September 1, 2004

Gameslam

by Andrew Stern · , 11:12 am

Slamdance, an alternative film festival to Sundance held annually in late January in Park City, Utah, also now includes an Independent Games Competition. There are two $5000 prizes to be awarded, Jury and Audience. Early deadline is Oct 1, final deadline Nov 14.

This new Slamdance festival joins a growing list of venues for independent games and IF, including the IGF every March (submissions due Friday), ALT+CTRL next month, the IndieGamesCon next month as well, and of course the IF Comp (submissions due yesterday!).

(We recently received news that Facade won’t be part of ALT+CTRL, as they are looking for newer works that haven’t been exhibited much elsewhere. Facade hasn’t been publicly released yet, as it’s taking us a century to finish, but we have already exhibited it a few times. It’s too bad, we would have loved to be there. But no fear, we hear another GTxA’er will be in the festival. ;-)

4 Responses to “Gameslam”


  1. Ian Bogost Says:

    Great news. FYI, I sent in an inquiry to ask what this rule means:

    Games previously published or distributed for profit are ineligible.

    It’s really ambiguous, and as we all know, that kind of ambiguity spelled trouble for the IGF.

    Also, I wonder who the judges are? I don’t want to be a grouch, but it isn’t automatically true that people qualified to judge film are qualified to judge games… wish they’d clarified that on the website.

  2. michael Says:

    Haw, just finished posting this, and went to look at the site to see that it’s already posted. Well, here’s more info from the press release:

    From the press relese:

    FESTIVAL OBJECTIVES
    Slamdance began in January 1995 when a group of first-time directors screened their films as an alternative to the Sundance Film Festival. Our objective today is to recognize and support new, independent creators in all aspects of moving image including filmmakers, screenwriters and now, electronic game developers.

    ENTRY FEE – $49.99

    PRIZES
    1st Place Jury Award: $5,000 IN CASH AND PRIZES
    1st Place Audience Award: $5,000 IN CASH AND PRIZES

    SELECTION
    Our judges will choose ten finalists from the submitted games based on the overall design of the following categories:

    GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL A.I. ORIGINALITY

    The finalists will be invited to the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, where their games will be showcased and available for play by festival attendees.

    Finalists also receive a 2005 Slamdance Festival Pass that gets them into all Slamdance screenings and parties at the 2005 Film Festival in Park City, Utah. One audience award and one jury award will be presented at the end of the festival.

    DEADLINES
    Games must be postmarked by the following deadlines. Downloadable games must be available for play by midnight on the deadline day.

    October 1st , 2004 (Early Deadline)
    The first 100 entries before the early deadline will receive a 12 pack of BAWLS and an official Slamdance presents the BIG C t-shirt.

    November 14, 2004
    Final Deadline

  3. nick Says:

    What is due today (not yesterday) for the IF Comp is only an “intent to enter.” You just email the organizer if you’re planning to submit something; this way he has an estimate, or at least upper bound, on the number of games that will be entered. It is a requirement, but you don’t even have to give the title of the work that you plan to enter. The deadline for actually submitting a work is September 30.

  4. Walter Says:

    “GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL A.I. ORIGINALITY”

    Yikes. Sounds like most fanboy game review site criteria.

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