The 21st annual Independent Games Festival (the longest-running and largest showcase for independent game developers) has closed its call for game submissions, and organizers are excited to announce that over 500 entries have been accepted into the IGF 2019 Competition!

As in years past, the long-running popular festival -- which is co-located with Game Developers Conference 2019 -- accepted said submissions from a diverse array of veteran indie game makers, first-time entrants and students.

This year the hundreds of remarkable submissions entered into this year's IGF Competition include high-profile hits like Wadjet Eye Games' urban fantasy thriller Unavowed, Joakim Sandberg's side-scrolling puzzler Iconoclasts, and Beat Games' rhythm game Beat Saber!

What's more, Papers, Please developer Lucas Pope has entered his new game, Return of the Obra Dinn, and the team at Zachtronics have submitted their recent cyberpunk hacking puzzler Exapunks. They'll be competing against a smorgasbord of interesting entries, among them Sirvo Studios’ mobile fantasy game Guildlings, Copychaser Games' Speed Dating for Ghosts, Humble Hearts’ tongue-in-cheek sneak-’em-up Never Stop Sneakin’, and many more!

You can explore the full list of IGF entries here. This year, each of the IGF 2019 Competition award categories will once again feature six finalists, except the Nuovo Award, which will have eight. The IGF finalists will be announced in January 2019, and all will be available in playable form at the IGF pavilion on the GDC 2019 show floor.

IGF award-winners will be honored live on stage at the IGF Awards ceremony during the 2019 Game Developers Conference in March, and showcased in the IGF Pavilion on the GDC Expo Floor March 20th through the 22nd.

For more information on the 2019 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics and frequently asked questions, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website. 

For more information on GDC 2019 in general visit the show’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.