The Independent Games Festival, which opened today in San Francisco, bills itself as a sort of Sundance Festival of independent game development.

Now in its 12th year, the IGF allows indie game developers a chance to get together with professional peers and aspiring applicants into the industry to show off their skills, learn new techniques and technology advances, network and compete for prizes. Highlights of the festival include the Independent Games Summit which includes discussion on such topics as indie game distribution and guerrilla marketing techniques and the IGF Awards, honoring an outstanding set of finalists from all over the world with over $40,000 of prize money for categories including he prestigious Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the Audience Award, and the ‘art game’-centric Nuovo Award.

This year’s IGF Awards ceremony will be streamed live for anyone not able to get down to the festival in person. The ceremony begins Thursday, March 11, at 6:30 pm Pacific time and is available on GameSpot as well as TV network G4.

A complete list of finalists can be seen on the IGF website.