GDC China will play host to the 3rd annual IGF China awards (a smaller version of the Independent Games Festival that happens at GDC every March). This week the student and main competition finalists were announced. IGF China’s main competition covers Excellence in Audio, Technology, and Visual Arts, as well as the Best Mobile Game and Best Game awards. Winners will be announced November 12, 2011.

Today, we’ll look at the main competition finalists and spend time tomorrow looking at the student finalists.

Billy Makin Kid by SLAB Games looks like a tower defense game that I’ll go ahead and call an evolutionary defense game since it’s humans versus primates (and dinosaurs?). I can appreciate the art style and general silliness of the game; unfortunately the developer’s website doesn’t go into much detail about what separates this gameplay wise from the hordes of other tower defense games other than the item combinations.

Clay’s Reverie by Super Glue Studio looks like a charming platformer for iPhone where players don’t control the actual character directly. By controlling the platform itself (a platform platformer?), players avoid death and collect stars, typical of the genre.

One Tap Hero by Coconut Island Studio looks to be another gorgeous platformer where players collect stars. As the name seems to suggest, the mechanics are probably restricted to one button. The character moves automatically, but there are portals and arrows/walls that change the direction of the character.

Dual character action RPG Pocket Warriors by Wit One Games has possibly the most luscious of all the 2D art featured. Players can apparently upgrade both characters along their quest; only one is controlled at one time, while the A.I. controls the other. Pocket Warriors is available on the iTunes store, though it doesn’t seem to have caught on with users. It’s possible the game has changed or will change since people reviewed it.

Super Sheep Tap by aBit Games doesn’t look so baaaaaaaad (wooly humor). This is a multi-touch rhythm game, where different colored sheep help or hurt players. Super Sheep Tap is also available on iTunes. I am rhythm game addict, but I can’t quite hear the rhythm in this video, it’s possible I’m distracted by the tagging noise.

The Line HD by Ant Hive Games is certainly due for some praise; DIYGamer covered The Line HD on iPad a few times. This is an engaging puzzle game with stages that last longer than the typical touch game. Players can draw or erase lines between dots to create a safe path.

There are two other games, which I can’t get media of right now: FTL (Faster than Light), by Matthew Davis & Justin Ma, China [Website] (video and game build are only available for IGF judges presently) and Pixel May Cry, by Feng Li, China [apparent Video] (not easily accessible video. The developer has action game and Bayonetta as its tags, so one can imagine something stylish.)

We’ll look at the student finalists tomorrow. Good luck, everyone!

[Gamasutra]