It's the Sundance of gaming. Or is it? That was bandied about (and overheard) a lot at this year's Independent Games Festival. Sure, the festival has been around for ten years, but this year, things were different. What, with the PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE Arcade and WiiWare providing very real outlets for indie games, these games suddenly have a market with publishers are looking for the next Everyday Shooter.

"This year was kind of a perfect storm for the IGF," says Wired Magazine editor Chris Baker. "For one thing, we're well-ensconced in the current generation of game consoles, so there were no big surprises."

Independent games, however, are a breath of fresh air. And with digital distribution coming into its own, something that just continues to grow.

"I think this year further reinforced that indie game creators are getting better and better at conceptualising ideas that likely aren't 'mainstream' enough to thrive in a $US 60 AAA Xbox 360 game," says IGF judge and Gamasutra editor Simon Carless, "and making them into totally fun, extremely playable titles."

Year after year, indie games are looking more and more polished. Slick, even.

"Tools are only getting easier to use, and digital distribution is increasing in scope and popularity every day," points out Andrew Maneri, character designer and AI developer for Synaesthete. "These were the two big barriers to entry for many developers."

But what about the winners of this year's IGF? Did anyone get any deals? Advance their career? We chatted up some of the winners, and got a glimpse of why deals don't really matter and how IGF changed their lives. Or didn't.

Oh, and we totally forgot to ask about indie gaming groupies. Sorry.

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