presses to go from in-game action to a pannable view of your full game map. That's got to be a no-no, no?

Games I Got In The Mail This Week But Didn't Write About (Yet?): Tekken 6 (PS3 with fancy fighting stick), Hello Kitty Party (DS).

Check for my weekly review round-up a little later, but otherwise, make way for the night and weekend crews!

Entries to the festival are due in both main and student showcase categories by November 2009. The finalists for the main competition will be announced on Jan. 4.

Games selected as finalists will available in playable form on the GDC show floor and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award and the coveted $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

"We're delighted to return for our twelfth year of the Independent Games Festival, and we're really looking forward to see what the independent game community comes up with this time around," said Simon Carless, Chairman of the IGF. "Good luck to all entrants!"

Independent Games Festival [IGF]

Since I'm doing it on an iPhone, it should be interesting.

The Digipen students walk away with first kudos for Tag: the Power of Paint. Possibly the first instance of a 4chan smiley on an awards show stage. First winner in the main competition is Cortex Command for technical excellence. That's $2500 in ya pocket!

Next up is excellence in visual art... which Machinarium wins. Go Czech Republic!

Excellence in design is nabbed by Musaic Box. The game's creator says spaceeba! Because he speaks Russian.

BrainPipe scores the excellence in audio award. That results in some on stage beard action and another lost opportunity for Q-games' PixelJunk Eden. Poor Baiyon.

Innovation goes to Jason Rohrer for Passage Between. He's more put together than I expected and leads us into a great joke. You had to be there, I suppose.

We break for a Mega 64. This one is "If you're not indie F**K YOU!" It was funny.

The Direct2Drive award is up. Osmos team just got PAID.

The audience award just went out, going to technical excellence award winner Cortex Command. The creator thanked everyone, then took his shirt off. Dude was about as ripped as any indie game developer ever.

For the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, we have the following to choose from: Blueberry Garden, CarneyVale: Showtime, Dyson, Night Game and Osmos.

Winner? Blueberry Garden! That's $30,000 in prize money, thanks to a little contribution from Mountain Dew. Pretty nice little payday. Shirts stay on.

That's it for the IGF awards portion. Go and play these games, because Brian Crecente voted on them and he probably picked all the good ones.

The game's 27 tracks add up to an 85MB zip file. The mirrors are crashing fast, so if you're interested in getting the music, I'd hop over there pronto.

Here are the track notes to wet your appetite:

1. World of Goo Beginning
This is the main theme of World of Goo, and the first chunk of music I wrote for the game, specifically for our first trailer. I wanted the theme of the game to somehow reflect the song Libertango by Astor Piazzolla, which was the track I used in the original Tower of Goo prototype back in school. Listen for a similar chord progression once the melody kicks in.

2. The Goo Filled Hills

3. Brave Adventurers
A livelier version of Ode to the Bridge Builder.

4. Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared

5. World of Goo Corporation

6. Regurgitation Pumping Station
From a soundtrack I wrote for a friend's short film about going on a date with the devil.

7. Threadcutter
From one of my small games, Blow.

8. Rain Rain Windy Windy
From a soundtrack I wrote for a short kid's movie. Writing kid's music was difficult.

9. Jelly
Music I wrote for a virtual reality world. You are in a subway. And you are a giant banana.

10. Tumbler

11. Screamer
Almost didn't include this one in the game, but a friend convinced me a few days before we finished. I'm glad he did!

12. Burning Man
Theme I wrote for a friend's drama/mystery series. I recorded two friends singing single notes, and then I was able to play them back with my keyboard to get a "choir". This became the theme for "progress" in the game. A variation is used for MOM's theme.

13. Cog in the Machine
You can hear a clip from this track in one of my other small games Robot and the Cities Who Built Him

14. Happy New Year (tm) Brought to You by Product Z
Recorded some great singers from Carnegie Mellon. This is the first time the "what's up there anyway" theme can be heard. You can hear the same theme in the tracks Years of Work and The Last of the Goo Balls.

15. Welcome to the Information Superhighway
I wrote this one back in high school, which makes me feel old. You can hear a nod to phantom of the opera in a section of the organ part. I had forgotten this song existed, and was glad to find it burned onto an old rotting cd-rom. I think this was the first time I ever recorded someone singing. Only the second half of this clip is used in the game.

16. Graphic Processing Unit

17. Years of Work

18. My Virtual World of Goo Corporation
Originally written for a friend's NES game Dikki Painguin.

19. Hello, MOM

20. Inside the Big Computer

21. Are You Coming Home, Love MOM

22. Ode to the Bridge Builder
This was the second track I wrote for the game. The goal was to make a variation on Amazing Grace, in the style of those old western soundtracks by Ennio Morricone.

23. The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator

24. Best of Times
This has become the unofficial second theme to World of Goo, after we used it in our second trailer. I originally wrote this for an animated short film I made with some friends. I recorded a bunch of performers all huddled around a single microphone in my bedroom to get the layers used in this track. Drums were made by banging on chairs and cardboard boxes.

25. Red Carpet Extend-o-matic
I wrote this in 2001 as a joke for a music class in undergrad. Only the beginning of this song is used in the game, and for only one level, but it has become one of the most requested pieces of music. So, here's the "full song", but it comes with a warning - this song is designed to sound like every cheap 90's dance song ever made. The singer is great though, an astrophysicist named Jessica. I gave a her a chainsaw for her wedding and we never spoke again. The end.

26. World of Goo Corporation's Valued Customers

27. World of Goo Ending
Main theme to World of Goo, and used in our third and final trailer.

World of Goo Soundtrack

May look like a pain in the ass (and to be honest, it is a lot of work), but where's the fun in being such a party pooper. It'd be neat as a PSN or XBLA title (using the console cameras, of course), but PC owners can grab a freeware version of it right now if you're feeling all artsy & craftsy.

Mightier [Ratloop, via TIGS]

In case you are wondering what Crayon Physics Deluxe is all about, you can check out the new website where Petri's posted a neat video of the gameplay in action. It's a little bit The Incredible Machine, and a little bit Simon, whose things he draws come true. It's brilliance.

Crayon Physics Deluxe [Official Website]

Ten titles will be selected for consideration, with the finalists' list to be revealed on September 16th. According to Wired, the committee has warned potential applicants against showing up with more of the same - they want technological and storytelling innovation that directly impacts gameplay. In with the new, then!

Should be interesting to see what turns up - by the by, Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi is one of the people on the selection committee, aptly.

Tokyo Game Show Throws Party for Innovative Games [Wired via GameSetWatch]

"This year was kind of a perfect storm for the IGF," says Wired Magazine editor Chris Baker. "For one thing, we're well-ensconced in the current generation of game consoles, so there were no big surprises."

Independent games, however, are a breath of fresh air. And with digital distribution coming into its own, something that just continues to grow.

"I think this year further reinforced that indie game creators are getting better and better at conceptualizing ideas that likely aren't 'mainstream' enough to thrive in a $60 AAA Xbox 360 game," says IGF judge and Gamasutra editor Simon Carless, "and making them into totally fun, extremely playable titles."

Year after year, indie games are looking more and more polished. Slick, even.

"Tools are only getting easier to use, and digital distribution is increasing in scope and popularity every day," points out Andrew Maneri, character designer and AI developer for Synaesthete. "These were the two big barriers to entry for many developers."

But what about the winners of this year's IGF? Did anyone get any deals? Advance their career? We chatted up some of the winners, and got a glimpse of why deals don't really matter and how IGF changed their lives. Or didn't.

Oh, and we totally forgot to ask about indie gaming groupies. Sorry.

• Crayon Physics Deluxe Seumas McNally Grand Prize
When asked what memories of IGF stick out, Crayon Physics creator Petri Purho replied, "English isn't my first language so I had to google out what "stick out" means. And this is the only definition I found: stick out with my dick out." Purho, a student at Helsinki Polytechnic in Finland, continues, "It might be early Alzheimer symptoms, but I don't remember anything like that happening during the IGF. Or then my mind just wants to shut it down. Or then I was just too drunk to remember my penis hanging out while trying to be important during the IGF. The last sounds like the most probable scenario."

Since he was eight, Purho has been making his own QBasic games. He started up his kloonigames blog in late 2006 to focus more game design. "Idea was (and still is)," he says, "that I'd do one prototype of a game every month to learn and experiment with game design." Leading up to this year's IGF, Purho says getting his Crayon Physics Deluxe ready was a crunch. "I had to grind my way through the dungeon of C++ and fight level 5 bugs there," he recalls. "The end boss, called Change-physics-engines-one-week-before-the-IGF-deadline was particularly nasty. Especially with the lacking a proper save game system and the time limit." Lessons learned? "To spend a little bit more time working on the game, before the last week of the deadline."

While Purho only submitted Crayon Physics Deluxe to get a free GDC pass, his delightful virtual crayon physics title charmed the IGF judges, winning the grand prize. "There have been some emails and contacts from various publishers," he says. But he hasn't gotten any deals out of his IGF win. In the mean time, while the rest of us wait patiently for the long overdue DS version of Crayon Physics, Purho's keeping busy churning out games for his blog and with other things. "I'm planning on growing enough hair to beat John Romero in the hair length contest."

Good luck, Petri. That Romero was a Rapunzel.

• Synaesthete Best Student Game
Is game school the new film school?

"I wouldn't say it's the new film school," says Will Towns, Synaesthete technical director. "Maybe it's film school's illegitimate sibling. The film industry and the gaming industry share a lot of the same aspects: both contain a corporate piece and an independent piece, both fostering the same advantages and disadvantages."

What are these corporate disadvantages you speak of?

"I don't want to work on the next 20 million dollar EA genre game," says Synaesthete's designer Joseph Tkach. "Someday, I would like to have my own dev studio, where I and my team can have complete creative freedom."

Meet the new generation. Armed with gaming degrees and a fierce sense of independence. Knowing that it's possible for small teams to deliver satisfying game experiences, these guys aren't happy to be "fortunate" enough to crunch code on some bland $20 million sequel. No way.

Tkach and Town, along with Zach Aikman and Andy Maneri, are the team behind Rez inspired, music driven arcade-style shooter Synaesthete. Since the team snagged Best Student Game at IGF, it's safe to assume that they are, well, students. All four study at DigiPen Institute of Technology, where they were pulling late night after late night, preparing their game for IGF. After their win, the team says they've been in talks.

"There's exciting news on the horizon," says Zach Aikman.

Game deals or not, the Synaesthete guys are sitting pretty for college kids.

"Getting recognized by such a large industry is the best thing that can happen to us, being soon-to-be graduates," says Towns. "Anything else is just icing on the cake."

Like paying off those student loans, for instance.

• Fez Excellence In Visual Art
When Montreal-based Fez designer and artist Phil Fish took the stage at IGF to accept the Excellence in Visual Art award, he wore, well, a fez. The 2D-meets-3D game stars a fez-wearing character named Gomez. Fish had been kicking around the idea for Fez for ages. He wanted to make an inviting game, built on childhood gaming cliches, but turning them on their ear.

"Having no time or money," says producer and the game's soundtrack composer Jason De Groot. "It was made in our free time." What did they learn from that? "That we'd like to have more time and money."

De Groot first came on board last year. The Japan-based De Groot was in Kyoto on business and on his laptop watched the Fez clip Fish had put together of the prototype.

"It was a "Woah...." kind of moment," recalls De Groot. "Until then, I had only seen concept art and a couple questionable cell phone videos. Right then I knew that I had to be more involved in things."

Post IGF, Fez garnered considerable interest. Not just for an indie title, but for a game — a still very much in development game.

"No moneyhats yet," says De Groot. "But we've been getting a lot of interest."

We're sure of that.

• Iron Dukes Best Web Browser Game
"The IGF seemed very professional this year, both in terms of the competition and production of the festival," says Iron Dukes programmer Darren Koepp. "I was expecting a kiosk next to the sandwich tables."

He and the game's writer and designer Tynan Wales submitted the game to give themselves a deadline. You know, just to finish the damn thing.

Iron Dukes is about 19th century fictionalized treasure hunting made by two guys who ran out of money.

"I ran out of money," says Koepp. "Yes," confirms Wales,"we had money trouble."

Both Koepp and Wales, industry vets, haven't seen big profits from their win yet, but are in talks.

"The Sundance comparison was bandied about a fair amount this year," says Wales. "There was an air of indie camaraderie, but I'm not sure if the IGF is as much of a golden ticket as Sundance is now. I saw no one leaving with bags of money."

Still, the pure acting of winning is in itself satisfying.

Recalls Koepp: "During the IGF, the awards night was really a surprise. I remember one of the volunteers ushering me down to the "VIP" area. He called me sir. That was hilarious. Winning was nice too. I couldn't feel my knees."

Winning is always nice.

• World of Goo Design Innovation, Technical Excellence
Two former Electronic Arts employees make good.

"The first commercial game I worked on was an urban Sims game at EA, and we learned that putting 3D versions of the Black Eyed Peas into a game might not necessarily increase the funk," says World of Goo creator Kyle Gabler. "On the other hand, it has recently been discovered that putting dinosaurs into a game will increase the funk every time."

Blobs of goo work well, too. Gabler and co-designer Ron Carmel created gooey gaming goodness with World of Goo. The puzzle game has players overcome gravity and build goo ball structures that reach the in-game exit. A simple, yet brilliant mechanic.

"World of Goo is one big physics lab, so things move and interact exactly like you would expect," says Gabler. "It's fun just to fling things around."

"We spent most of September in a tizzy, working from the minute we woke up until the minute we fell asleep in order to meet the IGF submission deadline," recalls Carmel. "We didn't touch a computer for two weeks after the submission date."

Crunch time paid off in spades. The game charmed the IGF judges, and World of Goo won not one, but two awards: Design Innovation and Technical Excellence. Two awards? They're on easy street! For like, forever!!

Uh, no.

"I was a little surprised that actually winning an award didn't help us much on the business end of things," says Carmel. "But overall, the IGF really helped us get the word out. In my opinion there's nothing else out there that is doing as much good for the indie game scene as the IGF."

True, true. So instead of waiting for some plum deal, Gabler and Carmel are selling the game through digital distribution on their 2D Boy site.

"I think people are realizing that a game doesn't need to be complex or contain two zillion polys or 193 hours of gameplay in order to be worthwhile, it just needs to be fun," says Carmel. "This allows micro-studios like ours to actually make a living doing this... If I thought we'd need to find a publisher for World of Goo in order to get it out into the world I might not have left my job to work on it."

Gabler and Carmel are developing a Wii version of World of Goo on a profit sharing basis.

"If a team of three people make a game that brings in a million dollars in profits, they should each see a third of that amount, not get a $5k bonus and a round of applause."

Spoken like a true industry vet.

During the course of the handing out of awards at last week's Independent Games Festival, audiences were treated to exclusive Mega64 produced videos between acceptance speeches. They weren't the typical game parodies played out in real life, but clips that spoke to the audience on hand. The production above, shown after the intro after the jump, was my personal favorite.

For a somewhat startling, volume lowering surprise from artist Dan Paladin of Alien Hominid fame, make the jump. Just make sure the kids are out of the room.

Yeah. It certainly got everyone's attention. One more video, featuring some of Mega64's trademark public stunts, is available at the official site.

Mega64

I ended up doing a nearly all-nighter earlier this week so I could play through the finalists for the Independent Games Festival. There are, as always, a number of fantastic games in the mix. Most of them, unfortunately, can't be played by the public. What can be played are the finalists for best Web game. My personal choice for the best of the lot? Tri-Achnid.

In the game you control a three-legged spider by clicking on its feet and moving the legs. The feet cling to things you touch them to and the ball of a body sort of follows along. Later on you also get to spin webs and attack things. The object of the game is to care for your egg sack, typically by carrying it from place to place in your mouth. Yes, the idea gives me the willies too, but at least it doesn't involve accidentally drinking an entire spider.

Tri-Achnid

Parents and co-workers have been overwhelmingly positive about the project, citing its originality as a catalyst for more independent reading and learning ....

Video game development in the classroom is not for everyone and is still very difficult to implement today. A teacher must be not only highly computer literate and programming savvy, but also well versed in a middleware program such as RPG Maker XP. In order for a project such as ours to be applied to an everyday curriculum, teachers would require vast amounts of training, which is a costly obstacle.

The game was submitted to the 2008 IGF Student competition, and Alvarado says the students will be working on the game through the end of the school year. The article is short and sweet, but explains how the project came to be and how the class is putting together their game.

Making Video Games ... With Fifth Graders [Game Career Guide]

Gamasutra got a chance to sit down with the boys and discuss some of the things that make World of Goo what it is. When asked what they felt the most interesting part of their game is, designer Gabler had this to say.

People seem to like "the friendly Sign Painter" - a mysterious tipster leaving you signposts in each level. The Sign Painter becomes increasingly involved and uh... friendly. Anyway, there is a deliberate "story" that happens throughout the game, but it is entirely optional and never explicitly told. I mean, it's just a dumb physics game, and I hate forced story in games! It ends up being more a "suggested emotional journey" through "themes" (giant corporation stuff, booth babes, quest for self discovery, enlightenment, blah blah blah) - see, it sounds stupid when you say it, so we just don't. Forget I said that. It's all about feelings!

If it sounds like there is a lot going on here, there is. Couple Gabler's ebullient explanation with the amazing visuals and you've got pure indie gold. World of Goo is being developed for a Valentine's Day release on the PC and subsequent releases on Mac, Linux and eventually, the Wii. Good luck to Gabler and Carmel on what many consider this years top IGF pick.

Road To The IGF: World Of Goo's 'Suggested Emotional Journey' To Wii [Gamasutra]

The Independent Games Festival today announced the dozen finalists for the Student Showcase. The 12 finalists will all receive a $500 travel stipend to help them get to GDC 2008 in San Francisco and the winner of the IGF Best Student Game Award will receive a $2,500 cash prize.

All of the games will also be shown off at the IGF Pavillion during the show. Here's the list:

Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, Finland
Empyreal Nocturne, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
Gesundheit!, by Sheridan Institute
Galaxy Scraper, by Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Mayhem Intergalactic, by The Australian National University
Poesysteme, by ENJMIN, France
Polarity, by Carnegie Mellon University
Ruckblende, by Uni Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Synaesthete, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom, by University of Southern California- School of Cinematic Arts- Interactive Media Program
Flipside (Half-Life 2 Modification), by National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment, Denmark
Foamzilla (Unreal Tournament 2004 Modification), by Vancouver Film School

Among the short-list is a Half-Life 2 mod called Flipside which has me very intriguied. I haven't had a chance to play it yet... mostly because I'm sitting in a van writing this on an energy-efficient, but graphicically-crap laptop. But I plan to check it out in the new year just as soon as I get back home. You should do the same, same with the rest of these finalists. Remember, these are the sorts of games that can sing on the Playstation Network or Xbox Live Arcade.

10th ANNUAL INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL REVEALS STUDENT SHOWCASE FINALISTS

Best Student Game Award to be Announced at GDC 2008

The 2008 Independent Games Festival (IGF) has announced the twelve finalists in the Student Showcase for its 10th annual set of awards. Chosen from a record 125 entries by a jury of experts from leading game design programs at universities across the world, these games will go on to compete for an overall Best Student Game prize, to be awarded at the IGF Awards Ceremony on February 20, 2008.

Some of the finalists this year include USC Interactive Media Program's quirky The Misadventures of PT Winterbottom, Sheridan Institute's stylish booger-busting Gesundheit, and The National Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment's dual-perspective Half-Life 2 modification Flipside.

All IGF finalist games will be exhibited at the IGF Pavilion, Feb. 20-22, 2008 at this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC) Expo. GDC, CMP Technology's annual conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games, takes place February 18-22, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Each finalist in the IGF Student Showcase will receive a $500 travel stipend to help aid expenses for the trip to GDC 2008. The winner of the IGF Best Student Game Award will receive a $2,500 cash prize during the ceremony.

The Student Showcase games and game mods that will be considered for the 2008 Best Student Game Award are all highlighted on the IGF website, www.igf.com. The list of finalists is as follows:

Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, Finland
Empyreal Nocturne, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
Gesundheit!, by Sheridan Institute
Galaxy Scraper, by Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Mayhem Intergalactic, by The Australian National University
Poesysteme, by ENJMIN, France
Polarity, by Carnegie Mellon University
Ruckblende, by Uni Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Synaesthete, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom, by University of Southern California- School of Cinematic Arts- Interactive Media Program
Flipside (Half-Life 2 Modification), by National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment, Denmark
Foamzilla (Unreal Tournament 2004 Modification), by Vancouver Film School

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, in the way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. This year, the contest is supported by sponsors including Platinum Sponsor Gleemax.com, Silver Sponsors Sony and Microsoft, and Platinum Student Showcase Sponsor DigiPen Institute Of Technology, as well as IGF Mobile Platinum/Founding Sponsor Nvidia.

GDC 2008 will continue its support of independent gaming with the return of the Independent Games Summit February 18-19. The IGF Pavilion, where GDC attendees can experience the finalist games in the IGF Main, Student, and Mobile Competitions, is open on the GDC show floor February 20-22. For more information on the Independent Games Festival and to register for GDC, please visit www.gdconf.com.

Official Aquaria Web Site [Bit Blot - Thanks Kyle!]

2008 IGF Student Showcase Competition

Who Is Eligible: Open to all student game developers worldwide, including student mod makers (see student-specific rules).
Competing For: 12 'Student Showcase' winners for top game ($500 travel stipend), and for the second year, an overall 'Best Student Game' ($2,500 cash prize).
Entry Fee: None.
Submissions Due: October 15th, 2007 at 11:59pm PDT - submit here.
The IGF's Student Showcase, for which the entry deadline is October 15th, 2007 at 11.59pm PDT, will highlight a total of twelve games this year.

IGF Student Showcase Winner ($500)

In addition, for the first time this year, there will be a prize for best overall IGF Student Game awarded as part of the IGF Awards, with the finalists comprising all of the Student Showcase winners:

Best Student Game ($2,500)

The jury for the IGF Student Showcase is headed by student-experienced game veterans, and consists of a number of indie experts committed to picking the best student games, given that games created for educative reasons often have a different emphasis than commercially released titles. [Please note that both games using middleware engines and mods of existing games are both eligible this year, but the judges will take whether the engine was coded from scratch into account when judging.]

More than 173 games are competing in next year's Independent Games Festival, the 10th annual, and the full list just hit the web. GDC 08 will see $50,000 in prizes handed out to indie game developers, many of whom will end up landing publishing deals. It's all very exciting.

Once again, I am among the growing list of IGF judges this year, meaning I get to play a bunch of exciting new games and then give my impressions to both the festival organizers and the developers. Hit up the link to see the full list, or the jump to see the list of the game's I've been asked to take an early look at.

Independent Games Festival

My Assigned Games

Invader
GYM!
Supernova Shootout
Discs of Mayhem
Artisan
Venture Arctic
Regnum Online
Polychromatic Funk Monkey
Gate

Each of the games need to be scored based on innovation in design, excellence in audio, excellence in visual art, technical excellence and an overall rating.

Once the votes are tallied, the finalists are selected the judges play all of the finalists and vote for the winner.

The 10th annual Independent Games Festival, to be judged at the 2008 Game Development Conference (February 20-23), is open for submissions in both the 'main' and 'student' categories. The mod contest will not be taking place at the 2008 GDC , though they've included in the student category.

The 2008 IGF Main Competition will again be open to all independent developers to submit their games - whether it be on PC, console digital download, Web browser, or other more exotic formats. The prizes again total nearly $50,000, with a $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize, and the deadline to enter the Main Competition is Monday, October 1st 2007.

You can find more information at the official website; indie developers, start your engines. Maggie Greene

GameZebo has news that web game, and personal flash heart-throb, Samorost 2 was just named the best webby online game of the year.

As I've mentioned before this game is as beautiful as it is intriguing. Basically you have to click around the screen to figure out how to move from one level to the next. Its a lot of fun to play and even more fun to watch. Brian Crecente

Samorost 2: Best Webby Online Game of the Year [Gamezebo]

About 3,500 people are packed into a sizable ballroom tonight to honor the best and most innovative game developers in the world.

The Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival is, in my opinion, the single best award show honoring games in the world, but I have had a bit to drink.

Hit the jump for the hot live blogging action. Brian Crecente

We're underway with the a dive into indie game development.

We'll be looking at the best mods first. The finalists for best mod are:

Alan Miranda. Darkness Over Daggerford (NWN)
Spawns of Deflebub (UT)
Eternal Silence (HL2)
Weekday Warrior (HL2)

And the winner is: Weekday Warrior.

Student Showcase finalists are:
Base invaders
Invalid Tangrams
Opera Slinger
Gelatin Joe
And Yet it Moves
Toblo
Euclidean Crisis
The Ball of Bastards
The Blob

And the winner is: Toblo

Wow, oh wow. The team leader for the winning game just proposed to the game's voice actor on stage. Nice, an award and a wife all in one night.

Excellence in Audio finalists:
Aquaria
Bone: The Great Cow Race
Everyday Shooter
Fizzball
Racing Pitch

And the winner is: Everday Shooter.

Finalists for Excellence in visual arts:
Aquaria
Golf?
Samorost 2
Castle Crashers
Roboblitz

And the winner is: Castle Crashers

The finalists for Design Innovation Awards:
Aquaria
Everyday Shooter
Amradillo Run
Toblo

And the winner is Everyday Shooter

Finalists for Technical Excellence:
Arcane Legions: A Rising Shadow
Armada Online
Bang! Howdy
Blast Miner
Band of Bugs

And the winner is: Bang! Howdy

Best Web Browser Game finalists:
Bubble Islands
Gamma Bros.
Samarost 2

And the winner is: Samarost 2

Now on to the first ever Indie GameTap award. The three winners of this prize will share $50,000 and have their game published on the service.

But first, a really long ad.

Second runner up: Not quite sure, sorry couldn't hear it.
First runner up: Blast Miner
Winner: Everyday Shooter

The Audience Award winner is Castle Crashers.

The Darwinia team, the winners of last year's Seumas McNally Awards, just took the stage dressed to the nines in suites decorated with sequin Darwinia symbols. They're introducing the finalists for this year's SMAs.

Aquaria
Armadillo Run
Bang! Howdy
Roboblitz
Everyday Shooter

And the winner this year is: Aquaria.

That's it for the Indie Game Fest. Now on to the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Before getting into the major awards, the show honored three people for innovation in game development:

Bostjan Codets for Line Rider
Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya for Okami (Oh man, Capcom took the stage for the award. Ouch.)
Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiki Yamashita for Wii Sports... Oh, classy, Shigeru took the stage to say thanks personally. He said he's got plenty to say tomorrow (!!) so he'll spare us tonight.

Now Double Fine's Tim Schaeffer is taking the stage to hand out the night's GDCAs.

New Studio:
Gastronaught Studios for Small Arms
Naked Sky Entertainment for Roboblitz
Iron Lore Entertainment for Titan Quest
Ready at Dawn Studios for Daxter
Wadjet Eye Games for The Shiva

Winner: Iron Lore Entertainment

Best Writing:
Bully
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Sam & Max Ep. 1: Culture Shock
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Best Game Design
Bully
Okami
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Viva Pinata
Wii Sports

Winner: Wii Sports

Best Audio
Company of Heroes
DEFCON: Everybody Dies
Guitar Hero II
Tomb Raider: Legend
LocoRoco

Winner: Guitar Hero II

Character Design
Final Fantasy XII
LocoRoco
Okami
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Viva Pinata

Winner: Okami

First Penguin, given out to an innovator who paved the way for others to follow, is being awarded to Alexey Pajitnov. He is known, by many, the man who gave birth to casual games.

Wow, he's actually here. He just strolled slowly across the stage, arms at his side, wearing a pinstripe jacket and an enormous smile.

"Thank you very very much,. I share the honor of this award with every Tetris publisher Especially I am grateful to Blue Planet software. Thank you very, very, much."

Best Technology
Company of Heroes
Dead Rising
Gears of War
Rockstar Presentes: Table Tennis
Wii Sports

Winner: Gears of War

Best Visual Arts
Final Fantasy XII
Gears of War
Okami
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Viva Pinata

Winner: Gears of War

Community Contribution Award
George "The Fatman" Sanger

Lifetime Achievement Award
Shigeru Miyamoto

"Getting this award makes me feel old and like you want me to retire soon. But I personally feel very young and like I can do this for a long time now. I've always had a certain fondness for America and the spirit of America."

Game of the Year Award
Gears of War
Okami
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Wii Sports

Winner: Gears of War

CliffyB: "Holy Shit. This is absolutely unbelievable. Thank you so much frst and formost eveyrone at home who worked so hard to make this happen. I want to thank Microsoft. I want to thank my family. My girlfriend for putting up

Thank you Shigeru Miyamoto for inspiring me to do what I do everyday."