IGF reveals 2010 indie finalists

The finalists for this year's Independent Games Festival have been announced.

Nominees for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize are Joe Danger, Monaco, Rocketbirds: Revolution!, Trauma and Super Meat Boy! Previous winners of the $20,000 prize money include Blueberry Garden (2009), Crayon Physics Deluxe (2008), Aquaria (2007) and Darwinia (2006).

Those were whittled down from a record 306 entries this year. Games receiving nominations for multiple categories are Closure (Audio, Technical, Nuovo), Trauma (Seumas McNally, Visual Art, Audio), Monaco (Seumas McNally, Design), Joe Danger (Seumas McNally, Technical) Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Seumas McNally, Visual Art) and Super Meat Boy! (Seumas McNally, Audio).

The winners of the Independent Games Festival 2010 will be announced at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on 11th March.

The full list of nominees, sorted by category, can be found below. Head to the IGF website to find out more.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

• Joe Danger (Hello Games)
• Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
• Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
• Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
• Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)

Excellence In Visual Art

• Shank (Klei Entertainment)
• Owlboy (D-Pad Studios)
• Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
• Limbo (Playdead)
• Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)

Excellence In Design

• Miegakure (Marc Ten Bosch)
• Star Guard (Sparky)
• AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard For Gravity (Dejobaan Games)
• Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)
• Cogs (Lazy 8 Studios)

Excellence In Audio

• Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)
• Shatter (Sidhe)
• Closure (Closure Team)
• Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)
• Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

Technical Excellence

• Closure (Closure Team)
• Limbo (Playdead)
• Heroes Of Newerth (S2 Games)
• Joe Danger (Hello Games)
• Vessel (Strange Loop Games)

Nuovo Award

• Today I Die (Daniel Benmergui)
• A Slow Year (Ian Bogost)
• Tuning (Cactus)
• Closure (Closure Team)
• Enviro-Bear 2000 (Justin Smith)