2006 IGF Announces New Award, GDC Roundtables

Author: by Staff

The organizers of the 2006 Independent Games Festival have announced that Platinum sponsor Adultswim.com will be giving away an additional new $5,000 prize at this year's IGF, to be held at Game Developers Conference in San Jose this March. The new prize is to go to the most creative team picked from the top IGF Main Competition finalists, and representatives of Adultswim.com will meet with and interview the finalists to decide the winner during GDC. The winner will be announced at the Independent Games Festival Awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 22nd, and the prize will replace the Project Goldmaster game contract award offered by previous supporter Cartoon Network. This announcement also brings the prize money for the 2006 Independent Games Festival to $50,000, including $20,000 for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner in the Main Competition, and $10,000 in total for the new Modding Competition finalists, as the festival seeks to encourage independent game innovation. In addition, event organizers have announced two open-to-all IGF-specific roundtables at the 2006 Game Developers Conference. The 'IGF - State Of Independent Games Roundtable' is held on Wednesday March 22nd from 9.00-10.00am, and "is an open forum to discuss the state of independent games [and the IGF] in 2006." Secondly, the 'IGF - State Of Independent Student Games Roundtable', to be held on Friday March 24th from 2.30-3.30pm, will talk about "the best methods to produce independent games in education... and suggestions for ways that the IGF Student Showcase competition might evolve." These open roundtables, moderated by IGF Chairman Simon Carless, are intended to spark discussion on the past, present and future of independent gaming.