The ten finalists were selected by a panel of game industry professionals from an internationally and stylistically diverse pool of applicants.
The IGF presents six awards: Innovation in Visual Arts, Innovation in Audio, Innovation in Game Design, Technical Excellence, an Audience Award determined by balloting show attendees, and the event's most prestigious honor, The Seumas McNally Award For Independent Game of the Year.
This years finalists are:
- Ace of Angels - from Flying Rock Enterprises, a 3D space combat simulator
- Bad Milk - from Dreaming Media, a hallucinatory puzzle game using live Action video
- Banja Taiyo - from Chman.com, a puzzle based role playing game
- Championship Euchre - from Dream Quest Software, an online card game which supports live play between PCs and wireless PDAs
- Egg Files - from Flying Mikros Interactive, a game pitting aliens against chickens in a battle of wits
- Insaniquarium - from Flying Bear Entertainment, a virtual fish tank with aliens
- Kung Fu Chess - from Shizmoo, an online multiplayer chess game with a twist on the classic rules
- Pencil Whipped - from Chiselbrain Software, a black and white hand-sketched first person shooter
- Static - from The Static Development Team, a post-apocalyptic role playing game
- World Dance - from Isee Soft LLC, a dance game that provides education on different cultures