Indie gaming has been growing in leaps and bounds in recent years, a fact to which the Independent Games Festival can readily attest. The IGF today announced finalists for its 12th annual awards competition, with nominees pulled from a pool of 301 entrants.

　　The IGF features a mix of console, PC, browser-based, and iPhone games. That's the largest number of entries in IGF history, shattering last year's record of 226. Although the contestants are competing for a pool of $50,000 in prizes (with the Seumas McNally Grand Prize commanding a $20,000 award), the potentially greater takeaway comes in the form of exposure and feedback.

　　All of the nominated games will be on display at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, with winners named in a lead-in to the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony. Additionally, entrants will receive written feedback from judges, regardless of whether or not their games were nominated.

　　Last year's Seumas McNally winner was Erik Svedang's Blueberry Garden, a minimalist platformer, which debuted in commercial form on Steam later in the year. As can be seen in GameSpot's video of the awards ceremony below, other high-profile finalists included PixelJunk Eden, Zeno Clash, The Maw, and Puzzlegeddon.

　　The IGF award winners will be revealed March 11, in a ceremony at the Game Developers Conference 2010. For more information on each of the nominees, check out the IGF's official Web site. The full list of nominees and their creators follows below.

　　Seumas McNally Grand Prize

　　Joe Danger (Hello Games)

　　Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)

　　Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)

　　Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

　　Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)

　　Excellence In Visual Art

　　Shank (Klei Entertainment)

　　Owlboy (D-Pad Studios)

　　Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

　　Limbo (Playdead)

　　Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)

　　Excellence In Design

　　Miegakure (Marc Ten Bosch)

　　Star Guard (Sparky)

　　AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard For Gravity (Dejobaan Games)

　　Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)

　　Cogs (Lazy 8 Studios)

　　Excellence In Audio

　　Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat)

　　Shatter (Sidhe)

　　Closure (Closure Team)

　　Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratloop Asia)

　　Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

　　Technical Excellence

　　Closure (Closure Team)

　　Limbo (Playdead)

　　Heroes Of Newerth (S2 Games)

　　Joe Danger (Hello Games)

　　Vessel (Strange Loop Games)

　　Nuovo Award

　　Today I Die (Daniel Benmergui)

　　A Slow Year (Ian Bogost)

　　Tuning (Cactus)

　　Closure (Closure Team)

　　Enviro-Bear 2000 (Justin Smith)