One of the hardest challenges indie game developers face is getting publicity and exposure for their finished product. The fine folks at Google are doing their part to help, launching a new initiative for European indie developer teams of 15 people or less — they've put out the call for submissions to the first-ever Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe.
The European contest is the latest way Google has attempted to support indie game developers, whether it's by highlighting the best new indie games in the Google Play Store — where we've discovered some recent favorites of ours such as Reigns — or by hosting Indie Games Festivals in North America and Korea.
From the announcement blog post:
If you're based in Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France (coming soon), Germany, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland (coming soon), Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, or UK (excl. Northern Ireland), have 15 or less full time employees, and published a new game on Google Play after 1 January 2016, you may now be eligible to enter the contest. If you're planning on publishing a new game soon, you can also enter by submitting a private beta.
Submissions close at midnight on December 31 with the finalists scheduled to be announced sometime in mid-January. The contest culminated in a final event to be held on February 16 at the Saatchi Gallery in London, where the finalists will get a chance to showcase their games to the public and winners will ultimately be selected by a panel of industry experts.
Google is offering up an impressive list of prizes for winners and finalists alike, which include a Pixel XL for each finalist team, heavy promotion in the Google Play Store's Indie Corner for the top 10 games, and more exposure and promotion for the top three finalists.
Qualifying developer teams can go here to submit a game. If you live in London, you can pre-register to attend the live event on February 16.
And if you're just excited to see what games are showcased, you can keep it locked to Android Central, as we'll surely be keeping an eye on this contest — and can't wait to see what great games are showcased in the new year.
