IGF finals

So the IGF finalists were announced last night at 6am. I ended up going to bed at 3 then waking up at 6 again to check out who made it. To my surprise i found out that Coil was nominated for the innovation award.

http://www.igf.com/02finalists.html

Now that's all fine and dandy, and i feel like i should be happy that a game i put my heart into made it to the finals, but the IGF has left a bad taste in my mouth that just wont go away.

At first glance when you read through all the finalists you instantly realize.. you dont know any of these games. then after watching the trailers for them (CarneyVale Showtime for game of the year?!) you realize that most of the games that made it will be easily forgotten shortly after the awards are over.

Now id love to just say, hey i guess it was just a bunch of shitty games that were submitted this year... but that's just not the case. There were quite a few very solid indie games that are just way better then the ones that made it and ill give you a few perfect examples.

I wish i were the moon (for innovation) - far beyond all of the games that made it into the innovation finals
A new Zero (for technical) - a 3d multiplayer flight sim that fits into a 800k file wtf?
Aether (for innovation) - my most critically acclaimed game and by far my best work of art.
Arc Aether Anomalies (for art) - look at the fuckin trailer for fuck sake! how didn't that get in for art?!
Goo (for Tech) - this game won the Intel award...

also

Mighty Jill off
Mondo Nation
Calamity Annie
storyteller

Now im either extremely out of touch with what a good indie game is (and that might be the case) but im starting to think the judging for the igf is broken and in bad need of fixing.

And as usual we have the larger indies entering that already have their games published on console and dont need the money or attention, im looking at you pixel junk eden... you have a huge budget game designed by a company that's almost 2nd party to sony made by 20+ people going up against games made by teams of 2 people with no budget. I guess its a moral issue, but if i had a team of 20 people with any budget at all and i was making games exclusively for sony.. i wouldn't view myself as indie anymore, and even if i did i wouldn't try and steal the thunder/attention/money of a smaller dev just so i could puff up my chest and show off a game thats already quite popular in the mainstream... dude, lame.

anyway i felt the need to rant, i still appreciate the nomination and im still going to gdc... i just dont get it, i really feel like people got shafted.

Congrats to cortex command, you're the one game im really happy to see make it to the finals!

i hope you guys will enter your flash games next year! we only have 3 flash games out of the 22 finalists, represent the flash scene and enter your work!

-Edmund

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WAaAzZAaA 2009-01-10 22:21:07

are you serious?
burn the rope??????

congrats to you.

Bluebaby 2009-01-10 22:21:07

yeah a lot of people have been freaking out about YHTBTR... its a strange one to see makeit to the finals over other very well made and innovative games.

Starogre 2009-01-10 23:10:22

yea. most of the games i've seen on there (i haven't followed much of it thus far, only from what glaiel has showed me) , they all look too professional. i realize you are considered pro if you make the least bit money off of something, but games that already have a shot at bigger things like XBLA or any other developers, should not be allowed to enter. this festival is for 'beta' games that can be potentially worked out with a developer in the future and made into a full game with a large team.

but the smaller games have no chance in their 'beta' stage when full games are being submitted alongside them. it sucks.

we must protest by tatooing ourselves with newgrounds logos and streaking through the award ceremony

Bluebaby 2009-01-10 23:10:22

yeah thats not true at all, the festival is for more finished indie games. it not a question of looking pro, 2 peopel can make a very pro looking indie game (look at braid and world of goo) its a question if the people entering really need the money and press more then a team whos game isnt on console and has very little money.

Starogre 2009-01-10 23:54:51

Yeah. You're right, pro wasn't the right word. But I mean, even as a 5 man team competing against a 2 man team, it's unfair and always will be. But it seems like the huge 3d games with tons of models, textures, and all that look like they were made with at least 5 man teams as opposed to one of the smaller, 'plant looking games'.

It just seems like the choices get a bit random when they start choosing 'beta' looking games that have JUST AS GOOD potential, intermixed with 'fully finished and refined' games. Beta games beat out other finished looking games and other finished looking games get beat out by beta games. The whole thing is subjective.

It's just opinion whether or not you like seeing smaller teams of people win with a smaller game to go on and develop it as a fullscale game with a company, rather than a bigger team of people making the entire game and going straight for publicatication.

I don't really know what i'm saying, i'm just ranting but in the end, they should really spend more time looking at who and how many worked on the game as well as the quality. Giving attention to a big group of people really does suck compared to giving it to a couple of kids outta high school who try to hit it big.

;askldjf;akhsdg;hasdg

Perry 2009-01-10 23:57:53

Good job, I really enjoyed coil. It was very simple, though the objective in the game was never clear I thought that added to the game.

YHTBTR? Well made? it was nice, but it was more of a joke than anything else. How would I go about entering, I wanna enter for the next year :P.

Starogre 2009-01-10 23:58:26

and yes braid and world of goo kick ass. they finished and polished a game off with a couple people. that's amazing. they look like they were completed by more. that is my bad.

but you're right, they should look more at who developed it as well as the game itself

Bluebaby 2009-01-10 23:58:26

yeah braid was made by 3 guys (jon, daniel and myself) and world of goo was made by 2 (kyle and ron) but it was ported by another programmer.

Kajenx 2009-01-11 00:43:01

Anything where you have to pay for a nomination is broken IMHO.

Bluebaby 2009-01-11 00:43:01

if it was free to enter there would be 1000s of games to judge. thats not possible. the fee is to shut out the peopel who arnt serious about their games.

if you dont believe in your game enough to drop $100 for it, then you probably shouldnt be working on that game :)

K0Nx 2009-01-11 03:26:06

I completely agree about the games made by bigger groups...
They shouldn't be going up against wonderful true indie games...

HotDiggedyDemon 2009-01-11 03:57:30

you made Gish? NO WAY! I was just thinking about Gish!

JaY11 2009-01-13 17:57:44

I'll hopefully be able to buy your CD next week brahhh

JaY11 2009-01-17 09:08:30

Just bough your CD <3 :)

IGF finals

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