Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival Announces Winners; Pocketwatch Games' Cooperative Adventure Caper, Monaco, Steals the Show, Along With the $20,000 Grand Prize
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Posted on March 12, 2010 at 12:07:01 AM
Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival Announces Winners; Pocketwatch Games' Cooperative Adventure Caper, Monaco, Steals the Show, Along With the $20,000 Grand Prize
SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 -- Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper, Monaco, was the big winner at the Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival, which was hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Monaco received the top award at the ceremony, earning the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design.
Other IGF award recipients for 2010, as judged by over 170 industry veterans, independent developers and indie-friendly journalists, also include PLAYDEAD's starkly beautiful silhouetted platformer, LIMBO, which won the awards for Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence. Closure Team's puzzle platformer, Closure, earned the award for Excellence in Audio.
Noted independent developer Cactus received the inaugural Nuovo Award for its abstract visual puzzle game, Tuning. The Nuovo Award honors "abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games," and was judged by a separate, smaller juried panel of notable game and art world figures, including previous IGF Innovation/Nuovo Award winner Jason Rohrer (Passage), Area/Code's Frank Lantz, N+ co-creator Mare Sheppard, EA division head and art-game creator Rod Humble, and more.
The IGF was established in 1998 by UBM TechWeb Game Network to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, in the same way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. The IGF offer finalists both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash prizes to each year's winners.
Previous breakout IGF award-winners include titles such as Braid, Audiosurf, Castle Crashers, and World of Goo, and this year's awards saw 301 Main Competition entries from all over the world, coupled with the record-breaking number of IGF Student Showcase entries and IGF Mobile entries, for a total of nearly 650 entries. S2 Games' Heroes Of Newerth won the Audience Award, after receiving the largest share of thousands of public votes cast at IGF.com in recent weeks.
To ensure the highest-quality judging for the IGF, more than 170 leading indie and mainstream game industry figures -- from 2D Boy's Ron Carmel through Spore's Soren Johnson to ThatGameCompany's Kellee Santiago and beyond -- were recruited to choose finalists via a carefully constructed empirical process.
Finally, the award for the Best Student Game went to Ragtime Games' shifting-tile puzzle platformer Continuity, IGF Mobile Best Game was awarded to Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor, and download partner Direct2Drive's $10,000 D2D Vision Award was won by Press Play's Max & The Magic Marker.
"This year sees an impressive array of visually arresting, emotionally challenging and fun games," said Simon Carless, IGF chairman. "And after extensive, in-depth playthroughs from a panel of influential games industry figures, the cream of the crop were chosen to receive honors at the IGF. We're extremely proud of the record number of amazing entries this year, and very grateful for the independent teams who put their hearts and souls into creating captivating, addictive and original gameplay experiences."
The IGF awarded the following games in each category of the main competition -- each received a cash prize of $2,500 as well as sponsor-related prizes, apart from the Grand Prize of $20,000 and D2D Vision's $10,000 award.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
Innovation (Nuovo) Award
Tuning, by Cactus
Excellence in Visual Art
LIMBO, by PLAYDEAD
Excellence in Audio
Closure, by Closure Team
Technical Excellence
LIMBO, by PLAYDEAD
Excellence in Design
Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
Student Showcase Award
Continuity, by Ragtime Games
IGF Mobile Best Game:
Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor
Audience Award
Heroes Of Newerth, by S2 Games
D2D Vision Award
Max & The Magic Marker, by Press Play
For more information about the IGF, the finalists and the winners, please visit http://www.igf.com/.
About the UBM TechWeb Game Network
A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, the UBM TechWeb Game Network - formerly known as the Think Services Game Group - offers market-defining content, and drives community through its award winning lineup of print, online, event and research products and services. These include the Game Developers Conference®, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com and network of sites, the Game Advertising Online ad network, the Game Developers Conference® Online, the Game Developers Conference(TM) Europe, the Game Developers Conference(TM) China, the Game Developers Conference(TM) Canada, Game Developer Magazine, Game Developer Research, the Game Career Seminars and GameCareerGuide.com, the Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.
About UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media
UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its core businesses - media solutions, marketing services and professional information - UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software and Game developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek, Light Reading and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.
Contact: Brian Rubin / Sibel Sunar
fortyseven communications
212.391.4707 / 323.658.1200
brian@fortyseven.com /
sibel@fortyseven.com
Ben Veechai / Mellisa Andrade
UBM TechWeb Game Network
(415) 947-6280 / (415) 947-6232
bveechai@think-services.com /
mandrade@think-services.com
Source: UBM TechWeb Game Network
CONTACT: Brian Rubin, +1-212-391-4707, brian@fortyseven.com, or Sibel
Sunar, +1-323-658-1200, sibel@fortyseven.com, both of fortyseven
communications for UBM TechWeb Game Network; or Ben Veechai, +1-415-947-6280,
bveechai@think-services.com, or Mellisa Andrade, +1-415-947-6232,
mandrade@think-services.com, both of UBM TechWeb Game Network
Web Site: http://www.igf.com/
SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 -- Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper, Monaco, was the big winner at the Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival, which was hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Monaco received the top award at the ceremony, earning the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design.
Other IGF award recipients for 2010, as judged by over 170 industry veterans, independent developers and indie-friendly journalists, also include PLAYDEAD's starkly beautiful silhouetted platformer, LIMBO, which won the awards for Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence. Closure Team's puzzle platformer, Closure, earned the award for Excellence in Audio.
Noted independent developer Cactus received the inaugural Nuovo Award for its abstract visual puzzle game, Tuning. The Nuovo Award honors "abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games," and was judged by a separate, smaller juried panel of notable game and art world figures, including previous IGF Innovation/Nuovo Award winner Jason Rohrer (Passage), Area/Code's Frank Lantz, N+ co-creator Mare Sheppard, EA division head and art-game creator Rod Humble, and more.
The IGF was established in 1998 by UBM TechWeb Game Network to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, in the same way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. The IGF offer finalists both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash prizes to each year's winners.
Previous breakout IGF award-winners include titles such as Braid, Audiosurf, Castle Crashers, and World of Goo, and this year's awards saw 301 Main Competition entries from all over the world, coupled with the record-breaking number of IGF Student Showcase entries and IGF Mobile entries, for a total of nearly 650 entries. S2 Games' Heroes Of Newerth won the Audience Award, after receiving the largest share of thousands of public votes cast at IGF.com in recent weeks.
To ensure the highest-quality judging for the IGF, more than 170 leading indie and mainstream game industry figures -- from 2D Boy's Ron Carmel through Spore's Soren Johnson to ThatGameCompany's Kellee Santiago and beyond -- were recruited to choose finalists via a carefully constructed empirical process.
Finally, the award for the Best Student Game went to Ragtime Games' shifting-tile puzzle platformer Continuity, IGF Mobile Best Game was awarded to Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor, and download partner Direct2Drive's $10,000 D2D Vision Award was won by Press Play's Max & The Magic Marker.
"This year sees an impressive array of visually arresting, emotionally challenging and fun games," said Simon Carless, IGF chairman. "And after extensive, in-depth playthroughs from a panel of influential games industry figures, the cream of the crop were chosen to receive honors at the IGF. We're extremely proud of the record number of amazing entries this year, and very grateful for the independent teams who put their hearts and souls into creating captivating, addictive and original gameplay experiences."
The IGF awarded the following games in each category of the main competition -- each received a cash prize of $2,500 as well as sponsor-related prizes, apart from the Grand Prize of $20,000 and D2D Vision's $10,000 award.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
Innovation (Nuovo) Award
Tuning, by Cactus
Excellence in Visual Art
LIMBO, by PLAYDEAD
Excellence in Audio
Closure, by Closure Team
Technical Excellence
LIMBO, by PLAYDEAD
Excellence in Design
Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
Student Showcase Award
Continuity, by Ragtime Games
IGF Mobile Best Game:
Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor
Audience Award
Heroes Of Newerth, by S2 Games
D2D Vision Award
Max & The Magic Marker, by Press Play
For more information about the IGF, the finalists and the winners, please visit http://www.igf.com/.
About the UBM TechWeb Game Network
A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, the UBM TechWeb Game Network - formerly known as the Think Services Game Group - offers market-defining content, and drives community through its award winning lineup of print, online, event and research products and services. These include the Game Developers Conference®, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com and network of sites, the Game Advertising Online ad network, the Game Developers Conference® Online, the Game Developers Conference(TM) Europe, the Game Developers Conference(TM) China, the Game Developers Conference(TM) Canada, Game Developer Magazine, Game Developer Research, the Game Career Seminars and GameCareerGuide.com, the Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.
About UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media
UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its core businesses - media solutions, marketing services and professional information - UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software and Game developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek, Light Reading and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.
Contact: Brian Rubin / Sibel Sunar
fortyseven communications
212.391.4707 / 323.658.1200
brian@fortyseven.com /
sibel@fortyseven.com
Ben Veechai / Mellisa Andrade
UBM TechWeb Game Network
(415) 947-6280 / (415) 947-6232
bveechai@think-services.com /
mandrade@think-services.com
Source: UBM TechWeb Game Network
CONTACT: Brian Rubin, +1-212-391-4707, brian@fortyseven.com, or Sibel
Sunar, +1-323-658-1200, sibel@fortyseven.com, both of fortyseven
communications for UBM TechWeb Game Network; or Ben Veechai, +1-415-947-6280,
bveechai@think-services.com, or Mellisa Andrade, +1-415-947-6232,
mandrade@think-services.com, both of UBM TechWeb Game Network
Web Site: http://www.igf.com/