Organizers are reminding that there are 24 hours until the Main Competition deadline for the 2012 Independent Games Festival, being held at the Game Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco next March 5-9.
The Independent Games Festival is the longest-running and highest-profile independent video game festival, summit, and showcase, and the deadline for the IGF 2012 Main Competition is Monday, October 17th at 11.59pm PT.
Finalists will be announced in January 2012, and will be available in playable form at the IGF Pavilion on the GDC show floor from March 7-9, 2012. The titles will compete for nearly $60,000 in prizes, a significant increase from last year.
This includes the high-profile $5,000 Nuovo Award, honoring abstract, short-form, and unconventional video game development, as well as a $30,000 Grand Prize and a host of other notable awards.
Submissions to the competition are still open to all independent game developers, with almost 260 games entered already, and many entrants waiting until the last minute to polish versions of their game for more than 150 IGF judges. A full list of entrants will be released on the IGF website in the days following the submission deadline.
Important dates for IGF 2012 are as follows:
- June 30, 2011 - Submissions are Open
- October 17, 2011 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
- October 31, 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 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC 2012
- March 7 - March 9, 2012 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2012
Winners will be announced on stage at the high-profile Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The Independent Games Festival Awards are held immediately before the wider Game Developers Choice Awards.
Both multi-thousand person attendee award shows are part of the 2012 Game Developers Conference, taking place March 5th - March 9th, 2012. GDC 2012 also includes the 2012 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its sixth year and offers two days (March 5-6) of inspiration, practical lectures, and rants from the top minds in the independent games world.
The Independent Game Festival continues to sit at a place of global importance as the largest, most prestigious and all encompassing showcase of independent game talent across the wide spectrum of artistically and commercially aimed development. Notable former IGF winners include landmark indie titles such as Minecraft, Limbo, World of Goo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter, Darwinia, Audiosurf and many more.
For a complete list of information on the 2012 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics, frequently asked questions, and more discussion on this year's contest from the IGF Chairman, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website.