Slamdance, the indy film festival that runs opposite Sundance (the just-shy-of-Hollywood film festival), will hold a Guerilla Gamemaker Competition this year. Featuring well-known indy and art games such as Cloud and Facade among a list of others. Slamdance will feature a Game Lounge area where attendees can play all of these indy games and Slamdance will bestow an array of awards on the independent developers, students and artists who have created some of the most unique games we\'ve ever seen.

The Slamdance Guerilla Games Competition, once again headquartered at the Treasure Mountain Inn (255 Main Street), will take place January 21-24, 2006, in Park City, Utah - coinciding with the Slamdance Film Festival. Slamdance will expand further in Salt Lake City, to include a LAN party, film screenings, screenplay readings and events in Sugar House.

Speaking about this year\'s submissions, Sam Roberts, Slamdance\'s Games Competition Manager said, \"Our 2006 finalists show the growing focus on gameplay and innovation in the independent gaming scene. Games are focused on specific, well-developed engines. They center on specific ideas that are explored in depth, and are used to provide maximum entertainment value.\"

Now entering its second year, the Slamdance Guerilla Game Competition exists to recognize and reward the innovative and exciting work being done by independent game designers, programmers, and artists. The Competition features Grand Jury and Audience prizes. This year Slamdance has added the PopCap Casual Game award and two Student awards: \"Physics,\" and \"Philosophy,\" to the competition. Members of the design team winning the \"Physics\" award will receive a $15,000 tuition-waiver scholarship to the DigiPen Institute of Technology\'s Master of Science in Computer Science Degree Program, subject to admission to the program and agreement to the terms and conditions of the Scholarship. These Student Awards celebrate both mechanical and aesthetic design. These awards expose the work of student game designers and artists to established independent designers, larger game design studios, publishers and distributors.

Check out the Slamdance Guerilla Games Competition page for links to all of these games.