SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Crayon Physics Deluxe,
Kloonigames' 2D physics puzzle game that allows players to experience what
it would be like to transform drawings into physical objects, was named the
winner of the $20,000 Seumas McNallly Grand Prize at the 10th Annual
Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards, presented at a ceremony this
evening at CMP's 2008 Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Other major winners at the IGF ceremony included physics-based puzzle
action game, 2D Boy's World of Goo, which won the awards for both Design
Innovation and Technical Excellence, and Audiosurf by Invisible Handlebar
which won the $2,500 Audience Award, after receiving the largest share of
more than 3,500 votes cast online over the past two months at IGF.com.
The IGF awards have been described as the Sundance Festival of the
videogame industry, and offer both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash
prizes to the developers of the winning games.
Other award recipients included One Ton Ghost's comical
treasure-seeking adventure Iron Dukes, which took the award for Best Web
Browser Game, Kokoromi's Fez, which won for Excellence in Visual Art for
its presentation of a 2D character exploring a 3D world, Invisible
Handlebar's Audiosurf, a game that lets players experience their songs in
real time, in full color, and in 3D, and which took the prize for
Excellence in Audio, and, winner for Best Student Game, Synaesthete, a
music-driven arcade-style shooter developed by students at the DigiPen
Institute of Technology.
Another notable award given at the IGF ceremony was The Gleemax Award
for Strategic Gameplay ("The Gleemie"), presented by IGF Platinum Sponsor,
Gleemax(TM), Wizards of the Coast, Inc.'s community for gamers. Three games
were awarded "The Gleemie" prize package, which consisted of a custom
designed trophy accompanied by a tiered prize package. (1st - $5,000, 2nd -
$3,000, 3rd - $2,000).
"As the video game industry grows bigger by the day, it becomes even
more important to give a voice to the independent developer," said Simon
Carless, chairman, IGF. "This year's Independent Games Festival winners are
showcasing how important independent games are -- both as an artistic
movement and as accessible titles that are really damn fun to play."
The IGF awarded the following games in each category in the main
competition -- each received a cash prize of $2,500 as well as
sponsor-related prizes, and the Grand Prize winner was awarded $20,000.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Kloonigames
Best Web Browser Game:
Iron Dukes, by One Ton Ghost
Design Innovation Award:
World Of Goo, by 2D Boy
Excellence in Visual Art:
Fez, by Kokoromi
Excellence in Audio:
Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar
Technical Excellence:
World Of Goo, by 2D Boy
Best Student Game:
Synaesthete, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
Audience Award:
Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar
Gleemie Awards:
-- First Place: Desktop Power Defense, by Handdrawngames
-- Second Place: Skyrates, by Team Skyrates
-- Third Place: Quadradius, by Quadradius
The IGF was established in 1998 by the CMP Game Group to encourage
innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game
developers, in the way the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent
film community. With a record-breaking 173 entries from all over the world,
the 2008 IGF reflects how global the game development community has become.
The IGF jury included journalists from MTV News, Kotaku, Newsweek, Wired,
and Joystiq; the creators of previous IGF winners Aquaria, Braid, Flow, and
N; and veterans from across the game industry.
The 10th annual Independent Games Festival was supported by: platinum
sponsor Wizards of the Coast/Gleemax; Silver Sponsors Sony and Microsoft;
and Student Showcase Platinum Sponsor DigiPen.
For more information about the IGF, the finalists and the winners,
please visit http://www.igf.com/.
About the Game Developers Conference (http://www.gdconf.com)
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the world's largest
professionals-only game industry event. Presented every spring in San
Francisco, it is the essential forum for learning, inspiration, and
networking for the creators of computer, console, handheld, mobile, and
online games. The GDC attracts over 16,000 attendees, and is the primary
forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio
professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the
development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the
future of the industry. The GDC is produced by the CMP Game Group, a
division of CMP
About CMP
CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company
serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event and print
brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools
that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the
technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands
such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times and TechOnline;
produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game
Developer Conference and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides
business information and marketing services such as the International
Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights and Second Life
consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business
Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news
distribution and specialist information services with a market
capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to
cmp.com/news
SOURCE CMP
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Related links:
http://www.cmp.com
http://www.igf.com/ http://www.gdconf.com
http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com
CONTACT:
Sibel Sunar, sibel@fortyseven.com, or Brian
Rubin, brian@fortyseven.com, both of fortyseven communications,
+1-323-658-1200, for CMP; or Hilary McVicker of CMP Game Group,
+1-415-947-6207, hmcvicker@cmp.com
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