Gleemax Takes First Step Towards Mobilizing a New Generation of Independent Developers
San Francisco, CA—February 20, 2008 — Gleemax™, the social network and gaming haven created by Wizards of the Coast, bestowed The Gleemax Award for Best Strategic Gameplay (“The Gleemie”) to Handdrawngames, developer of Desktop Tower Defense, at the 10th Annual IGF Awards Ceremony at CMP’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last night. Handdrawngames, along with two runner ups, Airship Studios’ “Skyrates” and Quadradius’ self-titled game, were selected from among seven finalists for innovative games developed with strategy focused elements.
During the awards ceremony, Handdrawngames was presented with $5,000 in cash along with a custom designed “Gleemie” trophy, while Airship Studios and Quadradius, the two runner-ups, received $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.
“This award is just the first step in mobilizing the growing indie game developer movement,” said Randy Buehler, vice president of digital games for Wizards of the Coast. “If you look at games showcased at IGF this year, as well as the success other developers have seen with Indie titles, it’s obvious that gamers want compelling and unique content in their games, not just multi-million dollar sequels. With Gleemax, we’re looking to accomplish the same thing. We want to bring outstanding strategy games, like Desktop Tower Defense, to gamers who appreciate them.”
Handdrawngames’ Desktop Tower Defense is a puzzle/strategy game that challenges a gamer’s desktop against waves of cute, but relentless invaders called “Creeps”. By strategically building towers to defend their desktops, gamers can shoot, trap, and lead the invaders through fiendish mazes as they try to overwhelm the desktop’s defenses. The object of the game is to stop as many invading “Creeps” as possible.
As part of Wizards of the Coast’s continued commitment to provide creative and innovative strategic gameplay to its dedicated fans as well as the ever-broadening base of gamers, all of the winning developers and finalists will have the opportunity to publish their games through Gleemax in distribution deals worth $50,000 in total.
Signing a distribution deal with Wizards of the Coast means the game will be published on Gleemax’s game portal, a portion of Gleemax currently under development that will host a finite number of Indie third party digital titles alongside Wizards of the Coast digital offerings. Along with being published as the best-of-the-best in Indie games, the games will be promoted to Wizards of the Coast’s robust strategy game playing community made up of more than 6 million unique gamers who visit Wizards of the Coast’s sites regularly.
For more information on Gleemax and the Independent Games Festival, please visit www.wizards.com/igf.
About Gleemax™
Gleemax is an online destination for strategy gamers hosted by Wizards of the Coast. Scheduled for official release in 2008, Gleemax will provide gamers with a social network featuring a portal housing the best independent, Wizards of the Coast digital, and online versions of popular strategy board and card games. For more information, visit the Gleemax website at gleemax.com.
About Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play and produces the premier trading card game, MAGIC: THE GATHERING®, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of roleplaying games, such as DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at www.wizards.com.