2007 IGF Entries Announced

GameSetWatch has the announcement that entrants for the 2007 Independent Games Festival have been announced. The complete list of entrants is available on the IGF site. There's a breakdown on some of the best entrants at Indiegamer.com, if all you care about is "What should I play?" From that post: "Bang! Howdy! -- The follow up to Puzzle Pirates by Three Rings took years and a big team. It's also innovative and fun. And it pushes a microcurrency system. Lookout IGF. Perplex City -- This real-world/online crossover game gives riddles to players in which they have to solve problems in the real world, on the internet, and in the game. Definitely Oscar... uh I mean... IGF bait. Plus they appear to have crazy funding and just announced a deal to distribute in Gamestop. These guys mean business."

And the winner is

[neonprimetime]

Bone: The Great Cow Race [igf.com] -- Yes, that Bone. NO! Not THAT bone! The other one. THe one in the comic books. With the little white guy. Oh, never mind.

At least for best name.

Linux?

[ElleyKitten]

So which of them run on Linux? I see Bang!Howdy does. I like Puzzle Pirates, so I guess I'll have to give Bang!Howdy a try (and look, I can even use my Puzzle Pirates account [banghowdy.com]).

It would be nice if the IGF page had whether the game is Windows only, or has Mac and/or Linux versions. Even on the little description pages it doesn't say, so you have to go to the game's website and hunt down that important bit of info. I guess I'll do that myself and post it, if no one else does it first.

Bang! Howdy! WTF!

[PrescriptionWarning]

It may be a great game, I'm not going to comment on that since I know nothing about it... however that is probably the 2nd worst video game title EVER. The first, of course, being Big Mutha Truckers.

Re:

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

I think I've seen some game titles that were worse. . .

On B!H, PC, and Y!PP

[Rachel Lucid]

Bang!Howdy is good, but a processor hog. I'll stick to Puzzle Pirates.

As for PerplexCity, I'm fuckin' HOOKED on that stuff.

Bang Howdy was... not so good

[ShinSugoi]

I tried the game originally when it was linked on Penny Arcade, but found it to be both incredibly buggy (I had to resort to manually editing the config keys in the registry to adjust the resolution and the tutorials routinely locked up) and with overly simplistic gameplay that frankly wasn't very interesting. There was also the fact that the matches routinely timed out for seemingly no reason.

Ultimately, I find myself incapable of really recommending it to anyone. That's a shame too, since I really wanted to like it.

Re:

[ElleyKitten]

It's still in beta. Maybe it'll be better when it's finished?

Bang Howdy is in BETA. still is.

[nifboy]

When Penny Arcade linked to it, it had just opened up its BETA testing. And that means, yes, there are bugs, but that's the point of having an open beta, so Three Rings can find and fix the bugs. I'm so sorry you went into an open beta expecting a polished, 100% finished product.

It's certainly not like you paid for it.

Alot of enties!

[ViperG]

Looks like the same amount as 06' but I didn't count, most likely there are more entries this year than last year.

I attended the IGF in 06 and watched darwinia win some awards and the big prize. I actually had no idea there were that amount of enties. its exciting and scary at the same time, reason being, I plan on taking my game to igf in 08...

thats some serious competition!

I'm curious to go and browse through the games to see what is there, I wish igf had a screenshot preview feature, some of the links to

armadillo run

[angrymilkman]

I can definately recommend ArmadilloRun. A physics based game created by only 1 person in 9 months. They should have different categories based on team size I guess because some of these games are almost semi commercial.

Perplex City gets my vote

[DorkusMasterus]

I have played Perplex City on and off... I'm not a hardcore player, but it's definitely down my alley as a writer for ARGN.com.

But honestly, it's a tightly done game. The puzzles are just right, if not downright difficult (well, anything above green), the online stuff is of excellent quality, and the story is fun and intriguing.

If you haven't checked it out yet, do so. Don't be discouraged that Season one is about to end, as there is a definite season two in the works!

(And for the record, NO, I do not work for Perplex City, Mind Candy, or any of the other folks behind the project... just a fan of the genre.)

Two I missed

[ajschatz]

I wrote that post summing up the entries. Two big ones I missed: Castle Crashers -- An Xbox Live Arcade 4-player beat-em-up by perenial IGF winners, Behemoth, makers of Alien Hominid and DadnMe Bugs of War -- Another XBLA game, tactics this time, by NinjaBee, the team that made Outpost Kaloki (which happens to be the game that pushed me over the edge to going indie).

As much as I know

[Da3vid]

Well, I can't say I've played all the games there, but my vote is for Minions of Mirth. I must say I'm a bit biased because I am a player, but I'm a player for a reason. The graphics aren't great, but its refreshing to see a game with such low minimum requirements! It has a lot of neat features like being able to host your own world, do your own mods, play as monster characters, etc... plus the community is great and the development team is awesome! They actually *listen* to *people*. When I checked the for