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As IMG reported yesterday afternoon, Bad Milk has taken the $15,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the fourth Independent Games Festival. The announcement was made by the IGF at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California.

The Mac-compatible game is billed by its developer, DreamingMedia, as "a unique interactive creation":

What if you drank some severely spoiled milk with your coffee? What if you fell into a delusional stupor? What if you couldn't escape from a surreal world?

The 2002 IGF honorees exemplify the "outside the box" thinking that keeps innovation at the forefront of video game development. Each year the festival judging becomes more difficult as indie developers continue to create and submit games that push the envelope.

The jury for the Competition analyzes and rates each title based on the quality of its visual art, game design, audio (music and sound effects), programming (which includes bonuses for advanced features like multiplayer capabilities, and subtractions for bugs that show themselves during play), and the overall "gestalt" of the game (whether the game taken as a whole is fun, and how the visual art, game design, audio and programming fuse together into an enjoyable experience).

The jury looks for games that stretch the boundaries of current game genres or invent new genres, rather than copying games already out on the market.

The jury looks for games that use technology creatively.

The jury looks for games that exhibit innovative game design.

Head over to the IGF web site for more information on all the Finalists, and for more in-depth information on Bad Milk, be sure to read IMG's review at the link below. A demo of Bad Milk is available from our sister site, MacGameFiles.

[Thanks to GameSpot for the heads-up.]

IMG Review: Bad Milk

Bad Milk

GameSpot: IGF Grand Prize goes to Bad Milk

Independent Games Festival

MGF: Bad Milk 1.0 Demo (27 MB)

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