The Independent Games Festival is an annual event which celebrates and honors the year’s best in indie gaming. The latest batch of nominees was just announced and, needless to say, I don’t envy the juries that were tasked with selecting them. You’ve never seen such an incredible list of games!
The Independent Games Festival is an annual event which celebrates and honors the year’s best in indie gaming. The latest batch of nominees was just announced and, needless to say, I don’t envy the juries that were tasked with selecting them. You’ve never seen such an incredible list of games!
And for those who don’t know, there’s more than just an awesome trophy at stake here. The winners in every category will also take home a variety of prizes, not to mention a $30,000 cash prize for the winner of the Seumus McNally Grand Prize. That’s a good chunk of money for anyone, but it ought to prove especially useful for whichever indie studio (or sole developer) ends up taking it home.
Plucked from the IGF homepage, the list of categories, nominees, and honorable mentions is as follows:
Excellence In Visual Art:
Honorable mentions: Fly’n (Ankama Play); Eleven (Christoffer Hedborg, Datahowler); The Bridge (Ty Taylor and Mario Castaneda); Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, David Housden and Danny Wallace); Hundreds (Semi Secret feat. aeiowu)
Excellence In Narrative:
Honorable mentions: Goblet Grotto (thecatamites, j chastain, NEW VADERS); Analogue: A Hate Story (Christine Love); Papo & Yo (Minority Media); The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe); 7 Grand Steps (Mousechief)
Technical Excellence:
Honorable mentions: Mobiloid (Monty Melby); Skulls Of The Shogun (17-BIT); Foldit (University of Washington); 140 (Jeppe Carlsen); Gateways (Smudged Cat Games)
Excellence In Design:
Honorable mentions: Spaceteam (Henry Smith); Helix (Michael Brough); Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation); Rymdkapsel (Martin Jonasson, Grapefrukt Games);Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
Excellence In Audio:
Honorable mentions: Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, David Housden and Danny Wallace); Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation); Gone Home (The Fullbright Company); Fract OSC (Phosfiend Systems); Dust: An Elysian Tale (Humble Hearts)
Nuovo Award:
[Designed ‘to honor abstract… and unconventional game development’.]
Honorable mentions: Renga (wallFour); Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth); Frog Fractions (Twinbeard); Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games); The Stanley Parable(Galactic Cafe)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
Honorable mentions: Gone Home (The Fullbright Company); Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games); The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe); Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh); Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth)
Are you salivating? It’s totally cool if you are, but I’d suggest moving back a bit so as not to get it all over your keyboard. Or maybe you’re too caught up in the list above and haven’t even bothered to read this helpful little blurb of advice yet. In which case, well, I’m sorry about your now-broken keyboard.
If it’s any consolation, you won’t have to wait long to see who took home the proverbial cake: winners will be announced during the Game Developer’s Conference on March 27. Gamezebo will be in attendance, and we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop!
