The Indie Game Challenge is an award competition run in conjunction between the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

(AIAS),

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...

and The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University (SMU) to support

independent video game development An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

. Started in 2009, the competition highlights ten to twelve independent games, with winning games receiving monetary rewards in addition to the award. The Indie Game Challenge ceremonies are held during the annual D.I.C.E. Summit, during which the finalists are able to demonstrate their games to the press.

Concept

The Indie Game Challenge awards were created by AIAS, Gamestop, and the Guildhall to promote innovation in gaming from independent development. Mike Hogan, senior vice-president of marketing for Gamestop, cited the need for "new, cutting edge game developers who continue to stretch the boundaries and imaginations of gamers" in the industry, and hoped that the awards would "stimulate a new generation of game developers". The competition was designed to offer both monetary and scholarship prizes, valued up to $300,000. The Challenge accepts games in playable, near-complete versions (including

beta software A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impr ...

), and for games that have been released, limits such entries to those that have earned less than $100,000 prior to the competition. The Challenge allows entries for games that have already been submitted to other game contests. Once the judges have selected the finalists, a public voter for "Gamer's Choice" is started among the finalists for a $10,000 prize. The finalists are invited to the D.I.C.E. Summit, giving them exposure to major video game publishers and journalists, a lucrative opportunity for independent developers. After the major awards have been announced, the judges then select finalists to give graduate scholarships to SMU. The first year for the Challenge drew more than 250 entries to select from.

Finalists and winners

2010

Finalists * ''Aaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity'' -

Dejobaan Games Dejobaan Games, LLC is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1999 by Ichiro Lambe, and originally developed games for mobile devices, but has since branched out to other products for Micros ...

* ''Altitude'' - Nimbly Games * ''Climb to the Top of the Castle'' - TwO Bros. Games * '' Cogs'' - Lazy 8 Studios * ''Dreamside Maroon'' - Terraced * ''

Fieldrunners ''Fieldrunners'' is a tower defense video game developed for several platforms. Originally released on 1 October 2008 as an exclusive iOS title, the game was later ported to Nintendo DSi, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, and mobile phones. It ...

'' -

Subatomic Studio In physical sciences, a subatomic particle is a particle that composes an atom. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, a subatomic particle can be either a composite particle, which is composed of other particles (for example, a p ...

* ''

Galactic Arms Race ''Galactic Arms Race'' (GAR) is a space shooter video game first released in 2010 by American studio Evolutionary Games in association with the Evolutionary Complexity Research Group at UCF (EPlex). Gameplay GAR is a hybrid space shooter and A ...

'' - Evolutionary Complexity Research Group at UCF * ''Gear'' - Team 3 * ''Miegakure'' - Marc ten Bosch * ''Vessel'' - Strange Loop Games * ''Waker'' - Poof Productions * ''Zeit2'' - Brightside Games Winners * Grand Prize Award (Professional) - ''Cogs'' ($100,000 award) * Grand Prize Award (Non-professional) - ''Gear'' ($100,000 award) * Technical Achievement - ''Altitude'' ($2,500 award) * Achievement in Art Direction - ''Cogs'' ($2,500 award) * Achievement in Gameplay - ''Cogs'' ($2,500 award) * Gamer's Choice Award - ''Altitude'' ($10,000 award)

2011

Finalists * ''Confetti Carnival'' - SpikySnail Games * ''Fortix 2'' - Nemesys Games * ''Hazard: The Journey of Life'' - Alexander Bruce * ''Inertia (video game), Inertia'' - Team Hermes * ''

Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin ''limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Europ ...

'' - Playdead * ''Monaco: What's Yours is Mine'' - Pocketwatch Games * '' Q.U.B.E.'' - Toxic Games * ''Solace'' - One Man Down * ''Spirits'' - Spaces of Play * ''Subsonic'' - Team Height Advantage * ''Symon'' - ZZZ Games * ''Vanessa Saint-Pierre Delacroix & Her Nightmare'' - Bad Pilcrow Winners * Grand Prize Winner (Professional): ''Limbo'' ($100,000 prize) * Grand Prize Winner (Non-professional): ''Inertia'' ($100,000 prize) * Kongregate Award: ''Symon'' * Technical Achievement: ''Inertia'' ($2,500 prize) * Achievement in Art Direction: ''Limbo'' ($2,500 prize) * Achievement in Gameplay: ''Inertia'' ($2,500 prize) * Gamer's Choice Award: ''Inertia'' ($10,000 prize)

2012

Finalists * ''

Atom Zombie Smasher ''Atom Zombie Smasher'' is a real-time strategy game developed by independent developer Blendo Games. In it, the player attempts to rescue as many citizens as possible from an oncoming zombie horde using helicopter rescue units and an array of m ...

'' -

Blendo Games Blendo Games is an American independent video game development company based in Culver City, California. It was founded by Brendon Chung in 2010 and is primarily a one-person effort. Blendo Games gained more widespread exposure with the short f ...

* '' The Bridge'' - Ty Taylor and Mario Castaneda * '' Closure'' - Eyebrow Interactive * ''Demolition Inc.'' - Zeroscale * ''The Dream Machine'' - Team Dream * ''The Fourth Wall'' - Team Pig Trigger * ''Nitronic Rush'' - Team Nitronic * ''Paradox Shift'' - Paradox Shift * ''The Swapper'' - Facepalm Games * ''

Symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

'' -

Empty Clip Studios Empty Clip Studios, LLC is a video game developer based in San Diego, California and was founded in July 2007. It was formed by Francois Bertrand and Matt Shores. On September 8, 2008, the company released their debut game '' Groovin' Blocks'', ...

Winners * Grand Prize Winner: ''Closure'' ($100,000 prize) * Technical Achievement: ''Symphony'' ($2,500 prize) * Achievement in Gameplay: ''The Bridge'' ($2,500 prize) * Achievement in Art Direction: ''The Bridge'' ($2,500 prize) * GameStop PC Digital Download Award: ''Symphony'' * Gamer's Choice Award: ''Nitronic Rush'' ($2,500 prize)

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.indiegamechallenge.com Video game development Video game development competitions Indie games

Concept

Finalists and winners

2010

2011

2012

See also

References

External links