An acrobat, a cell, some self-replicating machines, a ball and a hat-wearing man with a beak will be the stars of the eleventh annual Independent Games Festival, as their games are now the official finalists for the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

The IGF announced CarneyVale Showtime, Osmos, Dyson, Night Game and Blueberry Garden as the finalists for its biggest prize yesterday along with finalists for its other categories.

Well-known PlayStation 3 game PixelJunk Eden is a finalist in the “Technical Excellence,” “Excellence in Visual Art” and “Excellence in Audio” categories.

The complete list of finalists is after the break. The IGF website contains links to each game’s individual site where free demos or full games are usually available to download.

Finalists were chosen by a panel of judges that includes more than 40 developers and journalists. There were 226 entries in the IGF’s main competition, up by 30 percent from 2008. The festival runs during the Game Developers Conference in March in San Francisco where finalists will be available in playable form. Winners will be announced on March 25. Finalists for the Student Showcase award will be announced later this month.

IGF winners from last year include World of Goo and Audiosurf, which have gone on to earn critical and commercial success.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Blueberry Garden (Erik Svedang)
Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
Carneyvale Showtime (Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab)
Night Game (Nicalis)
Dyson (Rudolf Kremers/Alex May)

Excellence In Visual Art:
Zeno Clash (ACE Team)
PixelJunk Eden (Q-Games)
Machinarium (Amanita Design)
Cletus Clay (TunaSnax)
Feist (Filthy Grip)

Excellence In Audio:
Musaic Box (KranX Productions)
Blueberry Garden (Erik Svedang)
BrainPipe (Digital Eel)
PixelJunk Eden (Q-Games)
Retro/Grade (24 Caret Games)

Excellence In Design:
Retro/Grade (24 Caret Games)
Snapshot (Six AM)
Night Game (Nicalis)
Musaic Box (KranX Productions)
Osmos (Hemisphere Games)

Innovation Award:
Between (Jason Rohrer)
Mightier (Ratloop)
The Graveyard (Tale Of Tales)
Coil (From The Depths)
You Have To Burn The Rope (Mazapan)

Technical Excellence:
PixelJunk Eden (Q-Games)
Cortex Command (Data Realms)
Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
The Maw (Twisted Pixel Games)
Incredibots (Grubby Games)