IGF ’09: For the Win!

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: March 26th, 2009

Well, the 11th Annual Independent Games Festival is now officially over—my heartiest congratulations to all the winners and nominees! Especially Erik, who took home the Big Prize, as I thought he might.

. . .

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Blueberry Garden by Erik Svedang

. . .

Innovation (Nuovo) Award:
Between by Jason Rohrer

Excellence in Visual Art:
Machinarium by Amanita Design

Excellence in Audio:
BrainPipe by Digital Eel

Technical Excellence:
Cortex Command by Data Realms

Excellence in Design:
Musaic Box by KranX Productions

. . .

Best Student Game:
Tag: The Power of Paint by DigiPen (surprise surprise)

Audience Award:
Cortex Command by Data Realms

D2D Vision Award:
Osmos by Hemisphere Games

. . .

Another year of Scandinavian domination!

There are many more and wonderful things to be said, but I must sleep now.

P.S. Dan “Data” Tabar took home his first, long sought-after award tonight. Then took home another. Because of this he lost a bet with Kyle Gabler and had to take off his shirt on stage, displaying his ultra-ripped form to the audience, God, and national TV. (I swear, some of those muscles haven’t even been discovered yet!)

A TIGSOURCE EXCLUSIVE preview of this in the extended.

I cannot wait ’til footage of the awards gets uploaded.

Posted in Highly Recommended, IGF / GDC

http://B-McC.com// BMcC

I was sort of hoping YHTBTR and Eden would sweep their awards for MAXIMUM CONTROVERSY.
http://0xdeadc0de.org/ Eclipse

i’m very happy for blueberry garden, that game looks wonderful
robert

ohshit o_o
Nikica

Finally CC. Congrats Data.
nihilocrat

Congratuations, Data Realms, on CC finally getting an award.

Also, YHTBTR is my most hated nominee. It’s more of a joke, a piece of satire, a commentary, than a game someone spent months/years developing. It deserves recognition, but not amongst the other games in the IGF.
http://www.funmahol.com Mobile Softwares

Wow its really cool info i like it.independent games festival.

———
Mobile Softwars
Magicman

Proof that IGF should be held at Sweden or some other country that matters. Let the American people take a plane across the world for a change.
Adamski

In a way I have to agree with that… It would really help if it was held at different locations.
http://www.djshardhouse.com Starshot

I am seriously happy that BrainPipe won. It’s an absolutely fantastic game that god knows has helped me relax many a night here at school.

To be honest, I’d like to have seen Snapshot win it, being a fan of platforming games, but I’m still happy to see Musaic Box win.

My only big disappointment this year is in the mobile category. I firmly believed Wardrive should have one for technical achievement, simply because of it’s ability to make a “new world” environment.

Also, I think it’s insanely tacky of Mac to have a post on their website saying how their device swept the competition. It’s their device, not their IP =/.
http://plankhead.com Zacqary Adam Green

Blueberry Garden won? Awesome! Soooo…are we gonna be told what it is now?
yrmom

Make it artsy and boring and you’ll win all the awards these days
http://b-mcc.com// BMcC

**@ nihilocrat:** I think it’s good the IGF covers such a broad range of games. And (of course) Kian is a swell guy!

**@ Magicman, Adamski:** Hahaha, you guys are cute.
Adamski

Maybe so, but you cant deny it making sense.
http://b-mcc.com// BMcC

It would be nice for folks outside of the US, but the logistics of it make it very, very unlikely. Simon already has to fight tooth and nail for the IGS, which doesn’t bring any money to GDC.

For example, the rooms this year were actually a little smaller than last year, even though it seems like considerably more people showed up. I doubt the corporate folks would go for renting another convention center in a foreign country just for the indies. (As much as they’d probably like to not have us running around the rest of the convention, heh.)
Magicman

IGF heh more like NIGF
Smithy

*”Wow its really cool info i like it.independent games festival.

Mobile Softwars”*
Dan MacDonald

Grats Data :)
Person what enjoys indie games

Hueg Cortex Commander dev is HUEG!
Riccardo

But is there a way to understand the principles under the gameplay of Between?
Sparky

Congratulations, everyone!
dan

I’m sure development for Cortex Command would be a lot further along if Data didn’t have to stop every hour to grab a protein shake and do another 200 reps.
headcrab.

AWESOME ABS.
http://randomzoo.com/ Random

Congratulations everyone :)
the casual TIGsource visitor

I the casual TIGsource visitor would have really appreciated links (of some sort) for each winning entry.

Unexpectedly, there are none. Which part of the picture am I missing here?
http://www.dyson-game.com Alex May

between: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2008/rohrer-game
brainpipe: http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Digital_Eel/BP/BP_page.html
cortex command: http://www.datarealms.com/
musaic box: http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/4166/musaic-box/index.html
tag the power of paint: http://www.thepowerofpaint.com/
osmos: http://www.hemispheregames.com/osmos/

All others are as-yet unreleased AFAIK.
the casual TIGsource visitor

I, the casual TIGsource visitor, is grateful to Alex May.

Downloading times!