Hey!
So it's been pretty busy for us down here -- most of us caught some sort of sick after the marathon, and then suddenly it's Thanksgiving and all the preparation for that to deal with.
I've been working on getting all the post-marathon stuff wrapped up, though, so if you haven't heard back from us about anything you won (or anything else!), shoot us an email at contact@iggmarathon.com.
The Jamestown vouchers will be mailed out over Thanksgiving weekend -- I believe that's the only thing still up in the air at this point. Some people have been having trouble getting into the AirMech alpha, and if that's the case let Carbon Games know, tell them we sent you, and they should sort it out for you.
We're going to be doing a little site and backend redesign for next year, and that'll include getting a forum and mailing list set up. Sorry about the delay on those. In the meantime, come hang out with us in our Steam group here!
And of course, don't forget to check out Desert Bus. They've raised a phenomenal amount of money already -- let's get them even higher. For the children!
Shamayel
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Fanart
First, a piece from Squirrelypants, to celebrate Colin beating Super Meat Boy:
An amazing IGG pony from Jenasu:
Thanks, you guys! These are amazing -- keep sending them in!
Shamayel
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Steam group
We've set up a Steam group for you guys to join! Just head over here to join.
Shamayel
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All sorts of announcements!
So we've got some stuff to share with you guys here!
Our minecraft servers follow. Feel free to hop in at any time and play around. We'll be playing live from 2am - 2am (between the Daylight Savings change), so make sure you're on then to play with us.
Survival: mc2.iggmarathon.com
Creative: mc2.iggmarathon.com:25564
New! Terraria server: t.iggmarathon.com
Now, I'm sure many of you have heard of the famous Colin table flipping video, in which Colin is frustrated after Super Meat Boy and runs outside to flip a table. Little did he know that the table had other plans. See it here! The video may be rotated for some people: YouTube's taking a while converting it.
Finally, we have some art from Signpainter, who proves that his name is more than just a name. Check it out:
Shamayel
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Interviews!
Our interview schedule is up on the Progress page! We'll have a few more surprise guests appearing, but now you can make sure to be around for the people we've got lined up.
The game schedule will be up later today.
Shamayel
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Sneak Preview!
Hey guys!
We're pretty close to the start of the marathon, and I thought I'd give you guys a sneak peek of some of the cool stuff we'll have for you during the marathon.
We'll be updating the Progress page shortly with our game schedule, so make sure to check back right before the marathon starts for that.
But this marathon isn't just about watching games: we want you guys to participate! You can donate towards making people in the room do silly things -- e-mail us at contact@iggmarathon.com with your proposed idea and how much you're willing to donate towards it and we'll let you know if we'll do it. We've also got some neat stuff to pay attention to during the marathon: we have a bunch of guests who are excited about phoning in and doing interviews or just hanging out, from a variety of Let's Players to some pretty popular game devs!
And of course, we're gonna have swag for you guys. We have a ton of game codes to raffle off, and some really cool (and in some cases, super-exclusive) merch to auction. Make sure you're listening in on the stream to get more details about that.
See you guys in a few days!
Shamayel
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Welcome to the Indie Games for Good Marathon!
I'm glad you could make it!
Every year, Child's Play charity raises an incredible sum of money for a similarly incredible cause: buying games, toys, and books for hospitalized children. Gamers come out of the woodwork to give, and it's a sight to behold. While I've found donating to be rewarding in years past, I've always had the nagging feeling that I should do something more.
Inspired by the success of such great events as Desert Bus for Hope and Mario Marathon, I thought that running a gaming marathon was the natural choice: it's a fun, interesting way to raise money for a great cause. But a marathon needs a theme, and I struggled to come up with one that I knew would work. Passion for the game is a huge part of what makes a stream entertaining, but my friends are a pretty varied group of gamers; we don't have one preferred genre. Then it hit me: some of the most diverse experiences coming out today all fall into one class: independently developed games.
There's a lot of excitement and potential in the indie games scene. From the madman who challenges himself with creating a game that doesn't use the screen, to the programmer who comes home after a long day at work only to get on her computer and code her latest deconstruction of the classic puzzle platformer until the wee hours of the morning, to the small team of game industry veterans who decided to take a chance and experiment with new forms of storytelling in a downloadable title that became a huge critical darling, the one constant is passion.
As a gamer, I love to see the results of this passion. Many of these games do things that nobody has ever seen before, or put a novel twist on a classic dynamic. Sometimes one will become a huge financial success, turning an individual working out of his bedroom into an Internet celebrity and influential force in the industry. Few indie developers go into it expecting to hit it big; most simply want to make games for people. But because these developers usually don't have huge marketing budgets, it's hard for them to build an audience. There are a lot of hidden gems that simply don't get the attention they deserve. We want to provide an opportunity to fix that.
So what we're doing is pretty simple: Our stream will be composed solely of indie games. You donate money to Child's Play, you extend the length of our marathon. When you do so, you'll have the opportunity to request a game: we will then play that game on the stream for everyone to enjoy. You get the opportunity to show your love for the kids, and plug your favorite indie games while you're at it. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.