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]

The process, which puts both fantastic and less than appealing titles before the judges, is always entertaining. Through it, for instance, I discovered this fun little flash game. Over the weekend I also was introduced to Cortex Command, a quirky real-time strategy game that boasts 2D pixel graphics, destructible environments and an awesome physics engine.

While the premise of a disembodied brain controlling a legion of gold-digging, gun-toting robots is fantastic, what really helped this game sink its claws into me is the Sergio-Aragones aesthetic that breaths some humor and personality into the destructive mayhem of the game.

According to the developers, the game is far from finished. And I did note some issues, though I find them to be more funny than frustrating. (Like drop ships that tend to gib the soldiers they just dropped when they take back off). But you can already by the game at a reduced price for $18 on the site.

You owe it to yourself to at least check out the free demo over at Data Realms' website.

Data Realms

As always, there are some interesting titles spread throughout the mix of entries. Take for instance this web game, Spliterature. The point of the game is to try and figure out which two words have been spliced together and tear them apart by clicking on the letters in the correct order.

Simple, fun, kinda addictive.

Spliterature

This year was apparently a record year, with entries up across the board for a total of 226 entries in the main competition (up 30% from last year) and 145 for the student showcase (up 15%). On the entires, there was this to say for both parts of the competition:

Examples of the entries span already announced indie titles, including Jason Rohrer's Between, alternate reality RPG Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, visually lush point and click adventure Machinarium, and art-game I Wish I Were The Moon, through previously little-discussed titles such as Pieces Interactive's "first walk'em up" Walkie Tonky, new Nifflas-designed title Night Game, and Lexaloffle's "ecological action game" Conflux.

... a great diversity of student-made games with original concepts are showcased, with examples including GumBeat, in which you "...blow bubble gum and gather enough supporters to your cause to topple the anti-gum government", High Moon, a "abstract post-apocalyptic zombie western robot romance in 3 acts", and It's MimeTime, in which "you are a female mime artist in Paris, who must earn as much as possible, by miming your way through an invisible maze."

Both the '09 main competition entries and the student showcase entrants are available for viewing; I'll be looking forward to the final results.

2009 IGF Announces Record Entries For Main, Student Competitions [GameSetWatch]

Submissions to the contest are due by this November with finalists expected to be announced in January.

In addition to the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the awards the festival already gives out for audio, art direction, design and technology, this time around the IGF will also be presenting a new Innovation Award. The award is "intended to honor abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development."

As always, I expect to see a slew of interesting titles as I help judge the competition. Previous years have seen such greats as Everyday Shooter, Audiosurf and World of Goo.

IGF