Independent Games Festival

14th Annual Independent Games Festival
March 7, 2012
GDC 2012
Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, CA

About IGF | Contest Overview | Important Dates | Sponsors

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IGF Awards:
March 7, 2012

IGF Pavilion:
March 7-9, 2012

About the IGF

The UBM TechWeb Game Network (producers of Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com, and the Game Developers Conference^®) established the Independent Games Festival in 1998 to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers. Just as the Sundance Film Festival benefits the independent film community, the IGF creates a similar event for independent game developers in addition to the student population of game developers.

Located at the Moscone Center at the Game Developers Conference, and open to any members of the public or game professionals who have bought an Expo Pass to the show, the IGF Pavilion showcases every single finalist for that year's Festival in playable form. Members of the development team for each IGF finalist are on hand to discuss and demonstrate the title and talk to top game publishers and distributors attending the show.

The IGF Awards will take place on Thursday evening of the Game Developers Conference, with thousands watching the awards presentation before the Game Developer's Choice Awards are presented. In its 12th year, the IGF has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes and major recognition to innovative and independently created video games from all over the world.

IGF Awards Ceremony

March 7, 2012

IGF Pavilion

March 7-9, 2012

Independent Games Summit

March 5-6, 2012

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IGF Contest Overview

The Independent Games Festival event features the main IGF Competition itself and the IGF Student Showcase.

Independent Games Festival Prizes

The main Independent Games Festival, to be held in March 2012 at San Francisco's GDC 2012, will be distributing nine major awards at its ceremony, as follows:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30,000)
Excellence In Visual Art ($3,000)
Excellence In Audio ($3,000)
Excellence In Design ($3,000)
Technical Excellence ($3,000)
Nuovo Award ($5,000)
Best Mobile Game ($3,000)
Audience Award ($3,000)

There are five specifically named finalists for each award. All finalists will be invited to the IGF award ceremony at GDC 2011. The IGF Audience Award will be voted from the finalists in all other categories.

IGF Student Showcase

In addition, the IGF's Student Showcase competition, which is the premiere competition highlighting the top student-created indie games, also gives out the following awards each year:

IGF Student Showcase Winner (ten winners, $500)
Best Student Game ($3,000)

In addition 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)

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Key IGF Dates & Deadlines

June 27, 2011	Submissions are Open
October 17, 2011	Submission Deadline: Main Competition
November 1, 2011	Submission Deadline: Student Competition
January 5, 2012	Finalists Announced: Main Competition
January 12, 2012	Finalists Announced: Student Competition
March 5 - March 9, 2012	Game Developers Conference 2012
March 5 - March 6, 2012	Independent Games Summit @ GDC
March 7 - March 9, 2012	IGF Pavilion @ GDC
March 7, 2012	IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)

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Sponsors

IGF Student Competition Platinum Sponsor Microsoft Studios is Microsoft's entertainment publishing arm, and Microsoft Studios XBLA has published some of the best games for Xbox LIVE Arcade. We're eager to continue to support and empower independent developers to deliver fantastic, innovative and ground-breaking entertainment experiences on Microsoft platforms.

IGF Student Competition Gold Sponsor OnLive is a revolutionary concept in video games, instantly delivering the latest games on demand through the Internet with the simplicity of streaming video. Take your game seamlessly across PCs, Macs, TVs, smartphones and tablets with no discs, no downloads and no upgrades necessary. Learn more at www.onlive.com/developer.

IGF Student Competition Platinum Sponsor DigiPen Institute of Technology, located in Redmond, Washington, has been providing highly capable programmers and production artists to the electronic games industry for over 14 years. With a rigorous curriculum endorsed by industry leading companies and taught by world-renowned faculty, DigiPen graduates represent some of the industry's most sought after employees and respected game development leaders.

IGF Student Competition Gold Sponsor Become a worldwide-recognized artist, designer, programmer or researcher. ENJMIN, The Graduate School of Games and Interactive Media is a one-stop shop for the games and new media profession. Get a Master, Engineering or PhD degree in France, or get them as an accreditation from your professional experience.

IGF Student Competition Gold Sponsor ISART DIGITAL is a leading institute specialised in Video Game and CG Animation. The School, based in Paris, has developed strong links with the best international studios. The School's reputation is also based on its students' projects (awards, commercialisations) and its international partnership with NCC, a Japanese video game school.