Game publisher Activision first announced plans to hold a competition for indie game developers back in early 2010. It's taken a while but today the company announced that it has given cash awards to two games that were entered into the first phase of its competition. Activision awarded the big $175,000 prize to Dstroyd, a 2D cartoony-like side scrolling action game created by Peter Angstadt, a 24 year old from Oakland, California. The game itself is still not complete but Activision's cash award should give Angstadt and his team the money to help finish the title. Activision doesn't own the rights to Dstroyd but it does have the first chance to publish the final version of the the game if it so chooses.
The game itself is described as "tight real-time strategy married to a ballistics game". It looks like it has elements of Missile Command as players attack the ground via airships while the ground based player has guns and other defenses that can be put into place.
In addition to Dstroyd, Activision awarded $75,000 to the team behind another upcoming indie game, Rigonauts: Broadside. It's yet another 2D cartoony side scroller title. This time the game features the player creating and customizing a land-locked vessel and choosing a crew to command it. The goal is to take the vessel through the levels and fight off enemies. It looks like it shares some gameplay elements with Little Big Planet.
Activision has plans to launch a second phase of its indie game competition with yet another $250,000 that will be given away to the teams behind the games. There is no word on when entries for the second phase will be accepted.
