2008 Independent Games Festival Opens Submissions

Author: by Staff

The IGF organizers have announced that they are opening up submissions for the historic 10th Annual Independent Games Festival, for which the awards will be handed out in February 2008 at Game Developers Conference. 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. The 2008 IGF Student Competition will once again award the best student games, and this year will also include student 'mods' to existing games. As a result, the number of Student Showcase winners has been increased to 12. The deadline to enter the Student Competition is Monday, October 15th, 2007. [The 2008 IGF Mod Competition will not be taking place for GDC 2008, though the organizers note that they "...still very much appreciate the work of the mod community (hence the inclusion of mods in the student category), and are considering further competitions for this sector."] In addition, the IGF (which is curated by the CMP Game Group, also owners of Gamasutra) has announced that it has appointed Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink as joint Content Directors for the Independent Games Festival, to help shepherd the expansion of the increasingly successful IGF. Matthew and Steve collectively helped organize the successful Independent Games Summit at GDC 2007, and together work at the multiple IGF finalist and 2005 IGF Project Goldmaster award-winning Flashbang Studios - they’ve retired from IGF competition to help run the festival. Game Developer magazine/Gamasutra.com publisher Simon Carless will also continue in his role as IGF Chairman. Further information, including detailed rules, contact info, and specifics on previous winners, is available at the official Independent Games Festival website.