It’s that time of the year again and the exciting Independent Games Festival (IGF) is here. I’ll be judging for the fourth year running and have already started evaluating the games I have been assigned for the first round.
Once again games from all over the world have been submitted. Although not all games that are submitted are destined for success it is inspiring to see the creativity at work in so many of these titles. The list of 226 entrants for the main competition is available here.
It is awesome to see that Barkley, Shut-up and Jam: Gaiden the insane basketball, Charles Barkley, RPG mash-up is on the list. Here’s a quote describing a portion of the plot of the game on Wikipedia to give you a taste:
When they arrive, Cyberdwarf suggests that B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S. has likely used the “Ultimate B-Ball” to perform the Chaos Dunk, so they visit the old Spalding Building in Proto Neo New York — where it is rumored that an extremely powerful basketball was being created before the Purge. The party reaches the sewer ladder leading to Proto Neo New York, but find that Dr. Allard — a cosmetic surgeon profitting off of Cesspool X’s citizens — has a guard posted at the ladder, demanding a fee of five thousand neo shekels for passage into Proto Neo New York.
Pure nonsensical awesome. I love it! This is just a fun example of the kind of games that the IGF is able to showcase when there are no creative, financial, or market limits. I haven’t played “Gigolo Assassin” yet but I love the name and doubt any game named that would ever see a retail release. The IGF brings publicity to games that might otherwise never get it even if they deserve it. That’s why I feel proud to be a part of the process.
A number of well known entries are also participating this year, including: Pixel Junk Eden, Pixel Junk Monsters, Cortex Command, Dino Run, and Forumwarz to name a few.
It will be another great year.
very nice , great article thank you.