IGF entrants of note

[DrWilloughby]

It's almost the IGF entry deadline, so I'm of course obsessing about the competition. Anyone here entering? Are there any games that you think will be entered that are worth worrying about?

The first three on my list:
Eets: Hunger. It's Emotional
Introversion's Defcon: Everybody Dies
Cloning Clyde

And of course, our own Venture Arctic (http://www.venturearctic.com) of course

[Matthew]

Toribash (http://www.toribash.com/)

I think Cortex Command (http://www.datarealms.com/) is awfully neat.

Armadillo Run (http://www.armadillorun.com/) (not sure if Peter is submitting)

Whatever Grubby Games is wrapping up.

We're entering our next (and last) casusal game, too. Obviously not a contender in some categories, but stands a chance for nomination in "Excellence In Visual Art" or "Excellence In Audio" (I just now noticed they changed the wording on those categories away from "Innovation" for this year).

[cliffski]

I entered kudos. No idea what my chances are though.

[Nexic]

I tried Toribash but didn't really like it. I just couldn't stop my character from falling over, let clone actually kick some ass. It's also painfully slow paced :-\

[DrWilloughby]

Toribash (http://www.toribash.com/)
I hadn't heard of this one before. Really frickin cool.

[DrWilloughby]

I tried Toribash but didn't really like it. I just couldn't stop my character from falling over, let clone actually kick some ass. It's also painfully slow paced :-\

Yeah I must admit, it's more fun watching the replays than actually playing...

[PoV]

I *might* make Slamdance, but I'm certainly not in the IGF this year.

[Arthur]

We are submitting Virtual Villagers. We submitted Fish Tycoon last year but from what little feedback came back to us, it was not at all well received.

[Musenik]

We've submitted Dangerous HS Girls... Thankfully, they let us update the file at will.

[Drake]

Do you know that Cloning Clyde will be entered? I thought that XBLA games would technically be ineligible due to the relationship with MS.

[Chris Evans]

I was thinking about submitting CityScape Battle, but I think I'm just going to wait until it's fully complete before I submit it to any competitions. I'm tired of making lame excuses such as "I probably didn't get nominated because my game didn't have feature xyz yet" or "The judges probably didn't play my latest update".

As for IGF, I'm still a little annoyed that last year my game was among the very small percentage of games, which didn't get any judges feedback. Especially since I was one of the people who pushed for judge feedback, I was fairly disappointed.

[DrWilloughby]

Do you know that Cloning Clyde will be entered? I thought that XBLA games would technically be ineligible due to the relationship with MS.
I don't know for sure that Cloning Clyde is entering, but I do know for sure that XBLA games are allowed. Even ones still in development!

[Drake]

I don't know for sure that Cloning Clyde is entering, but I do know for sure that XBLA games are allowed. Even ones still in development!I see. That's good to know, and I'm glad that it's the case.

[Matthew]

I think XBLA games would only disqualify if they were actually funded by Microsoft. I'm under the impression that MS funding rarely happens, but who can say (certainly not me)!

[stiill]

Wow. It's going to be viciously competitive this year! That's a lot of fantastic games listed in this thread already.

[DrWilloughby]

Ah, forgot to mention Minions of Mirth, I'd guess they should get a nom in the tech category at least.

[cliffski]

to be honest, I get more excited about the game tunnel awards. those are indie games, the IGF seems to attract lots of big budget games, and lots of games that are a cool design idea, but still a long way off ever being finished. AFAIK Game Tunnel only picks from finished, reviewed games that are on sale.
The IGF gets a lot more publicity for some reason, probably because of the tie-in with Gamasutra. the IGF is more 'in' with the game industry clique.

[GBGames]

The IGF gets a lot more publicity for some reason, probably because of the tie-in with Gamasutra. the IGF is more 'in' with the game industry clique.

And the promotion from at least some members of the ESA probably helps, and the fact that the awards show is at GDC, which everyone knows about.

[Artinum]

I entered kudos. No idea what my chances are though.

It's remarkably original - that should get some interest. I wish you luck!

[DrWilloughby]

to be honest, I get more excited about the game tunnel awards. those are indie games, the IGF seems to attract lots of big budget games, and lots of games that are a cool design idea, but still a long way off ever being finished. AFAIK Game Tunnel only picks from finished, reviewed games that are on sale.
The IGF gets a lot more publicity for some reason, probably because of the tie-in with Gamasutra. the IGF is more 'in' with the game industry clique.
Both are worth something... the IGF gets a lot of publicity, the judging commitee is very broad, and there's money involved. I also think they really only should be judging finished games, but I shouldn't say that too loudly since I'm submitting an unfinished one this year.

The GameTunnel awards feel more indie, for sure, and in a lot of ways more fair. Heck, I love 'em both. I'm all for awards, they only bring us more customers.

[cyrus_zuo]

The GameTunnel awards feel more indie, for sure, and in a lot of ways more fair.
...and in a lot of ways they may be less fair...depending on what your opinion of fair is. The IGF uses more of a consensus vote. I tried that on GT and didn't like the results. It seems that often a consensus means that everyone who voted is equally dis-satisfied with the results. It leads to the top games being games that everyone likes, but often the games that we love individually often don't make the list. So I use a variety of factors from scores to reviews to hooptedoodle. I'm happier with the results...but I don't know if they are more fair in any way.

Heck, I love 'em both. I'm all for awards, they only bring us more customers.
Amen!

[Arthur]

...and in a lot of ways they may be less fair...depending on what your opinion of fair is. The IGF uses more of a consensus vote. I tried that on GT and didn't like the results. It seems that often a consensus means that everyone who voted is equally dis-satisfied with the results. It leads to the top games being games that everyone likes, but often the games that we love individually often don't make the list. So I use a variety of factors from scores to reviews to hooptedoodle. I'm happier with the results...but I don't know if they are more fair in any way.


We are fairly sure that it is exactly this consensus effect that often works to our disadvantage in competitions, as our games are very love-it-or-hate-it. While these extremes are proving effective for converting the product, in a competition where votes are averaged we often do not fare well, as we usually garner a few 'absolutely hated it' votes.

We had really hoped last year that our best-selling realtime fish-breeding adventure/sim had a chance in the 'innovation in game design' category. Oh well, we'll just keep trying! :)

[SteveZ]

I'm entering as well. Initially I was going to enter a cute chef game, but I couldn't get it to a level I'm satisfied with.

Instead, I entered my pet project called Greensville: 100 Years in America. It is a life simulation/management game that revolves around a fictional American city from 1900 to 2000. Player interacts with the city through the life of ten characters, each one from a specific decade. There is some history put into it too, so you'll get to see the effect of the roaring 20's and Great Depression put into place.


-Steve Z.

[DrWilloughby]

I just uploaded, and because I'm sneaky, I can see the names of the files that everyone has uploaded. Quite a few intriguing names that I know nothing about. Not really all that many that I know ANYTHING about. Fun! The suspense! :eek:

Go Entry 140 (http://www.venturearctic.com)!!!

[woo]

I'm torn. I could put "something" together with My Bogle, but it won't be enough without some serious updates in the next month or so. Do I really want to essentially waste 100 bucks on that? I'm thinking, like PoV, I'll just push for Slamdance and see how it goes. It's cheaper and I have an extra month (3 weeks :) ).

In general, I blame IGC. That was really my deadline in a lot of ways and since that's gone, my motivation to hit a specific date has declined and instead I'm just focusing on getting all the things I want done, in and done the way I want... I guess that's good but it sucks to not really be in a position to get the exposure that's possible with IGF.

Someone want to convince me otherwise? :)
-Andrew Douglas
http://theoreticalgames.com

[DrWilloughby]

Someone want to convince me otherwise? :)
-Andrew Douglas
http://theoreticalgames.com
95 dollars is nothing compared to the press and sales you will get from a nomination. You can update your entry over the next month and chances are, the judges won't even see your game until then anyways. And SLamdance is CERTAINLY not cheaper if you are nominated. Our game was nominated for Slamdance and IGF last year and the plane ticket+rental+hotel in Park City was outrageous compared to GDC. Submit to both!

[Drake]

So Dr. W, given the time and expense of your trip, you would still say that Slamdance was worth it? I'm thinking about entering, but I'm not completely sold on it. Are there really that many game industry people there? Were you able to gauge the exposure you received as a finalist?

[DrWilloughby]

So Dr. W, given the time and expense of your trip, you would still say that Slamdance was worth it? I'm thinking about entering, but I'm not completely sold on it. Are there really that many game industry people there? Were you able to gauge the exposure you received as a finalist?
From a business perspective, no it probably didn't pay for itself in terms of creating sales. But if you want to go to Park City for a pretty exciting festival, it certainly is worth it!

[yanuart]

I just checked on how well IGF will do in terms of webmarketing. So I typed IGF in google to see the results and found that there are many organizations named after IGF (including Independent Gay Forum :) ). The google result only show 2 links on the first page that related to Independent Game Festival.
So maybe IGF should change their name next year ...

[DrWilloughby]

I don't think the people running the IGF get paid a lot :) (at all?) I DO think they should start to leverage the igf.com site more, though. They really should be putting winners and nominees on the front page to attract visitors to the site. In my opinion, they could be capable of running a pretty formidible portal of QUALITY titles.

[Arthur_Ostapenko]

:( Looks like I've missed this deadline :(