DIGITAL GAME DESIGN SHOWCASE
2014 EDITION
Goals
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To encourage digital game design
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To encourage and inform the general public about digital game design
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To share the talent, the creativity and the game designs with everyone
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To encourage game designers to create games independent of large budgets and
large company ties
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To help the designers to adjust and prepare their designs for the publisher’s
exigencies, reaching higher levels of success
Timeline
1) Submission of games until June 20
th2) Notification to designers of whether they are invited to the showcase until July
17
th3) Showcase at Boston FIG on September 13
thRegulations
What states are eligible for participation?
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Conneticut
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Delaware
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Maine
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Maryland
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Massachusetts
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New Brunswick
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New Hampshire
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New Jersey
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New York
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Nova Scotia
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Ontario
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Pennsylvania
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Quebec
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Rhode Island
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Vermont
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Washington DC
What kind of games are eligible for submission?
Since there is no perfect criteria for what an “indie” game is, we will take submissions on
a case-by-case basis and work with studios to determine what games make sense from
a community standpoint.
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Only unpublished games, or games that have been released after October 2013
can be submitted.
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Games should be independently produced, though publisher funding/distribution
is acceptable.
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Games are not produced by a major publisher-owned studio, list of publishers
here
.
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Games should include at least one finished, playable level. The more finished your
game is, the greater likelihood it will make it into the festival.
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Game content and other materials are owned solely by the developer/designers
or legal permission obtained to use any other copyrighted material.
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Come ready to demo on your own hardware (or send someone who can) on
September 13, 2013.
Game content and other materials are owned solely by the developer/designers or legal
permission obtained to use any other copyrighted material.
If you have any questions about the eligibility of your game, please contact us.
Submissions will be screened by Boston FIG volunteers who will make sure that the
game meets our criteria.
What are the phases of the showcasing process?
The showcasing process will take place in 3 phases:
1. Sending the rules and pre-selection by a team of Boston FIG volunteers;
2. Sending the prototypes and feedback from curators;
3. Showcase of the games during Boston FIG, voting of the public and
announcement of the winners.
To submit a Windows Game: Your game must fall into the basic requirements of a computer running Windows 8/Windows 7. These include: • Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 • RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32bit) or 2 GB (64bit) • Hard disk space: 16 GB (32bit) or 20 GB (64bit) • Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver Note: BFIG reserves the right to reject games requiring unusual or outdated frameworks. If you are asking our judges to install unusual software that a game on Steam might not ask you to install, please check with head of digital curation, Brianna Wu at [email protected] To submit an OSX Game: Your game must run on a machine supporting OSX Mavericks. This includes the following Apple models:
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iMac (Mid2007 or later)
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MacBook (13inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13inch, Early 2009 or later)
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MacBook Pro (13inch, Mid2009 or later),
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MacBook Pro (15inch or 17inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later)
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MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
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Mac mini (Early 2009 or later)
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Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
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Xserve (Early 2009)
To submit an iOS Game: Your iOS game must run on the most current version of iOS. This is currently 7.1, but might have shifted by the time the festival is judged. As always, with iOS content, pay attention to iOS release candidates through your iOS developer program, and update your content accordingly. Boston FIG cannot and will not find older versions of iOS hardware and software to test your game on. We also cannot consider any content requiring a jailbreak. There are two manners in which Boston FIG will accept an iOS game for submission. The first is by sharing download codes for a game already on the App Store with Boston FIG. The second is through Testflight. Ultimately, it is your responsibility as a developer to provision the devices of Boston FIG judges, and distribute them copies of your game. If you have any problems, feel free to contact head of digital curation, Brianna Wu at [email protected]. To submit an Android Game: Due to the fragmented nature of Android, and the wide range of devices available to our judges, it is impossible to firmly set guidelines for Android submissions. Android submissions will be taken on a
percase basis, and Boston FIG promises you, we will make all reasonable attempts to test your game.
Generally speaking, a good place to start would the the requirements for the Google Play store, available at http://developer.android.com/distribute/googleplay/policies/index.html. It’s also a good idea to ask yourself if your game runs on the more common Android devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy, the Moto X or the Nexus. The more common the devices your game supports, the better our chance to test it. Codes for games available in the Google Play store are preferred, though we will accept content you ask us to sideload if we have the hardware to run it. Boston FIG reserves the right to reject your Android submission for reasons of bugginess, incompatability, or lack of access to supported devices. If you have any questions, feel free to contact head of digital curation, Brianna Wu at [email protected]. To submit a game requiring specialized hardware: Boston Fig has assembled a specialized committee to deal with games needing unusual hardware, such as a game for Oculous Rift. The Boston FIG Digital Principles Committee will arrange a time to pick up your hardware, and will test it in a private committee. We will return your hardware in a reasonable time period, probably one week, and not more than two. To make sure we can accept your submission, please contact head of digital curation, Brianna Wu at [email protected]. A note about bugs and computability: Because Boston FIG is an indie game festival, we understand that many of our submissions will be from novice game developers and students. We will make all reasonable attempts to install your game, and understand that problems are inevitable in the process of judging your content. Initial problems with compatibility and bugs WILL NOT be held against you in the process of evaluating your game. That said, making your content playable is the responsibility of the person submitting to Boston FIG, not the judges. We’ll work with you, but you must be responsive to email, and you must correct issues in a timely manner. Failure to correct problems can and will lead to your game being rejected from submission. In the case of such rejection, your entry fee WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. If your game is not accepted into Boston FIG, your entry fee will also not be refunded, though your fee may be deducted from the price of a sponsorship package, should you choose to pursue that route. If you have any questions, feel free to contact head of digital curation, Brianna Wu at [email protected].
The showcase itself
During the showcase, the attendees of Boston FIG (last year well over 7,500) will be allowed to play the games and vote on their favorites. Among them several games will be chosen as the 2014 Boston FIG digital public favorites in categories like Game Design, Visual Art, Audio Design and more… The intellectual property rights from the games will belong to the designers, independently of their places in the competition, and will be respected.
If a designer feels harmed by the Jury deliberation or playtest teams, we remind that the games quality remains subjective, and that the main goal of the showcase is to create buzz around the Indie board and card game scene.
