...according to Game Daily. Reading between the lines, they apparently feel that exhibiting at E3 was the main benefit of membership, and don't want to bother any more.
This will create a minor problem for the Independent Games Festival; one of the criteria for eligibility has long been that your game may not be published by an ESA member. They'll have to figure out some other wording to exclude games from such major publishers.
In Brent Anderson's Snowball's Chance, you play through a series of levels as a snowball. You start typically at one corner of the screen, and somewhere there's a goal you have to get to--sometimes by hitting switches and unlocking them first. The problem is that you don't move with the arrow keys; this game is somewhat billiards-like, in that you nudge your snowball with the mouse pointer, and can increase or decrease the force of your nudge. Some obstacles (like open water) cause insta-death, while wandering opponents can reduce your size. And you're slowly melting (more rapidly on some terrain than others), so you can't tarry.
Oop, actually it won't!
Hey Greg,
Actually, we took that criteria out of the rules last year - to no ill effects, delightfully. Nowadays our criteria is simply 'Are you indie? No, seriously? Tick the box if you are.' This is working surprisingly well.
Anyhow, I don't think many people noticed that it was removed, for whatever reason - probably not many fine-print readers.
Regards,
Simon.
[IGF Chairman.]
Oh, Okay
Good enough, then.