I received an email recently informing me about the Indie Game Challenge. Here’s Lord British in a somewhat humorous video to simultaneously poke fun at wannabe game developers and introduce the contest:
The Challenge is designed to be the preeminent competition for video game developers by offering winners almost $300,000 in prize money and scholarships, including $100,000 grand prize awards for both the winning professional and non-professional games. In addition, finalists will receive national exposure and be eligible for additional prize money by having their pitch videos posted on GameStop.com and GameStop TV for People’s Choice Award voting. Complete entry and contest details are available at www.indiegamechallenge.com.
If I understand the rules correctly, you have until October 1st to submit a game and a pitch video explaining why you and your team should win. Prizes include a scholarship to The Guildhall, opportunities to pitch your game to a major game publisher, and cash.
Whether this contest is life-changing remains to be seen. It bothers me a bit that one of the prizes for this “indie” contest is getting the ear of Capcom, Nintendo, Microsoft, EA, and others, effectively making it less indie to me, but it could be a big opportunity if you aren’t as concerned.
If anyone is planning on joining this contest, feel free to post a comment here! I’d love to hear about your decision, your team, and your game!
4 replies on “Indie Game Challenge”
Meh contest is meh. Look like a marketing gimmick aimed at creating some hype on YouTube. They didn’t even say what they are looking for. I can’t even participate, US Residents only.
“and maybe even get it published!”
What a load of shit. Being published is overrated. Indie devs are doing just fine releasing through their own channels and indie friendly programs such as Steam and XBox Live. Oh, check out this gem:
“Participation in Contest and/or acceptance of prize constitutes each entrant’s permission for Sponsors to use his/her name, address (city and state), likeness, photograph, picture, portrait, voice, biographical information, Entered Game, Video Submission and/or any statements made by each entrant regarding the Contest or Sponsors for advertising and promotional purposes without notice or additional compensation, except where prohibited by law.”
Exciting. At the very least, it seems like you retain all the IP from your submission, which is good. $100,000 is definitely an alluring treat.
Sinoth, I also had to smile when I read the “maybe even get it published” line.
As for the gem you quoted, there is a FAQ which explains the intent. Basically, they have the right to advertise for the contest using previous entrants and winners. The idea is that if something submitted becomes a huge hit, they want to be able to say “Game XYZ was an entrant in our contest!” which I think is fair.
Probably going to enter this. $100K is hard to resist :).