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[___]

PENNY ARCADE.
http://www.pennyarcadeexpo.com/pax10.php

Are any of the many talented developers of the TIGForums entering such a competition?  I'm wondering how many entrants they'll get compared to the IGF... Also, their first rule is pretty appealing to me:

You are an independent developer without a traditional publisher-developer relationship in place.

[Gravious]

not zeerus?

[Ivan]

Romeo Pie Software is too much of a nationwide conglomerate.

[dc2005]

PENNY ARCADE.
http://www.pennyarcadeexpo.com/pax10.php

Are any of the many talented developers of the TIGForums entering such a competition?  I'm wondering how many entrants they'll get compared to the IGF... Also, their first rule is pretty appealing to me:

You are an independent developer without a traditional publisher-developer relationship in place.

What does that mean? traditional? like in they pay, you develop, kind of traditional? or like in they distribute, you hold the rights, they pay you, kind of traditional?

[___]

I'm interpreting it as your game is currently not under any sort of publishing agreement to the point where it's out and being sold, or is about to be released and sold.  They have a more detailed rules section but I'm not sure if it talks about the specifics of the publisher rule any further.

[increpare]

ah okay, you get to set up a booth there

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MAKE IT INTO THE PAX 10

A. Announcement on Penny Arcade as being selected for The PAX 10!
B. Announcement on the PAX site as being selected for The PAX 10!
C. Four Exhibitor Hall Badges for PAX 2009, giving you access to everything exhibitors receive.
D. A kiosk in the PAX Exhibition Hall for you and your team to demo your game to tens and thousands of gamers, media and industry-folk. This kiosk will include a monitor and speakers however will not include any additional hardware for your demo to play on.

so one would have to attend.

also submission fee of 50 dollars.

interesting all the same, though.

[eddietree]

$50 is pretty steep for the starving indie developer.. 

[Alec]

$50 is pretty steep for the starving indie developer.. 

I've never really understood this attitude. If you have a great game, $50 is nothing for the kind of attention you get for being featured at one of these events. You also have an opportunity to meet really important contacts in the flesh and have a fun time demoing your game in person to a random group of interested people!

IGF is $100, which I still think is pretty affordable for what you get out of being nominated. If you feel like its going to be a total crap shoot, then odds are you're realizing that your game isn't that interesting. (current year's occasionally random judging tastes aside)

Its worth saving up some pennies to enter these things, if you think you have a good enough game. Just ask some of your friends to throw in $10 or stop buying expensive hamburgers for a couple weeks. Easy.

[fish]

seriously.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

I just entered closure in.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

$50 is pretty steep for the starving indie developer.. 

If you don't think your game is worth $50 then you probably shouldn't enter it anyway.

[dc2005]

I'm interpreting it as your game is currently not under any sort of publishing agreement to the point where it's out and being sold, or is about to be released and sold.  They have a more detailed rules section but I'm not sure if it talks about the specifics of the publisher rule any further.

These are last year winners:
    * The Amazing Brain Train by Grubby Games (puzzle/strategy)
    * Audio Surf by Dylan Fitterer (rhythm/action)
    * Chronotron by Scarybug Games (puzzle/platformer)
    * Impulse by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology students (puzzle)
    * The Maw by Twisted Pixel Games (action/adventure)
    * Polarity by a team of Carnegie Mellon University students (platformer/puzzle)
    * Project Aftermath by Games Faction (tactical/action)
    * Schizoid by Torpex Games (action/strategy)
    * Strange Attractors 2 by Ominous Development (puzzle/strategy)
    * Sushi Bar Samurai by Molly Rocket  (exploratory puzzle)

I'm pretty sure Audio Surf, The Maw and Project Aftermath had a distribution deal by the time they were there, Audio Surf was even released on February 15, 2008, so I'm thinking of sending our game (last year wasn't ready enough to be showcased), maybe this publishing deal thing means being financed by a publisher (not very indie), instead of being distributed by one...

Anyway, I'll be sending an email to them just to be sure...

[___]

I'm interpreting it as your game is currently not under any sort of publishing agreement to the point where it's out and being sold, or is about to be released and sold.  They have a more detailed rules section but I'm not sure if it talks about the specifics of the publisher rule any further.

These are last year winners:
    * The Amazing Brain Train by Grubby Games (puzzle/strategy)
    * Audio Surf by Dylan Fitterer (rhythm/action)
    * Chronotron by Scarybug Games (puzzle/platformer)
    * Impulse by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology students (puzzle)
    * The Maw by Twisted Pixel Games (action/adventure)
    * Polarity by a team of Carnegie Mellon University students (platformer/puzzle)
    * Project Aftermath by Games Faction (tactical/action)
    * Schizoid by Torpex Games (action/strategy)
    * Strange Attractors 2 by Ominous Development (puzzle/strategy)
    * Sushi Bar Samurai by Molly Rocket  (exploratory puzzle)

I'm pretty sure Audio Surf, The Maw and Project Aftermath had a distribution deal by the time they were there, Audio Surf was even released on February 15, 2008, so I'm thinking of sending our game (last year wasn't ready enough to be showcased), maybe this publishing deal thing means being financed by a publisher (not very indie), instead of being distributed by one...

Anyway, I'll be sending an email to them just to be sure...

Hmm, yeah.  I wonder if the rules were the same as last year's.

[Alex May]

Distributor is not publisher.

[team_q]

We will be handing in our project when we are done, it will be awesome!

[dc2005]

Distributor is not publisher.

in some cases a publisher can act as a link to the distributor, in our case Noviy Disk will publish our game in the ex-USSR territories, but we hold the rights of the game since we are self-funded...

So it is a publisher developer relationship where we grant them the right to distribute the game in some regions, but we are self-funded and remain independent. Most of the times it will be like that with indie studios, you usually don't deal with distributors directly, you deal with publishers and they will deal with the distributors...