Freeplay Award Rules

The following rules are the conditions for participating in Freeplay Independent Game Festival Awards 2015. By entering and participating, entrants accept these conditions.

 

  • Eligibility
    • This competition is a game of skill and chance plays no part in determining the winners.
    • Freeplay Independent Games Festival Awards Freeplay reserves the right in its sole discretion to decide whether an entry may compete or not. Freeplay’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
    • The judges must be confident that submissions are created in the “indie spirit” by an independent developer, writer or artist.
    • Entrants must be Australian or residing in Australia. If an entry is made by a team, the majority of the team must be Australian or residing in Australia.
    • The submission may not have been completed or released for sale or public play before the previous Freeplay Awards in September 2013.
    • The submission may not have been a finalist for any previous Freeplay Award.
    • Entries that make use of pre-existing technology (libraries, game engines etc) must state this in their application. The judges will take the amount of self-produced content into consideration when judging submissions.
  • Submission and schedule
    • Entries must complete the online submission form located here and supply supporting material via website, email, or post.
    • Entries, including the online form, must arrive no later than 11:59 on 13 March 2015
    • Shortlisted projects will be notified on or before 10 April 2015
    • The awards will be announced during an event at the Freeplay Independent Games Festival on 19 April 2015
  • Participants
    • The awards are open to individuals and teams.
    • Participating teams may add or remove participants during the course of the competition.
  • Technology
    • Submissions which run on a standard, currently available PC or mobile device, or on a contemporary browser such as Firefox, Safari, or Chrome should be submitted directly to Freeplay via email, download, or mail.
    • Where submissions have specific, non-standard hardware requirements such as additional peripherals, custom devices, or console hardware, Freeplay will schedule time for entries to be played in person by Judges.
  • Rights
    • Before submitting an Entered Game, the Entrant must have obtained the written permission of all persons or entities having any rights in the Entered Game.
    • A competing team owns all the rights to its entry and Freeplay will not distribute the final game without the team’s consent.
    • Freeplay reserves the right to use screenshots of submitted works in their publicity, with the team’s consent.
    • To submit an entry, the entrant must be authorised by all people involved in the entry’s creation.
    • Entries that make use of pre-existing technology (libraries, game engines etc) must have all the necessary rights to use that technology in a non-commercial setting i.e. respect copyrights and any applicable licence agreements.
  • Costs
    • Submission is free of charge.
  • Exhibition space
    • Exhibition opportunities may become available for finalists & winners. Freeplay will contact eligible projects and discuss agreements and exhibition rights.
  • Judging
    • The panel of judges will consist of judges as selected by Freeplay.
    • The judges will select the best three entrants in each category as the ‘award nominees’,
    • Judging Categories are:
      • The Freeplay Award (Best Game)
      • Best Design
      • Best Visual Art
      • Best Audio
      • Best Narrative
      • Best Tech
      • Best Non-Digital
    • Games may be entered in any category for which Entrants feel they are eligible. This includes non-digital games being eligible for more than just the non-digital category.
    • The judges will judge the entries of each of the award nominees and will select the best entrant in each category as the winner based on originality, creativity, and artistic vision.
    • The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
    • The winner in each category will each win a Freeplay 2015 Independent Games Festival Awards Trophy.
    • Award nominees and winners are selected by the competition’s panel of judges, and its decision cannot be appealed.