While the judges at IGF have already named their nominees/finalists, we at DIYgamer are still sifting through the list. Last year, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select games at random from the lengthy (306 total) list of IGF submissions and discuss what they’re about and how they play. For this week’s column, I played through two original puzzle-platformers, both free and ready to go when you are: ride your bike to save your life in Icycle and prepare to play with colors in Color Symphony.

Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 306. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

While the judges at IGF have already named their nominees/finalists, we at DIYgamer are still sifting through the list. Last year, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select and discuss games randomly from the lengthy (306 total) list of IGF submissions. For this week’s column, I played through two note-worthy titles: an odd fighting game with awesome rag doll mechanics in Rubber Ninjas and a top-down zombie shooter in Dead Wake.

Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 306. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

What a great way to start off our new year, indie fans: the main competition finalists are in and the nominations are plentiful! In order to provide the highest-quality judging, the Independent Games Festival enlisted the help of over 150 judges from the indie and mainstream industries. That’s a good thing considering that nearly $50,000 in prizes will be given away at the event, taking place on March 11 at the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA.

This year, IGF will also be offering another category for the $2,500 Nuovo Award, picked by its own jury who have released a statement regarding their finalists at this location. The Nuovo Award is geared toward recognizing the esoteric and “artsy” titles from the long list of IGF submissions.

And so, without further ado, here are the 2010 IGF finalists!

2010 is going to be big for the Independent Games Festival. Already with a record number of main and student competition entries, the mobile department of IGF has jumped on board with another all-time high: 172 entries, a hearty increase from last year’s field of 107.

Many brand spanking new titles we’ve never heard before grace the lengthy list of entrants. From casual sports titles to alien shooters to abstract experimentation.

Combined, IGF 2010 will see 650 entries pass through, with a select few making it as finalists and possibly capturing the hardware.

You can check out all 172 mobile titles in depth here.

In S.H.M.U.P., you and up to fifteen circle ships defend a line of blocks from oncoming squares, circles and triangles while listening to chip tune music by Bart Klepka and Multifaros.

The game was one of the finalists at the Independent Games Festival at this year’s GDC in China, and it takes a laid back approach to the shoot-’em-up genre. You don’t really control the ships, they just follow your mouse while firing automatically. The only thing you do control are the missiles, which are in limited supply, but once you run out of those you’re limited to a guiding role.

Grab the demo here or hit the jump to read more and watch the trailer.

Following the record 306 Main Competition entries, organizers of the 2010 Independent Games Festival have announced 193 Student Showcase entries, up 33% from 2009 and another new record for the event. This year’s IGF Student Showcase entries will be judged by over160 game industry judges, before the student-specific finalists are announced in January of next year.

Ten Student winners will be given full-access Game Developers Conference 2010 tickets to show their games at the festival, as well as $500 for travel. The overall Best Student Game will be awarded $2500 at the IGF ceremony during GDC 2010 in San Francisco next March.

The Student Showcase entries are now available to peruse on the official IGF website, several of which provide playable builds. You’ll have our take on any standouts in due time. Congrats to all participants and good luck going forward.

Wanted to bring attention to a 2010 IGF Submission called 78641, the ‘adventure’ game claims to be an English translation of the classic Esperanto game, Pato Viro Simulilo. It’s quite insane, often confusing and at times downright disturbing. In the game you play Doug Beachez, a dildo selling frying pan–oh, stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

The experience consists mostly of absurd conversations with a variety of equally ridiculous characters along with a handful of minigames. Some very NSFW stuff specifically with the language that’s used. Offensive words, but much more offensive (and confusing) sentences and topical references.

You can download and play the full game here. Just don’t be surprised if you have more questions coming out than you had going in.

Actual, official description after the break.

A record 306 entries were submitted to the Independent Games Festival 2010 main competition. 306! This past year saw 224 entries which was the first time the total ever broke 200, so to jump nearly 100 entries in only a year is quite exciting. The interest in both creating and playing indie’s is clearly on the rise.

These submissions will be checked and distributed to 150 judges–also the most ever–and the finalists will be announced at some point in January. The winners will be announced at the award show taking place at IGF 2010 in San Francisco March 9-13.

Many of the titles submitted actually have content to download and try out for those interested in seeing the what this year’s batch has to offer. Congratulations and best of luck to all the entrants!

If you’re into independent gaming and haven’t heard about Captain Forever then–as cliché as it sounds–you’ve been living under a rock for the last two weeks. Created by Australian developer Farbs, the title garnered massive popularity after coming in first-place at China’s Independent Games Festival; I can’t help but feel that it was well deserved. Enough talk about the game, however, as the review will follow in the next couple of weeks. Instead, let’s talk about the man behind it all.

Farbs, whose real name is Jarrad Woods, and I sent e-mails back and forth for about a week before finally conducting an interview. As evidenced by the following, he’s quite a polite and humorous developer. We began by exchanging greetings and discussing our respective time regions. We even made a joke or two and discussed just how ugly the MSN smileys were, and somewhere in there, this awesomely elongated interview occurred.

The Independent Games Festival, which is in its 12th year, has announced that Unity Technologies–the provider of the Unity development platform for the PC, Wii, iPhone and Mac–will be the Gold sponsor in 2010. The IGF, which takes place at the Game Developers Conference (this time in March 2010 at San Francisco, California), has served as a successful promoter of new indie games. In fact, World of Goo, Braid, Gish, Castle Crashers, and Everyday Shooter have all benefited greatly from winning the prestigious IGF awards.

“We’re honored to be sponsoring the IGF. Unity started out as an indie game studio, so in a way this feels like coming home. We can’t wait to have some of these talented developers see what we do, so we’d like to give away a lot of Unity Pro copies. In short, we’re proud to sign on as sponsors and show our support for Indie gaming.” said Unity co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Nicholas Francis. As part of the Gold sponsorship, they will be providing all finalists with a copy of Unity Pro (which is worth $1500). However, each winning (not finalists) team member will receive a copy rather than only one for the entire team.