IGF 2008 Finalists

I swear that I say this every year, but the finalists in this year’s Independent Games Festival are the best group of games ever. Each year, we get more and more amazing games, and the quality of the games steps up even higher. The first year I judged for the IGF, there were only a few interesting games out of the top ten. This year, all of the finalists were at least fun or interesting or well produced, and a few of the games I literally did not want to stop playing. (For me, last year’s winner was Armadillo Run.)
Check out this year’s finalists – there is something in there for everybody, I think. Music games, photo games, casual games, retro games, puzzle games, physics games, flash games…
Whenever anyone complains to me that the game industry just keeps making the same games over and over, I just point them to these independents. It’s this group of people who keep the game industry exciting, by bringing in new ideas, or even new takes on old ideas. Long live the independents!