Guest Post - Leif Conti-Groome Why wait for Canadian game news over a quiet week when you could be making Canadian gaming news? The 12th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) situated in sunny San Fran has almost reached its first month of accepting submissions from the public and that public includes our very own country.
With a $20,000 grand prize, guaranteed feedback from notable judges in the indie game scene and an excuse to spend a cold week in March in a much warmer California, there is absolutely no reason to not enter this contest if you’re a designer. Just make sure you have a credit card with at least $95 on it and, of course, a game and you’re set. Best of all, if you’re selected as a finalist, NextGen Player will have to do a write up on you, your game, your story, your entire family and your pet iguana Steve because you’re doing justice to Canada’s booming independent gaming scene.
The precedent has already been set with Jonathan Mak’s Everyday Shooter in last year’s IGF; the Asteroids meets Rez arcade style game won a score of awards and then made it all the way to the PlayStation Network. Mak, the creative force behind Queasy Games is currently working on a new project and only hinting at it through vague game theory ‘tweets’ so we might see him once again going for the gold in 2010.
ES Team was another Canadian competitor last year winning the best Best Multiplayer FPS Mod award with Eternal Silence, opening the doors to anyone who knows their way around games with source engines like NeverWinter Nights and, in this case, Half-Life 2. The group from Beaconsfield, Quebec recently released a patch for this very game proving that finalists are still active with their award winning games and fan base even after the competition.
So what are you waiting for? The deadline for submissions is November 1st, 2009 or November 4th, 2009 if you’re a student. Get cracking on that game, aim for the beginning of the eleventh month and keep NextGen Player up-to-date on your progress. You never know, you could be gracing our (virtual) pages very soon!