The Indie Game Challenge: Fund and Publish Your Game

Every once in a while, something catches my eye that just makes me think, "Wow, that's a great idea." I just had one of those moments when Ron Jenkins of Guildhall at SMU called to say they were co-sponsoring an indie game development contest that featured a top prize of $100,000 plus the chance to meet big name publishers like Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Microsoft, NAMCO/Bandai, THQ and Ubisoft. It's like the Sundance of game development just called us up and wanted Torque developers to submit their games. He asked us if we would spread the word out to our community.

Well, yeah! Bring on the Indie Game Challenge!



There's a lot of fresh and, uh, "other" ideas that haven't been tapped yet in games. Surely you have an idea or two...?

Game Submissions

All games developed or published by an individual or independent studio are eligible for entry, including Flash and iPhone games that are currently available for purchase. Games that have been entered into, or even won, previous game competitions (such as the Independent Game Festival, Epic's Make Something Unreal and Intel's Level Up) are also eligible. These games have no "time-limit" restrictions, meaning if you started making the game even five years ago, it is still eligible for submission.

The Indie Games Challenge also promises not to distribute your game in any way without your consent. They will only use your entered game for judging and future Indie Game Challenge promotions. The entire goal of the Indie Game Challenge is to give developers the opportunity to be discovered, make it big, and advance their careers. The decision to be published or to have your game distributed in any way will rest solely in your hands.

Quick note to all Torque owners out there: the way our current indie pricing structure is made allows you to publish as many games as you want as long as your company is making less than $250K USD in annual revenue. That means that Torque games are eligible for submission (as long as they haven't been published by a 3rd party).

All Game Entries must be received by October 31, 2009, 11:59pm CST in order to be eligible for prizes.

Categories

When you submit a game, you submit under one of two categories:

Professional - Defined as individual or team in which any member has at least 2 years of professional game studio or digital creation employment OR has been credited on a published game.

Non-Professional - Defined as individual or Team in which no member has 2 years or more of professional game studio or digital creation employment OR has been credited on a published game.

The Prizes

Twelve teams (six professional teams and six non-professional) will be selected as Finalists in the contest. One Professional Grand Prize Winner and one Non-Professional Grand Prize Winner will be selected from the Finalists to each win $100,000 USD. Three of the Finalists will also be chosen for three separate $2,500 USD prizes for Technical Skill, Art Skill, and Gameplay Skill respectively.

All Finalists will have the chance to have up to 5 team members flown out to Las Vegas' D.I.C.E. Summit to pitch their games to professional publishers on a $500 USD per person stipend. Featured companies include Capcom, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, NAMCO/Bandai, Nintendo, Sony, THQ, Ubisoft, and a few more yet to be announced.

And if that isn't enough, All contest participants who opt in during the registration process may be considered for a $50,000 scholarship to attend The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University for a graduate professional game development program.

Need more info?

If you want to read more specific details, check out the Indie Game Challenge website. There's a useful FAQ underneath the "Enter Here" button at the right side of the page. Friendly support staff are also taking inquiries 24-7 at indiehelp@smu.edu. Feel free to drop them a line, and they'll get back to you right away.

Happy game development, guys!