The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, The Guild Hall at Southern Methodist University, and GameStop are combining forces to form Voltron for the Indie Game Challenge, a huge game development contest with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. To get the low down on this contest, X-Play’s Adam Sessler sat down with AIAS president Joseph Olin (one of TheFeed's favorite people), The Guild Hall founder and executive director Dr. Peter Raad, and GameStop divisional vice president of brand marketing Ashley Sheetz.
Now that you’ve been dazzled by those impressive credentials, be sure to watch this video for more details on the Indie Game Challenge. It’s an awesome contest that will bring together tomorrow’s game-design stars and today’s game-development legends. If Adam’s excellent interview isn’t enough for you, here are some excerpts from the official press release.
"The Challenge is designed to be the preeminent competition for video game developers by offering winners almost $300,000 in prize monies and scholarships, including $100,000 grand prize awards for both the winning professional and non-professional games. In addition, finalists will receive national exposure and be eligible for additional prize money by having their pitch videos posted on GameStop.com and GameStop TV for People’s Choice Award voting. Complete entry and contest details are available at www.indiegamechallenge.com.
Professional and non-professional individuals or teams are asked to submit game betas and game pitch videos between July 14 and Oct. 1, 2009. Judging will be conducted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Up to 12 finalist teams will be announced on or about Jan. 15, 2010, and up to five members of each finalist team will be flown to an awards reception Feb. 19, 2010, at the Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in Las Vegas following AIAS’s D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit."
