The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of independent developers in the industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, and innovation in video game development by CMP Media, later known as UBM Technology Group, IGF is now owned by Informa after UBM's acquisition.

The IGF competition awards a total of approximately $28,000 in prizes to independent developers in Main Competition and Student Competition categories and is held around the same time as the Game Developers Choice Awards event.

Competition Structure

thumb|[[FTL: Faster Than Light developer Subset Games at the IGF 2013]]

thumb|[[Fez (video game)|Fez developers with the IGF prize 2012]]

thumb|[[Aquaria (video game)|Aquaria voice actor Jenna Sharpe and developers Alec Holowka and Derek Yu on the reception of the IGF prize 2007]]

As of 2026, there are ten award categories:

  • Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000)
  • Excellence In Visual Art ($2,000)
  • Excellence In Audio ($2,000)
  • Excellence in Design ($2,000)
  • Excellence in Narrative ($2,000)
  • Nuovo Award ($2,000)
  • Best Student Game ($2,000)
  • Audience Award ($2,000)
  • WINGS Awards ($2,000)

Prior to the Festival, developers have the opportunity to submit their game in a playable state to the IGF organization committee for a small fee. These titles are then sent to approximately 250-300 game industry representatives on the Nominating Committee; these representatives include both indie developers and more mainstream developers and publishers. Each Committee member can nominate any of the provided games to one or more of the categories. Then, for each award category, a pre-selected jury of between seven and ten members reviews the nominations and makes a final selection of six finalists (eight for the Nuovo award) and a number of honorable mentions.

The selected finalists are expected to present their games at the IGF during the Games Developers Conference; the show provides them a booth space and access to the convention, but finalists either must secure their own travel and lodgings, or name a proxy to demonstrate their games. During the convention, a separate jury selected by the IGF organization committee will review each game, and just prior to the awards, vote for one game in each category. The only exception is the Audience Award, which is voted through online forms by anyone interested.

Ceremonies

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+

!Game Year

!Date of ceremony

!Host

!Seumas McNally Grand Prize

|-

|1999

|March 15, 1999

| rowspan="8" |N/A

|Fire and Darkness

|-

|2000

|March 10, 2000

|Tread Marks

|-

|2001

|March 23, 2001

|Shattered Galaxy

|-

|2002

|March 20, 2002

|Bad Milk

|-

|2003

|March 6, 2003

|Wild Earth

|-

|2004

|March 24, 2004

|(Open Category) Savage: The Battle for Newerth

(Web/Downloadable) Oasis

|-

|2005

|March 9, 2005

|(Open Category) Gish

(Web/Downloadable) Wik and the Fable of Souls

|-

|2006

|March 22, 2006

|Darwinia

|-

|2007

|March 7, 2007

| rowspan="3" |Andy Schatz

|Aquaria

|-

|2008

|February 20, 2008

|Crayon Physics Deluxe

|-

|2009

|March 25, 2009

|Blueberry Garden

|-

|2010

|March 11, 2010

|Kyle Gabler and Erin Robinson

|Monaco

|-

|2011

|March 2, 2011

|Anthony Carboni

|Minecraft

|-

|2012

|March 8, 2012

| rowspan="2" |Andy Schatz

|Fez

|-

|2013

|March 27, 2013

|Cart Life

|-

|2014

|March 20, 2014

| rowspan="3" |Nathan Vella

|Papers, Please

|-

|2015

|March 4, 2015

|Outer Wilds

|-

|2016

|March 16, 2016

|Her Story

|-

|2017

|March 1, 2017

|Nina Freeman

|Quadrilateral Cowboy

|-

|2018

|March 21, 2018

|Trent Kusters

|Night in the Woods

|-

|2019

|March 20, 2019

|Meg Jayanth

|Return of the Obra Dinn

|-

|2020

|March 18, 2020

|Trent Kusters

|A Short Hike

|-

|2021

|July 21, 2021

|Victoria Tran

|Umurangi Generation

|-

|2022

|March 23, 2022

|Kelly Wallick

|Inscryption

|-

|2023

|March 22, 2023

|Marina Díez

|Betrayal at Club Low

|-

|2024

|March 29, 2024

|Trinidad Hermida

|Venba

|-

|2025

|March 19, 2025

|Emma Kidwell

|Consume Me

|-

|2026

|March 11, 2026

|Karrie Shao

|Titanium Court

|}

IGF competition winners

Years given below indicate the year when the award was given, with the games or developers being recognized from the previous year. In 2004 and 2005 the awards were split into two separate categories - Open Category (OC) and Web/Downloadable (WD).

Seumas McNally Grand Prize (1999-, $10,000)

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Winner

!Developer(s)

!

|-

|2026

|Titanium Court

|AP Thomson

|

|-

|2025

|Consume Me

|Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder

|

|-

|2024

|Venba

|Visai Games

|

|-

|2023

|Betrayal at Club Low

|Cosmo D Studios

|

|-

|2022

|Inscryption

|Daniel Mullins Games

|

|-

|2021

|Umurangi Generation

|Origame Digital

|

|-

|2020

|A Short Hike

|Adam Robinson-Yu

|

|-

|2019

|Return of the Obra Dinn

|Lucas Pope

|

|-

|2018

|Night in the Woods

|Infinite Fall

|

|-

|2017

|Quadrilateral Cowboy

|Blendo Games

|

|-

|2016

|Her Story

|Sam Barlow

|

|-

|2015

|Outer Wilds

|Team Outer Wilds

|

|-

|2014

|Papers, Please

|Lucas Pope

|

|-

|2013

|Cart Life

|Richard Hofmeier

|

|-

|2012

|Fez

|Polytron

|

|-

|2011

|Minecraft

|Mojang

|

|-

|2010

|Monaco

|Pocketwatch Games

|

|-

|2009

|Blueberry Garden

|Erik Svedang

|

|-

|2008

|Crayon Physics Deluxe

|Kloonigames

|

|-

|2007

|Aquaria

|Bit Blot

|

|-

|2006

|Darwinia

|Introversion Software

|

|-

|2005

|Gish (OC)

Wik and the Fable of Souls (WD)

|Chronic Logic

Reflexive Entertainment

|

|-

|2004

|Savage: The Battle for Newerth (OC)

Oasis (WD)

|S2 Games

Mind Control Software

|

|-

|2003

|Wild Earth

|Super X Studios

|

|-

|2002

|Bad Milk

|DreamingMedia

|

|-

|2001

|Shattered Galaxy

|Nexon

|

|-

|2000

|Tread Marks

|Longbow Digital Arts

|

|-

|1999

|Fire and Darkness

|Singularity Software

|

|}

Nuovo Award (2009-, $2,000)

Awarding innovative games:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Winner

!Developer(s)

!

|-

|2026

|Horses

|Andrea Lucco Borlera, Santa Ragione

|

|-

|2024

|Anthology of the Killer

|Thecatemites, Tommy Tone, A. Degen

|

|-

|2022

|Memory Card

|Lily Zone

|

|-

|2017

|Oiκοςpiel, Book I

|David Kanaga

|

|-

|2016

|Cibele

|Nina Freeman

|

|-

|2015

|Tetrageddon Games

|Nathalie Lawhead

|

|-

|2014

|Luxuria Superbia

|Tale of Tales

|

|-

|2013

|Cart Life

|Richard Hofmeier

|

|-

|2012

|Storyteller

|Daniel Benmergui

|

|-

|2011

|Nidhogg

|Messhof

|

|-

|2010

|Tuning

|Cactus

|

|-

|2009

|Between

|Jason Rohrer

|

|}

Excellence In Visual Art (1999-, $2,000)

  • 2026: Eclipsium
  • 2026: Proyecto EXO
  • 2025: ChromaCorp
  • 2012: Beat Sneak Bandit
  • 2011: Helsing's Fire

Best Web Browser Game (2006-2008, $2,500)

This category replaced the separate prizes for Web/Downloadable games awarded in 2004 & 2005.

  • 2008: Iron Dukes
  • 2007: Samorost 2
  • 2006: Dad 'N Me

IGF Modding Competition (2006-2007)

A separate annual video game modding competition was held in 2006 and 2007.

2007 Mod Awards ($7,000):

: Best Mod ($5,000 overall): Weekday Warrior (Half-Life 2)

: Best Singleplayer FPS Mod ($500): Weekday Warrior (Half-Life 2)

: Best Multiplayer FPS Mod ($500): Eternal Silence (Half-Life 2)

: Best RPG Mod ($500): Darkness over Daggerford (Neverwinter Nights)

: Best 'Other' Mod ($500): Spawns Of Deflebub (Unreal Tournament 2004)

2006 Mod Awards ($10,000):

: Best Mod – Doom 3 ($2,500): Last Man Standing Coop

: Best Mod – Half-Life 2 ($2,500): Dystopia

: Best Mod – Neverwinter Nights ($2,500): Rose Of Eternity: Chapter 1

: Best Mod – Unreal Tournament 2004 ($2,500): Path Of Vengeance

See also

  • Indiecade
  • Independent video game development

References

  • IGF's complete listing of finalists and winners (most recent year)