Game Developers Conference (GDC) is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Independent Game Festival (IGF)

Genre-bending Creativity

The Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards is the biggest annual celebration of indie talent – encouraging innovation within game development as a medium and recognizing the best independent developers from around the world. 

The festival sees hundreds of competition entries annually that are judged and juried by a diverse, industry-leading group of industry professionals from mainstream video games, the press, independent gaming websites, previous winners, previous finalists, and more. 

 

This independent review, finalist, and winner voting process is reflective of our own independent spirit that drives us to find and honor the incredible talent at the forefront of redefining what video games can be. 

The festival also consists of two additional components to the awards ceremony where finalists are honored and winners announced in San Francisco during the week of  the Game Developers Conference (GDC): the IGF Pavilion where all of the nominated finalists and their games are featured on the Expo floor, and the Independent Games Summit where experts and stakeholders from the independent game development community participate in talks and roundtables on the latest issues facing the industry. 

Celebrating Fearless Independent Development

On Wednesday, March 19, 2025, from 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM, just prior to the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony, IGF will enter its 27th year of celebrating independent talent in the following main categories:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize 

$10,000

This Category is open to all Finalist games and are nominated by the Finalist Committee. Nominations will be based on the overall innovation, quality, impressiveness, and enjoyability of each Finalist game. 

Audience Award

$2,000

Nominee list comprised of the full list of finalist games from every main category except for the alt.ctrl.GDC Award through a vote open to all GDC attendees and members of the public.

Excellence in Audio

$2,000

Nominations will be based on the quality and impressiveness of each Entered Game's music, voice acting, and sound effects.

Excellence in Design

 

$2,000

Nominations will be based on the quality and execution of each Entered Game's design, including game mechanic design, level design, and difficulty balance.

Excellence in Narrative

$2,000

Nominations will be based on quality and impressiveness of each Entered Game's storytelling - including but not limited to scenario, plot construction, story, and dialogue.

Nuovo Award

$2,000

Nominations will be based on how each Entered Game fearlessly executes a challenging, unusual, or idiosyncratic approach to game making, takes substantive risks, and/or makes the Nominating Committee and Finalist Committee think differently about video games as a medium.

Excellence in Visual Art

$2,000

Nominations will be based on the quality and impressiveness of each Entered Game's appearance and visual effects.

Best Student Game 

$2,000

Nominations will be based on the overall quality, impressiveness, and enjoyability of the Entered Game.

alt.ctrl.GDC Award

$2,000

alt.ctrl.GDC is a unique showcase of alternative controllers created by independent developers. alt.ctrl.GDC exhibitors are chosen through an open submission process which is free to enter and open to all. Learn more here >>

Empowering Indies

In addition to the above prizes, IGF is proud to provide each Finalist game's team with a $1,000 travel stipend, regardless of whether they win an award, to help them travel to GDC and participate in the festival.

Sponsors
Coming Soon!

 Learn more about our 2025 sponsors and request information on remaining available opportunities for GDCA and IGF 2025 coming soon.

IGF Archives
Coming Soon!

Get inspired by previous main category and individual award winners honored during past IGF ceremonies.

Contact

We want to hear from you! Do you have ideas, questions, or want to join the IGF Judge or Jury pool? Drop us a line. 

Advertisement

Connecting the Global Game Development Community