The Independent Games Festival is one of the most exciting elements that make up the Game Developers Conference (GDC), held 23-27 March in San Francisco. The finalists for this year's awards has been picked from a record 226 entries by a "panel made up of over 40 industry-leading game creators and journalists, including the makers of previous IGF honorees World Of Goo, Braid, Aquaria and N+; industry veterans from studios including Maxis, Big Huge Games, and SuperVillain Studios; and noted writers from Wired, Newsweek, and MTV." A total of $50,000 dollars are on the line in San Francisco. Best of luck to all the finalists!
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Blueberry Garden (Erik Svedäng)
Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
Carneyvale Showtime (Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab)
Night Game (Nicalis)
Dyson (Rudolf Kremers/Alex May)
Excellence In Visual Art:
Zeno Clash (ACE Team)
PixelJunk Eden (Q-Games)
Machinarium (Amanita Design)
Cletus Clay (TunaSnax)
Feist (Filthy Grip)
Excellence In Audio:
Musaic (KranX Productions)
Blueberry Garden (Erik Svedäng)
BrainPipe (Digital Eel)
PixelJunk Eden (Q-Games)
Retro/Grade (24 Caret Games)
Excellence In Design:
Retro/Grade (24 Caret Games)
Snapshot (Six AM)
Night Game (Nicalis)
Musaic (KranX Productions)
Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
Innovation Award:
Between (Jason Rohrer)
Mightier (Ratloop)
The Graveyard (Tale Of Tales)
Coil (From The Depths)
You Have To Burn The Rope (Mazapan)
Technical Excellence:
PixelJunk Eden (Q-Games)
Cortex Command (Data Realms)
Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
The Maw (Twisted Pixel Games)
Incredibots (Grubby Games)
For more information, check out the finalists here: IGF finalists