2013 is already off and running, which means the first events of 2013 aren’t far off, including the Game Developers Conference in late March. Part of GDC is the coveted Independent Games Festival, and the outfit has announced its nominees for this year.
If past years are any indication, many of these games are ones we’ll be talking about at the very end of the year. Keep your eyes open!
We'll obviously be at GDC (with our new office, it's just down the street), and you can bet I'll be stalking the IGF booth. Since I'm a judge, I've already played a fair number of 'em, too, and there are some really interesting things happening with this year's games.
Excellence In Visual Art
- Incredipede (Northway Games and Thomas Shahan)
- Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
- Guacalamelee! (Drinkbox Studios)
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Asteroid Base)
- Year Walk (Simogo)
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
- Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games)
- Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
- Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
- Dys4ia (Auntie Pixelante)
- Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)
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
- StarForge (CodeHatch)
- Perspective (DigiPen Widdershins)
- Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
- Intrusion 2 (Aleksey Abramenko)
- LiquidSketch (Tobias Neukom)
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
- Samurai Gunn (Beau Blyth)
- FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
- Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth)
- Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh)
- Super Space ______ (David Scamehorn & Alexander Baard/DigiPen)
Honorable mentions: Spaceteam (Henry Smith); Helix (Michael Brough); Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation); Rymdkapsel (Martin Jonasson, Grapefrukt Games); Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
Excellence In Audio
- Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
- Bad Hotel (Lucky Frame)
- 140 (Jeppe Carlsen)
- Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
- Pixeljunk 4AM (Q-Games)
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 Tail (Humble Hearts)
Nuovo Award
- Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
- Spaceteam (Henry Smith)
- Dys4ia (Auntie Pixelante)
- Bientot l'ete (Tale of Tales)
- 7 Grand Steps (Mousechief)
- MirrorMoon (SantaRagione + BloodyMonkey)
- VESPER.5 (Michael Brough)
- Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
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
- Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
- FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
- Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
- Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
- Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
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)