Posted in: Games, GDC, Video Games | Tagged: GDC, GDC 2019, IGF, Independent Game Festival

GDC Releases the Independent Games Festival Finalists Lineup

Every year, GDC hosts the Independent Games Festival each year to honor the most influential, innovative, and acclaimed projects in independent game development. Today, the IGF Awards and GDC have released the list of finalists for the 2019 Awards, which will take place on March 20th, 2019 at 6:30 pm PT at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. The awards will be hosted by Meg Jayanth, writer of the globetrotting interactive storytelling game 80 Days.

The full list of finalists for each category of the 2019 Independent Games Festival, along with "honorable mentions," is as follows:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

• Minit (Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio & Dominik Johann)
• Opus Magnum (Zachtronics)
• Noita (Nolla Games)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
• Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)

Honorable Mentions for the Grand Prize go to:

•  Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit);
• Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment)
• Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley)
• Moss (Polyarc)
• Unavowed (Wadjet Eye Games)
• Iconoclasts (Joakim Sandberg)
• Virtual Virtual Reality (Tender Claws)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)

Excellence in Visual Art

• Forgotton Anne (ThroughLine Games)
• Alto's Odyssey (Team Alto)
• Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
• Just Shapes & Beats (Berzerk Studio)
• Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)

Honorable Mentions go to:

• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit)
• Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment)
• Moss (Polyarc)
• Iconoclasts (Joakim Sandberg)
• Guildlings (Sirvo Studios)
• Paratopic (Arbitrary Metric)

Excellence in Audio

• ETHEREAL (Nonsense Arts – Nicolás Recabarren and Tomás Batista)
• Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
• Moss (Polyarc)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
• Alto's Odyssey (Team Alto)
• Paratopic (Arbitrary Metric)

Honorable Mentions go to:

• Creaks (Amanita Design)
• Holedown (grapefrukt games)
• Pikuniku (Sectordub)
• The Messenger (Sabotage)
• Distance (Refract Studios)
• Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit)
• Wattam (Funomena)

Excellence in Design

• What the Golf? (Triband)
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)
• Noita (Nolla Games)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
• Dicey Dungeons (Terry Cavanagh, Chipzel, and Marlowe Dobbe)
• Opus Magnum (Zachtronics)

Honorable Mentions go to:

• Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment)
• Carto (Sunhead Games)
• Black Room (Cassie McQuater)
• JUMPGRID (Ian MacLarty)
• Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley)
• Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)

Excellence in Narrative

• Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit)
• Genital Jousting (Free Lives)
• Unavowed (Wadjet Eye Games)
• Seers Isle (Nova-box)
• Watch Me Jump (Jeremy Gable)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)

Honorable Mentions got to:

• Do Not Feed The Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)
• The Hex (Daniel Mullins Games)
• Speed Dating for Ghosts (Copychaser Games)
• after HOURS (Bahiyya Khan, Claire Meekel, Tim Flusk, Abi Meekel)
• Fortune-499 (AP Thomson)
• Marie's Room (like Charlie)
• Tango: The Adventure Game (Gualicho Games)

Nuovo Award

• Circle0 (yesyes)
• eCheese Zone (Seemingly Pointless)
• Noita (Nolla Games)
• Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley)
• Black Room (Cassie McQuater)
• Paratopic (Arbitrary Metric)
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)
• Nth Dimension[al] Hiking (Zachariah Chandler)

Honorable Mentions go to:

• All Our Asias (Sean Han Tani)
• Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
• Cyberpet Graveyard (alienmelon)
• levedad (solimporta)
• Subserial Network (Aether Interactive)
• macdows 95 (gamebra.in)
• The Norwood Suite (Cosmo D)
• Nerve Damage (Dennis Carr)

Best Student Game

• It's Paper Guy! (Paper Team)
• Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (Grace Bruxner)
• After HOURS (Bahiyya Khan, Claire Meekel, Tim Flusk, Abi Meekel)
• En Garde! (En Garde! Team)
• levedad (solimporta)
• Sole (Gossamer Games)

Honorable Mentions go to:

• We Should Talk (HeartBeetStudio)
• Coffin Rot Brewing Co. (Rosser-McGraw Studio)
• Fling to the Finish (SplitSide Games)
• Indecision. (Bilge Kaan)
• Seasons (David Su and Dominique Star)
• supertype (Philipp Stollenmayer)
• Atlas' Fate: Between Light and Darkness (Baby Robot Games)
• Marbloid (Supyrb)

Alongside the IGF awards, the alt.ctrl.GDC award will also be announced during the IGF ceremony. The alt.ctrl.GDC award will honor the "most engaging, intriguing, and well-executed game using unconventional, accessible or alternative physical controls" with a prize of $3,000 given out to the winning game.

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