Calling European game developers, enter the Indie Games Contest by December 31

Originally posted on Google Developers blog

Posted by Matteo Vallone, Google Play Games Business Development

To build awareness of the awesome innovation and art that indie game developers
are bringing to users on Google Play, we have invested heavily over the past
year in programs like href="https://play.google.com/store/info/topic?id=topic_b000054_games_indie_corner_tp&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Indie
Corner, as well as events like the Google Play Indie Games Festivalshref="https://events.withgoogle.com/google-play-indie-game-festival/"> in
North
America and href="https://events.withgoogle.com/google-play-indie-games-fes/">Korea.

As part of that sustained effort, we also want to celebrate the passion and
innovation of indie game developers with the introduction of the first-ever
href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/">Google Play
Indie Games Contest in Europe. The contest will recognize the best
indie talent in several countries and offer prizes that will help you get your
game noticed by industry experts and gamers worldwide.

Prizes for the finalists and winners:

• An open showcase held at the Saatchi Gallery in London
  
• YouTube influencer campaigns worth up to 100,000 EUR
  
• Premium placements on Google Play
  
• Tickets to Google I/O 2017 and other top industry events
  
• Promotions on our channels
  
• Special prizes for the best Unity game
  
• And href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/prizes/">more!
  

Entering the contest:

If you're based in Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France (coming soon),
Germany, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland (coming soon), Romania,
Spain, Sweden, Turkey, or UK (excl. Northern Ireland), have 15 or less full time
employees, and published a new game on Google Play after 1 January 2016, you may
now be eligible to href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/">enter the
contest. If you're planning on publishing a new game soon, you can also
enter by submitting a private beta. Check out all the details in the href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/terms/">terms and
conditions. Submissions close on 31 December 2016.

The process:

Up to 20 finalists will get to showcase their games at an open event at the
Saatchi Gallery in London on the 16th February 2017. At the event, the top 10
will be selected by the event attendees and the Google Play team. The top 10
will then get the opportunity to pitch to a jury of industry experts, from which
the final winner and runners up will be selected.

Even if someone is NOT entering the contest:

Even if you're not eligible to enter the contest, you can still register to
attend the final showcase event in London on 16 February 2017, check out some
great indie games, and have fun with various industry experts and indie
developers. We will also be hosting a workshop for all indie games developers
from across EMEA in the new Google office in Kings Cross the next day, so this
will be a packed week.

Get started:

href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/">Enter the Indie
Games Contest now and visit the href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/">contest
site to find out more about the contest, the event, and the workshop.

Announcing the winners of the Google Play Indie Games Festival in San Francisco; Indie Games Contest coming soon to Europe

Posted by Jamil Moledina, Google Play, Games Strategic Lead

Last Saturday, we hosted the first href="https://events.withgoogle.com/google-play-indie-game-festival/exhibiting-games/">Google
Play Indie Games Festival in North America, where we showcased 30 amazing
games that celebrate the passion, innovation, and art of indies. After a
competitive round of voting from fans and on-stage presentations to a jury of
industry experts, we recognized seven finalists nominees and three winners.

Winners:

	bit bit blocks Presented by Greg Batha Bit Bit Blocks is a cute and action-packed competitive puzzle game. Play with your friends on a single screen, or challenge yourself in single player mode. Head-to-head puzzle play anytime, anywhere.
	Numbo Jumbo Presented by Kaveh Daryabeygi, Wombo Combo Numbo Jumbo is a casual mobile puzzle number game for iOS and Android. Players group numbers that add together: for example, [3, 5, 8] works because 3+5=8.
	Orbit - Playing with Gravity Presented by Chetan Surpur & Eric Rahman, Highkey Games ORBIT puts a gravity simulator at the heart of a puzzle game. Launch planets with a flick of your finger, and try to get them into orbit around black holes. ORBIT also features a sandbox where you can create your own universes, control time, and paint with gravity.

Finalist nominees:

	Antihero [coming later in 2016] Presented by Tim Conkling Antihero is a "fast-paced strategy game with an (Oliver) Twist." Run a thieves' guild in a gas-lit, corrupt city. Recruit urchins, hire thugs, steal everything – and bribe, blackmail, and assassinate your opposition. Single-player and cross-platform multiplayer for desktops, tablets, and phones.
	Armajet [coming later in 2016] Presented by Nicola Geretti & Alexander Krivicich, Super Bit Machine Armajet is a free-to-play multiplayer shooter that pits teams of players against each other in fast-paced jetpack combat. Armajet is a best in class mobile game designed for spectator-friendly competitive gaming for tablets and smartphones. Players compete in a modern arena shooter that’s easy to learn, but hard to master.
	Norman's Night In: The Cave [coming later in 2016] Presented by Nick Iorfino & Alex Reed, Bactrian Games Norman's Night In is a 2D puzzle-platformer that tells the tale of Norman and his fateful fall into the world of cave. While test driving the latest model 3c Bowling Ball, Norman finds himself lost with nothing but his loaned bball and a weird feeling that somehow he was meant to be there.
	Parallyzed Presented by David Fox, Double Coconut Parallyzed is an atmospheric adventure platformer with unique gameplay, set in a dark and enchanting dreamscape. You play twin sisters who have been cast into separate dimensions. Red and Blue have different attributes and talents, are deeply connected, and have the ability to swap bodies at any time.

Finalists nominees and winners also received a range of prizes, including Google
I/O 2017 tickets, a Tango Development kit, Google Cloud credits, an NVIDIA
Android TV & K1 tablet, and a Razer Forge TV bundle.

Indie Games Contest coming to Europe

We’re continuing our effort to help indie game developers thrive by highlighting
innovative and fun games for fans around the world. Today, we are announcing the
Indie Games Contest for developers based in European countries (specific list of
countries coming soon!). This is a great opportunity for indie games developers
to win prizes that will help you showcase your art to industry experts and grow
your business and your community of players worldwide. Make sure you don’t miss
out on hearing the details by shref="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/">igning up
here for updates.

As we shared at the festival, it’s rewarding to see how Google Play has evolved
over the years. We’re now reaching over 1 billion users every month and there’s
literally something for everyone. From virtual reality to family indie games,
developers like you continue to inspire, provoke, and innovate through
beautiful, artistic games.