Physics Games and Physics-Based Game Downloads

This year’s Game Developer’s Conference will be hosting the first-ever Independent Games Summit, which is loosely co-branded with the Independent Games Festival. The IGS will be two days of lectures, panels, and discussions of indie game development topics (March 5th and 6th). I had a hand in planning it, so I may be a bit biased, but I think it’ll be a very productive two days for indies.

I’ll be giving a talk on physics games on the second day:

Physics Games Go Indie (Matthew Wegner, Flashbang Studios)
Tuesday – 4.15pm – 5.00pm
Wegner, who is both an indie developer and runs the physics game blog Fun-Motion, explains why real-time physics are such a big part of many innovative independent games, with demonstrations and practical tips for developers wanting to use physics to make their games stand out.

So if you’re already planning on attending all five days of the GDC, be sure to check it out. If you aren’t planning on going, you should seriously consider it. CMP is making two IGS-specific passes available at some very reasonable prices: the IGS Expo Pass and the IGS Classic Pass. Hope to see you there!

The 2007 Independent Games Festival finalists have been announced! The full lists of finalists is available on the IGF website.

Special congratulations go out to the physics games in this year’s lineup:

• Armadillo Run (nominated for Grand Prize, Design Innovation)
• Blast Miner (nominated for Technical Excellence)
• RoboBlitz (nominated for Grand Prize, Excellence in Visual Art)
• Toblo (nominated for Design Innovation)
• Toribash (nominated for Design Innovation)

I’m wrapping up the RoboBlitz review right now; it should be posted by the end of the weekend.