Letter from the Chairman: So Long, And Please Welcome Your New Chair
Hello all, and welcome back for what will be my final IGF update, as we once again open entries for the 2016 Festival. As you will have heard by now, we've just announced that I have decided to step down as Chair, with the incredibly able Kelly Wallick now taking my place to lead the IGF into the future.
It's been just over 5 years since I first accepted the Chair position, and to say that the indie game landscape has changed enormously in that time is an over-obvious understatement. Simply in terms of numbers, the IGF receives well over twice the amount of entries as it did when I took on this role, as the number of both first-time developers and long-time veterans branching off on their own -- hoping to bring something into the world that only they can create -- has risen dramatically.
From the beginning, my goal was to help foster that growth, and the diversity of voices that would come with it. I wanted the IGF to be seen not simply as an contest where games were quantitatively ranked to determine a yearly "winner".
Instead, I hoped it would become a yearly celebration where the wider community of game creators recognized the outstanding achievements of their peers. I wanted the IGF to be the best source where both developers and the game-playing public at large could discover those works that bubble up -- seemingly out of nowhere -- and surprise & delight everyone.
The task of organizing that evolution, and the swell of new entries that has come with it, has never been a particularly easy one, but it has always been enormously rewarding. With the indispensable help of everyone involved, particularly in the past few years, I believe we've taken huge strides in making the process of entering, judging and jurying the festival just as rewarding and enjoyable for those who take part. As those first strides were falling into place, I'd begun mulling over the perfect person to eventually take up the mantle, and Kelly was always at the top of my short list. At the time, she had just begun laying the groundwork to expand her Indie MEGABOOTH, which she has since turned into the vital presence it is today, giving indies from around the world an opportunity they might not otherwise have to show their games to huge, curious audiences, standing alongside much huger developers and publishers.
She's built a fantastic reputation as an organizer and a leader dedicated to serving independent games as a whole, and I was very happy to hear that she was equally as interested in continuing to do so here at the IGF for our 2016 festival. I'm super confident she'll do as fantastic a job in this new role, understanding as she does the importance of a festival like this to an ever-growing community of indie developers.
It has been, as they say, a privilege and an honor for me to serve you all here for the past five years, and I'm super thankful to have been given the opportunity to work with our staff, our judges & jurors who volunteer so much of their time to make the festival happen every year, and the developers who create all the amazing experiences we're here to celebrate.
In the very near future, I'll be announcing my new initiatives to continue to serve the indie games community, which I've been quietly coordinating for the past long while now. Until then, though, I hope you give Kelly the warm welcome she deserves, and I look forward to being surprised & delighted by all the games that come out of this year's festival, and many more festivals to come.
