The Independent Games Festival was established in 1998 to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers.
The goal was to create a similar event to Sundance for independent game developers - and that's just what has happened with the Independent Games Festival.
The festival consists of the IGF Ceremony, the IGF Pavilion, and Independent Games Summit, all taking place during the week of the Game Developers Conference.
The Independent Games Festival will be distributing eight major awards at its ceremony, as follows:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize - $10,000
Excellence in Visual Art - $2,000
Excellence in Audio - $2,000
Excellence in Design - $2,000
Excellence in Narrative - $2,000
Nuovo Award - $2,000
Best Student Game - $2,000
Audience Award - $2,000
In addition, all Independent Games Festival finalists will receive a $1,000 stipend, regardless of whether they win an award.
The Independent Games Festival competitions have a diverse, industry-leading set of judges which includes representatives from mainstream games, the press, significant independent gaming websites, as well as previous winners, finalists and a number of indie veteran judges from the previous IGF judging pool.
