The Independent Games Festival (IGF) juries have announced the Main Competition finalists for its prestigious 16th annual awards, honoring the most influential and outstanding development in independent video games. The IGF has nominated over 30 extraordinary game titles released in the past year.
Candidates for the 2014 IGF Awards were distributed to nearly 375 elite judges for evaluation. Expert juries specializing in distinct disciplines for each category then selected the IGF finalists following playthroughs and recommendations from the more than 650 IGF entrants. The numbers of entries have increased significantly from previous years, and are a testament to the growing popularity and importance of the IGF.
This year's finalists are led by various standout titles nominated for multiple awards including Simogo's hybrid audio/visual/textual mobile game DEVICE 6, Lucas Pope's darkly humorous cold war immigration station simulation game Papers, Please, and hand-crafted stop-motion musical detective game Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!", from creator Deirdra Kiai.
Multiple juries also recognized games including The Yawhg, a richly illustrated multiplayer choose-your-own-adventure experience from Damian Sommer and artist Emily Carroll, and Galactic Cafe's self-aware meta-adventure The Stanley Parable, while the Nuovo jury honored 'abstract... and unconventional game development' with a unique selection of games including Peter Lu and Lea Schonfelder's Kinect-enhanced life-sim Perfect Woman.
The IGF Awards will take place the evening of Wednesday, March 19th at the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center. The IGF Awards will precede the Game Developers Choice Awards, which recognizes the best games of the year across all sections of video game development. Winners of the IGF Awards will also receive nearly $60,000 of prizes in various categories, including the $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
The full list of finalists in each category for the 2014 Independent Games Festival, with jury-picked "honorable mentions," is as follows:
Excellence In Visual Art
DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
Gorogoa (Jason Roberts)
The Banner Saga (Stoic)
Perfect Stride (Arcane Kids)
Samorost3 (Amanita Design)
Drei (Etter)
Honorable mentions: Shelter (Might & Delight); Galak-Z (17-BIT); The Swapper (Facepalm Games); The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll); Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
Excellence In Narrative
The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)
Paralect (Paralect Team)
DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
Honorable mentions: Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games); Gorogoa (Jason Roberts); Redshirt (The Tiniest Shark); Detective Grimoire (SFB Games); Monster Loves You (Radial Games Corp. & Dejobaan Games, LLC.)
Excellence In Design
TowerFall Ascension (Matt Thorson)
868-HACK (Michael Brough)
Mushroom 11 (Untame)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
Honorable mentions: The Banner Saga (Stoic); Perfect Stride (Arcane Kids); Threes (Asher Vollmer, Greg Wohlwend & Jimmy Hinson); DEVICE 6 (Simogo); Gorogoa (Jason Roberts)
Excellence In Audio
Samorost3 (Amanita Design)
Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)
Honorable mentions: Sokobond (Alan Hazelden, Harry Lee & Ryan Roth); The Banner Saga (Stoic); Potatoman Seeks the Troof (Pixeljam); Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games); Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
Nuovo Award
Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
Luxuria Superbia (Tale of Tales)
Extrasolar (Lazy 8 Studios)
Perfect Woman (Peter Lu and Lea Schonfelder)
SoundSelf (Robin Arnott)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
Save the Date (Paper Dino Software)
Corrypt (Michael Brough)
Honorable mentions: Shelter (Might & Delight); DEVICE 6 (Simogo); Elegy for a Dead World (Dejobaan Games with Popcannibal); SUPERHOT (SUPERHOT Team); 18 Cadence (Aaron A. Reed)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)
Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
Honorable mentions: Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games); TowerFall Ascension (Matt Thorson); Kerbal Space Program (Squad); 868-HACK (Michael Brough); The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)
All finalist games will be playable at the IGF Pavilion on the Game Developers Conference 2014 Expo floor from March 19-21, 2014, at San Francisco's Moscone Center, as part of a week of independent game-related content that also includes the Independent Games Summit (March 17th-18th), and the IGF Awards ceremony.
Once again, all IGF Main Competition finalists will also receive the opportunity to accept a distribution agreement for Valve's Steam, a leading platform for distribution in today's thriving independent gaming market.
Voting for the IGF Audience Award winner from all Main Competition finalists will begin on February 18th. Additionally, IGF Student Showcase award winners, competing for the Best Student Game award at the Festival, will be announced in mid-January.
The Independent Games Festival was established by UBM Tech's Game Network to encourage the rise and development of independent games and serve as a launch pad to celebrate the best independent game titles. Notable finalists and winners since its 1999 debut have included precedent-setting games such as Braid, World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, Minecraft, FTL: Faster Than Light, and Cart Life among others.
For more information on the Independent Games Festival, please visit the official IGF website at www.igf.com. For those interested in registering for GDC 2014, which includes the Independent Games Summit, the IGF Pavilion and the IGF Awards Ceremony, please visit www.gdconf.com.
