IndieCade Submission Guidelines

IndieCade was established to create vibrant festivals and showcases dedicated to independent games and open to the public. It is our goal to showcase exciting and innovative new work, host productive networking environments, hold important discussions, and have a lot of fun.

IndieCade invites independent game artists and designers from around the world to submit interactive media of all types. Work-in-progress is encouraged.

A diverse jury of industry leaders will select entries for finalists and top awards at the IndieCade 2011 Festival. All entries for the Festival will also receive consideration for presentation at additional IndieCade showcases.

Gamemakers and their teams are supplied with passes to all the events they are selected and all related IndieCade social events. It is IndieCade's ultimate goal to bring the eye of the public and industry to your games.

Submission Processing Deadlines and Fees

Submissions open March 1, 2011 and close May 31, 2011. Late submissions will be accepted until June 15, 2011 with an additional fee.

IndieCade is an independent organization. All submission fees are used specifically and entirely to cover the costs associated with processing your submission.

Early Submissions March 1 - March 30, 2011: The early submission processing fee is $35.

Standard Submissions April 1 - May 31, 2011: The standard submission processing fee $45.

Late Submissions June 1 - 15, 2011: Submissions Close May 31, 2011, however late submissions will be accepted from June 1 - June 15, 2011 for a $70 processing fee.

If you have a discount code you may apply only one code per entry.

Submission Process

Standard submissions close May 31, 2011 and Late submissions close June 15, 2011.

To submit your game you will follow the process outlined below:

1. Fill out the online entry form.
2. Agree to terms and conditions.
3. Submit the processing fee.
4. Upload, postmark, or supply link or a minimum of three download codes for your game by midnight (end of day) May 31, 2011 (or June 15, 2011 for late submissions). For games that require UDID or other such information, you must clearly state in the application what information you need to submit playable build and you will be supplied with this information as jurors are assigned to your game.
5. You can save and edit your submission as much as you want.
6. Once you hit the submit button, you may continue to update your submission until the deadline, May 31, 2011 (or June 15, 2011 for late submissions), at which point all submissions will close and no further changes may be made to your submission.

Eligibility

To be eligible for IndieCade, your game must not have funding from a major publisher (for a list of major publishers see http://www.theesa.com/about/esa_members.php) You can have other deals with these publishers; your game just can't. Your game can have funding from other sources, including investments, grants, crowd sourcing or other funding apparatus. Submission to or inclusion in other festivals does not preclude eligibility in any way. There is no age requirement for submission.

IndieCade has an inclusive submissions policy and invites submission of all styles and genres of games, including PC, browser-based, casual, puzzle, mobile, ARGs, Big Games and installation-based games (submitted via video if not playable on-site), mods (provided they conform to game engine licensing agreements), serious games, activist games, art games, virtual worlds and "sandbox" style games, and more! We also welcome student games and games developed by universities, schools and non-profit organizations. All entries should have a digital component, but hybrid games are not only welcome, but encouraged. Innovation is the name of the game.

Works in progress are permitted and encouraged, but they should include at least one finished, playable level.

All game content and copyrighted material must be fully owned by the designers/developers; if outside material is used, legal permission must be secured or your game will be disqualified.

If you plan to submit a work that is on a non-standard game operating system (e.g., Linux, Atari), please plan to submit review hardware and have a representative on-site to be responsible for installation, or to supply hardware with the game fully installed to the Festival.

Submission Schedule

All games may be updated until the deadline, at which point all submissions have closed, at midnight PST on May 31, 2011 (and June 15, 2011 for late submissions) . Submissions will be confirmed within one week of completion.

Entries will be selected by a diverse jury consisting of game designers, artists, curators and academics.

Finalists will be contacted by August 15, 2011. All entrants are informed of their games status before any official announcement is made. Rejection notices will be accompanied with feedback from the jurors.

Special instructions for Schools, Universities and Colleges

If you are submitting a project on behalf of a school, you MUST follow these guidelines or your game will be disqualified*:

• All school-submitted games must have BOTH a creative and technical contact from the development team
• Any games created by modding an existing game engine must include a link to the specific version of that game engine that was used; any other software or plug-ins, such as Flash or Java, must also be specified with links
• Any special requirements, such as use of a Wiimote or special input device, must be included with links to any relevant drivers or software

* Note that disqualified games are not eligible for registration refunds.

Disqualifications

Disqualification of your submission can result from the following:

• Inadequate contact or other information
• Missing links to critical software, such as game engines, plug-ins and drivers
• Being unplayable: Note that games are deemed unplayable if three of our jurors have been unable to run them with the instructions provided
• Disqualified game can be resubmitted the following year, as long as the problems that caused the initial disqualification have been remedied
• Note that there is no refund of submission fees for games that are disqualified