The first annual Indie Game Challenge wrapped up this past Friday and over $200,000 was awarded in prize money to the winners.

Steam punk puzzle game Cogs won the day with three different awards including Best Professionally Made Game with a prize of $100,000. Lazy 8 Studios, the developer of Cogs is a three man team and hopefully these awards will help them continue to develop more great titles.

After the ceremony, the Indie Game Challenge announced their plans for next year’s iteration of the contest. Hopefully they consider adding more categories for awards, simply so they can garner attention for a greater body of independent titles.

Other winners include 2D puzzle platformer Gear and multiplayer aerial shooter Altitude.

Here’s the offical list:

Non-professional $100,000 Grand Prize Winner:  Gear

  • Gear was submitted by:  Joshua Maiche, team lead; Mike Halbrook, level designer; Ben Frazier, level designer; Brian Lee, designer, graphics, art and music; and Andrew Hill, level designer.  The team members are students at the Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.  Gear is a 2D puzzle platformer in which the player controls a robot with the ability to change its hand into a gear.  The player has to swing around sockets, ride on rails, swim and even rotate the world in order to get through 10 unique levels and beat the “boss.”

Professional $100,000 Grand Prize Winner:  Cogs

  • Cogs was submitted by San Francisco-based Lazy 8 Studios and the three-person team consisting of:  Rob Jagnow, team leader; Brendan Mauro, artist; and Luke Gilbert, sound and music.  Cogs is a puzzle game in which players build machines from sliding tiles.  Players can choose from 50 levels and three gameplay modes.  New puzzles are unlocked by building contraptions quickly and efficiently. Cogs also won the Achievement in Art Direction ($2,500) and Achievement in Gameplay ($2,500) awards.

Gamer’s Choice Award ($10,000):  Altitude

  • Altitude was submitted by professional team Nimbly Games headed by life-long friends and Las Cruces, N.M., neighbors Erik Measure and Karl Sabo Altitude also won the Technical Achievement Award ($2,500).

What was your favorite independent game this year?