Indie Game Challenge

The winners of the inaugural Indie Game Challenge were announced during the D.I.C.E conference last week. The awards were hosted by Adam Sessler.

The winners are:
Non-professional $100,000 Grand Prize Winner: Gear

* Gear was submitted by: Joshua Maiche, team lead; Mike Halbrooke, level designer; Ben Frazier, level designer; Brian Lee, designer, graphics, art and music; and Andrew Hill, level designer. The team members are students at the Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash. Gear is a 2D puzzle platformer in which the player controls a robot with the ability to change its hand into a gear. The player has to swing around sockets, ride on rails, swim and even rotate the world in order to get through 10 unique levels and beat the “boss.”

Professional $100,000 Grand Prize Winner: Cogs

* Cogs was submitted by San Francisco-based Lazy 8 Studios and the three-person team consisting of: Rob Jagnow, team leader; Brendan Mauro, artist; and Luke Gilbert, sound and music. Cogs is a puzzle game in which players build machines from sliding tiles. Players can choose from 50 levels and three gameplay modes. New puzzles are unlocked by building contraptions quickly and efficiently.

Category winners include:

* Technical Achievement ($2,500): Altitude, submitted by professional team Nimbly Games headed by life-long friends and Las Cruces, N.M., neighbors Erik Measure and Karl Sabo
* Achievement in Art Direction ($2,500): Cogs
* Achievement in Gameplay ($2,500): Cogs
* Gamer’s Choice Award ($10,000): Altitude

“On behalf of the three sponsors, we couldn’t be happier with the quality and quantity of entries into the first-ever Indie Game Challenge,” said Olin. “No doubt, the partnership between AIAS, GameStop and SMU helped drive wide-spread awareness for the Challenge as evidenced by the more than 250 entries we received. The Challenge went a long way toward unlocking, cultivating and supporting the potential of independent game developers, which are essential for the future success of our industry.”

You can find these games and information on the teams IndieGameChallenge.com.