Submission Eligibility
IndieCade welcomes work from across all genres and mediums, be they digital, tabletop, big and/or physical, performative, competitive, cooperative, experimental, experiential, or hybrids thereof. From works-in-progress to fully completed and/or released works on traditional platforms, on new platforms or on something from beyond our expectations – IndieCade welcomes innovation of all forms.
Independent Games, as defined by IndieCade, are works that receive funding via their own developers, private investors, crowdsourcing, grants, internal studio funding, or association with a university, school, or nonprofit institution. Submissions may be published or unpublished, but their development may not be fully funded by a publisher. Partial funding, marketing help, etc. are valid ways to have a relationship with a publisher while still being eligible for IndieCade. If you need assistance in determining your project’s eligibility status, please email games@indiecade.com – we will be happy to help you figure it out.
Previous submissions to, or inclusion in, other festivals does not prevent eligibility in any way. Works which were previously submitted to IndieCade may be re-submitted provided they:
- Were not IndieCade Award winners in a previous IndieCade Festival
- Have undergone significant changes since last submitted
- While not required, we recommend that you provide a different name that clearly indicates a new version (e.g. Project Name 2.0 or Project Name 20XX version). This avoids confusion in the event jurors have previously played the original submission through IndieCade or elsewhere.
Disqualified games are eligible for resubmission provided all other submission requirements, including the above, have been met.
IndieCade has an inclusive submissions policy and invites entries of all game styles and genres to apply – including PC, console, browser-based, casual, puzzle, mobile, alternate-reality, big / physical games, installation-based games, mods (provided they conform to game engine licensing agreements), serious games, documentary games, activist games, art games, virtual worlds, “sandbox” games, and more!
We welcome submissions developed by individuals, small teams, large teams, artists, students, universities and schools, non-profit organizations and beyond. We also strongly encourage submissions from diverse creators of any nationality, ethnicity, culture, gender, orientation, age, or experience range. Diversity is encouraged. Innovation is celebrated. In order to help with this, we have a needs-based financial assistance you can apply to HERE. Staff will review your application and may decide to grant a coupon which you can use on the last page of the submission form and will discount the submission fee.
Discounts vary based off of individual circumstances. If you have applied to the financial assistance program, we recommend that you finish filling out your submission but wait to hear back on your financial assistance before paying and officially completing your submission. This assistance is ONLY for the submission fee and NOT travel assistance should you be selected to showcase at an event.
Works-in-progress are permitted and encouraged, but make sure that you do not have any bugs that would prevent reviewers from assessing the work or progressing through your submission.
All game content and copyrighted material must be fully owned by the designers / developers of the entry; if outside material is used, legal permission must be secured or your game will be disqualified.
If you plan to submit a work that is on a non-standard game operating system (e.g. Atari, custom hardware), please plan to submit review hardware or host a scheduled evaluation of your entry. If your non-standard entry is chosen as a Finalist, also plan to have a representative on-site during your designated event to be responsible for installation, or to supply hardware with the game fully installed. If your submission can not be reviewed or displayed, it will be DISQUALIFIED.