GDC 12: The IGF Recap

As the stage lighting slowly dims, the spotlight closes in on Andy Schatz of Monaco fame, who's hosting the fourteenth annual Independent Games Festival Awards. He approaches the podium as the audience grows restless with excitement. I was denied the opportunity to live blog the event, but figure what I could do instead was write about the actual event itself, and talk about one of the most significant events in the industry today (sadly one of the most overlooked as well).

The Independent Game Festival awards started back in 1998 at the Game Developers Conference, before anyone even knew what exactly even entailed the title of an “indie” game. Individuals nominated at the event went on to accomplish incredible feats within the industry. Erik Svedäng of Blueberry Garden, Jakub Dvorský of Machinarium, Dan Paladin and the rest of The Behemoth staff have all gotten their recognition and jump start thanks in part to the exposure and honor that these awards provide. The actual Awards show itself is done in such a fun and condensed fashion that only validates the reasoning to not completely abolish the video game awards, but to take out of the hands it’s in with Spike and to place it with people in the industry the way the IGF’s are handled.

The IGF’s consist of two secret panels. The first is a collection of professionals who are experts in their field, and who critique the choice of games deserving of the chance to become nominees for their respective category. The second panel is a much smaller and much more secret panel of experts considered to be the absolute authority in their particular craft, in which they then determine the winner for the award from the list of nominees after hours of consideration.

The categories for awards are as follows, and games can be nominated in more than one category. The Seumas McNally Grand Prize award is the most prestigious of the awards, and winning it will net you a cash prize of $20,000 worth. The Excellence In Visual Art award is fairly self-explanatory, and worth $2,500 for one lucky developer. The Best Mobile Game award, which if won, gives you the coincidental right of phoning all your close family friends and telling them you won the $2,500 award. The Audience Award, where we all vote for a winner, also guarantees them $2,500. The Technical Excellence award -- making sure that the tech was either the best or even just being game that best used it -- will also make the winner $2,500 richer. The Excellence In Audio award ensures that the game boasting the sweetest ear candy value in at $2,500. The Nuovo Award is granted to this most innovative game in the whole damn show grants $2,500 into the winner’s pocket. The Excellence in Design carries the honor of labeling the winner the tightest knit game for its concise framework and comes with a cash prize of $2,500. The Best Student Game gives all the rookie nominees in the industry a nice jump start in terms of recognition and $2,500 for their troubles. Finally, The IGF Student Showcase Winner award is handed out to eight winners in the vein of an honorable mention worth promoting, and each winner also takes home $500.

So now that we’ve gotten the basics out of the way, let’s share who exactly won, shall we?

Starting off with The Excellence In Visual Art, nominees were Botanicula  of Amanita Design, Dear Esther of thechineseroom, Lume of State Of Play Games, Mirage by Mario von Rickenbach, and Wonderputt by Damp Gnat. The winner was Botanicula of Amanita Design

The Technical Excellence award was next, and the nominees were Antichamber of Demruth, Fez of Polytron, Prom Week by Expressive Intelligence Studio, Realm of the Mad God of Wild Shadow Studios and Spry Fo, and Spelunky of Mossmouth. Antichamber was able to take home the award, and we were treated to a very weepy but overjoyed Alexander Bruce accepting it.

The Excellence In Design Award had the following nominees: Atom Zombie Smasher of Blendo Games, English Country Tune by Stephen Lavelle, Frozen Synapse of Mode 7 Games, Gunpoint by Tom Francis, John Roberts, and Fabian van Dommelen, and Spelunky of Mossmouth. Seplunky won the award with great stride in their step.

The Excellence In Audio Award presented itself with one of the nominees being able to take the honor. Botanicula of Amanita Design, Dear Esther of thechineseroom, Pugs Luv Beats of Lucky Frame, To The Moon of Freebird Games, and Waking Mars of Tiger Style. The winner of the ear candy award was given to Botanicula.

The Best Mobile Game Award commanded the following list of nominees destined to kill your phone’s battery life:  ASYNC Corp of Powerhead Games, Beat Sneak Bandit of Simogo, Faraway by Steph Thirion, Ridiculous Fishing of Vlambeer, and Waking Mars of Tiger Style. Beat Sneak Bandit held the award on stage.

The Nuovo Award had a lot of competition this year. At a Distance by Terry Cavanagh, Dear Esther of thechineseroom,  Fingle of Game Oven Studios, GIRP by Bennett Foddy, Proteus by Ed Key and David Kanaga, Johann Sebastian Joust of Die Gute Fabrik, Storyteller by Daniel Benmergui, and Way by CoCo & Co. Storyteller won this prestigious award.

The grand finale! Seumas McNally Grand Prize! The nominees were Dear Esther of thechineseroom, Fez of Polytron, Frozen Synapse of Mode 7 Games, Johann Sebastian Joust of Die Gute Fabrik, and Spelunky of Mossmouth. FEZ again climbed to the top and took home the prize and Phil Fish was crying like an asshole but man did the guy deserve the award, read here why I feel that way by the by.

There you have it. The IGF is a centric component to the industry, and it’s only getting bigger and bigger by the year. Next year we can take the opportunity to watch in on its live stream, and make this grand event even grander.