The Independent Games Festival has announced the competition finalists for the 14th annual IGF Awards. This year’s finalists include Polytron’s Fez, Mode 7’s Frozen Synapse, thechineseroom’s Dear Esther, and Tiger Style’s Waking Mars. All finalist titles will be playable at the IGF Pavilion at GDC 2012, which takes place at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from March 7-9, 2012. The IGF Awards will be held on March 7, with award recipients receiving a total of $60,000 in prizes across all categories.
There is also the new Xbox Live Arcade Prize, which includes a guaranteed first-party publishing deal to release the winning titles on Xbox Live-enabled platforms with full funding for development. This prize is the result of multi-year partnership between the IGF and Microsoft, with a standalone jury determining the winner.
“While the sheer number of fantastic entries in this year’s festival made whittling down this selection of finalists a difficult task for our judges and juries, that overwhelming show of quality is proof that independents truly are driving the future of games,” said IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer. “I’m tremendously excited to see a wider audience discovering and getting to experience all of the beauty and brilliance showcased this year.”
The full list of finalists is below:
Excellence In Visual Art
Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Lume (State Of Play Games)
Mirage (Mario von Rickenbach)
Wonderputt (Damp Gnat)
Honorable mentions: Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo), Dustforce (Hitbox Team), Fader (Chris Makris), Proun (Joost van Dongen), Toren (Swordtales)
Technical Excellence
Antichamber (Demruth)
Fez (Polytron)
Prom Week (Expressive Intelligence Studio, UC Santa Cruz)
Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios & Spry Fox)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)
Honorable mentions: Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games), Nitronic Rush (DigiPen Institute of Technology), Reflow (Xymatic), Super T.I.M.E. Force (Capy),Tiny & Big - Grandpa's Leftovers (Black Pants)
Excellence In Design
Atom Zombie Smasher (Blendo Games)
English Country Tune (Stephen Lavelle)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Gunpoint (Tom Francis, John Roberts and Fabian van Dommelen)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)
Honorable mentions: Faraway (Steph Thirion), FTL (Justin Ma & Matthew Davis), Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik), SpaceChem (Zachtronics Industries), Where Is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)
Excellence In Audio
Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Pugs Luv Beats (Lucky Frame)
To The Moon (Freebird Games)
Waking Mars (Tiger Style)
Honorable mentions: Beatbuddy (Threaks), Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo), Fez (Polytron), Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga), Where Is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)
Best Mobile Game
ASYNC Corp (Powerhead Games)
Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo)
Faraway (Steph Thirion)
Ridiculous Fishing (Vlambeer)
Waking Mars (Tiger Style)
Honorable mentions: Fingle (Game Oven Studios), Hundreds (SemiSecret & aeiowu), iBlast Moki 2 (Godzilab), Temple Run (Imangi Studios), Tentacles(Press Play)
Nuovo Award
[Designed to honor abstract, shortform and unconventional game development.]
At a Distance (Terry Cavanagh)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Fingle (Game Oven Studios)
GIRP (Bennett Foddy)
Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Storyteller (Daniel Benmergui)
Way (CoCo & Co.)
Honorable mentions: Deep Sea (Wraughk), Four Letter Word (Terry Cavanagh), Glitchhiker (Aardbever), Hundreds (SemiSecret & aeiowu), POP (Rob Lach)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Fez (Polytron)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)
Honorable mentions: Antichamber (Demruth), FTL (Justin Ma & Matthew Davis), Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga), SpaceChem (Zachtronics Industries ), Where Is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)
