IGF 2015 Nominees Showcase Plenty of Mobile Games

While “best of the year” lists have mostly come and gone for 2014, the real awards season doesn’t really start until the next year is underway. With that in mind, it should come as little surprise that the Independent Games Festival have just announced the nominees for this year’s awards, with winners to be announced during GDC this March.

When the IGF was formed 17 years ago, few would have assumed that mobile gaming would become a prevalent force in the scene. (Back then, at best, my phone could play Snake).

But we’re a long way from 1998.

Vectorpark's upcoming iPad release 'Metamorphabet' is a Seamus McNally Grand Prize nominee — Vectorpark’s upcoming iPad release ‘Metamorphabet’ is a Seamus McNally Grand Prize nominee

This years nominees are a healthy mix of mobile and desktop indie games, proving that good games are good no matter where you play them.

80 Days seems to be the big winner (in the nomination stage, at least), getting on the short list for three different awards: Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative, and the Seamus McNally Grand Prize.

There's no such thing as loving 80 Days too much — Did anybody actually NOT love 80 Days?

Other notable mobile game nominations include Metamorphabet for the Grand Prize, Ice-Bound and PRY in the Narrative category, FRAMED for Excellence in Design, The Sailor’s Dream for Excellence in Audio, and Nuovo Award hopefuls Desert Golfing and Bounden.

You can see the full list of nominees (including more mobile games) at igf.com. Winners will be announced at the IGF Awards ceremony on March 4th.

Reviews
August 18, 2011
Blast Radius Review
By Mike Thompson
I'm not going to lie: things look bleak right now. All that's left of humanity is trapped in this tiny little space station, and our enemies are closing in on us from all sides. What's that? You just arrived on the station and need some money? How about you take over here and start blasting aliens in exchange for some cold, hard, cash. Here, take this copy of Blast Radius on the iPhone and start getting ready. No, really, knock yourself out. Don't mind me, I'll just on the other end of the hangar preparing my little escape shuttle.
Reviews
February 27, 2014
Out There Review
By Tom Christiansen
It's three in the morning and I'm trying to get back to Earth as quickly as I can. My oxygen is in short supply, and soon I will suffocate if I don't find a planet with an adequate atmosphere to refill it. Speaking of supplies, I had to scrap half of my gear, including my radar, in order to get the parts necessary to repair my ship's hull after a near fatal encounter with space debris in the last star system. So without the aid of radar, I'm blindly flying to the closest system: the only system my remaining wisps of fuel would allow me to get to. I have no idea what awaits, but I'm hoping for a planet rich in oxygen, with friendly natives, and ample with the resources and fuel that I need to continue my journey.In the deep space of Out There, luck, much like oxygen, is in short supply. I come out of my jump, just short of a black hole; a dead end. I don't have enough fuel for another jump, not that I have enough oxygen to live long enough to even attempt another jump. So, it looks like I won't be making it home."Out There is an unfair and frustrating game. But it's also engaging and fun, at the same time. It is a game where players will curse their luck as often as they will praise it. Players opposed to gambling may be a bit turned away by Out There, as the game relies on luck pretty heavily. But then again, the life of a space explorer would more than likely heavily depend on luck. It's all part of the job.In Out There, players take on the role of an astronaut in the 22nd Century who has just woken up from cryonic sleep to discover that his ship has totally gone off course. Now, with limited resources, the player must leapfrog from star system to star system, in an effort to get back to Earth safely. There are three main resources players must maintain in order to keep the mission going: fuel, oxygen, and hull integrity (iron). Fuel is used to jump to the star systems, travel to planets, and gather resources from the planets. Oxygen is used up gradually over time from doing just about everything, and the ship's hull will take damage from unstable planets as well as a seemingly infinite number of unlucky anomalies that players will undoubtedly encounter during their voyage home. Other resources in the form of elements can be collected and used for ship upgrades.

Jim Squires

Jim Squires is the Editor-in-Chief of Gamezebo. Everything you see passes his eyes first, so we like to think of him as "the gatekeeper of cool stuff." He likes good games, great writing, and just can't say no to a hamburger. Also, he is not a bear.