[Ahead of opening submissions for the 2013 Festival, IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer goes in-depth on the shifts in policy and rules for this year's 15th anniversary IGF experience, and the ethos and considerations behind them.]

Hello everyone, and a fine hallo to you, as we approach the opening of the 2013 Independent Games Festival. If you're playing along at home, you'll note that this is officially the 15th edition of the IGF, a remarkable landmark that puts into perspective just how far the business and culture of independent games has come since its 1999 debut (see the photos of that year's winners to drive the point home -- also, should we bring back the giant novelty check?).

As you know, each year we take some time following the ceremony to consider how best to improve and evolve the Festival in preparation for the next. It's a discussion we hold along with the community that has brought changes in previous years such as our two-tiered judge and jury system, and this year we'll be introducing a number of new changes as well.

Let's kick off the list of changes we're making this year with the one that most directly affects our entrants:

We'll be opening IGF submissions a bit later than our usual schedule.

Traditionally, we open submissions for the festival around this time (mid-June). This year, we're giving our entry and judging backend a major upgrade, so we'll be officially opening our submissions in late July. And though our submissions are usually very light until much closer to the deadline, we're mentioning this change so you can begin planning now.

Our deadline dates, however, will not change: submissions will close on October 17th for the Main Competition and October 31st for Student. We think you'll appreciate the new features that this short delay will bring -- we'll have more details on those as we get closer to opening back up.