|
As an independent game developer, IGF entrant, and IGDA Indie SIG chair, I've tracked the independent game industry a lot the past 8 years.
But in these 8 years I have never seen something like this year's IGF.
We have seen threats from folks like Tim Langdell, Leland Yee, Lamar Smith, and Jack Thompson.
This time its internal.
The Independent Game Festival is off the rails. Not only is it showing favoritism, in awarding a game that already got a reward in past years, and awarding someone who knows most of the judges and staff, but they are awarding someone who shows no taste in what they have to say about the game industry.
I'll just leave this here:
To the winner of the IGF: Please clean up your Twitter account. Bad things happen to games with these attitudes behind them.
Thank you,
The Independent Game Developer Community
(or at least quite a few of us)
|
The rules for re-entering a game should be, and are being addressed, so that's cool.
Ensuring the judges properly play and evaluate each game, while providing some element of transparency, does not seem resolved. There is a noticeable disconnect between what many indie devs are saying, and how the IGF has responded so far. Hopefully this is something that can be worked out.
Personal attacks against the IGF winners doesn't help. Even if they have said or done things that offend you or seem in poor taste - it shouldn't matter. After all, what most people are asking for is fair and attentive judging based purely on the quality of the game, and if that's the case it shouldn't matter what you think of the person or team who made it.
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.
heh.
Sure, but whether a person is a dick, and whether the IGF has problems are two different issues. Combining them into a single discussion confuses things.
I don't get the "John Romero" image, what does that mean?
I initially thought that it was just me.
This isn't an attack against the winners. The issue is whether the prize is the result of chronyism (Fez is great of course, but I think you'll get the point I'm trying to make).
The bigger issue is what Trevor referred to. If the IGF loses its integrity, we'll all be looking for a new competition to emerge.
I am not meaning to attack the winners either - he is getting a lot of trolls on Twitter, just happens to be the sort of person that feeds them.
I have played Fez at a showcase, it's not my type of game but I'm sure it can sell some copies.
We need the IGFI (Independent Games Festival with Integrity) ;)
I also think breaking awards up into "newly released" games and "future titles" might help, such that there aren't a large percentage of games re-submitting each year and that would make the number of entries more manageable. Awards are sortof a tough problem.