We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled game-related programming shortly, after this quick developer-centric PSA. The 8th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards is now taking entries from developers. I played a role in the whole process last year, and it was great. The catch, like all of these events, is that only the games that are submitted for consideration are actually judged. Whether it was lack of awareness, lack of effort, or something in between, it seemed like a lot of developers either flat out didn’t submit their projects, or didn’t put much into the process. This resulted in a lot of games that I knew were good getting passed over because their presentation provided to the judges was so lackluster.
So, here’s some tips for doing fantastically in this year’s IMGA-
Last year, the process involved an initial pass over all of the entries by a panel of judges from all over the world. This first look is based solely on what you submit, as some of the judges may not have even heard of your game before. The absolute worst thing you can do is just submit your iTunes screenshots and description, dust off your hands, and call it a day. Great games were disqualified last year because you flat out couldn’t tell what you even did in the game between screenshots covered in logos and text along side a description detailing how addictive the game is. I wrote up a blog post a while back that might be useful for this.
More than anything else, it seemed like a well produced video that actually explained the game in a clear and concise manner did tons to get your game on to the second stage of judging. But seriously, test whatever you’re thinking of submitting on someone who you know hasn’t heard of your game before. If they can watch your video, read your text, and look at your screenshots and reasonably describe what you do in the game, you’ll do great in the IMGA.
You’ve got until January 16th to get your submissions in, at which point the nominees are announced on January 24th. From there, the judges actually play the games and announce the IMGA winners at Mobile World Congress on March 1st. Seriously though guys, you’ll likely be surprised what you can get out of an organization like the IMGA as a developer if you put a modicum of effort into your submission.
