The video game business is dominated by a handful of giant studios, companies that can deploy hundreds of people and budgets in the tens of millions of dollars on a single blockbuster title. But sometimes the best games comes from outside the system, from independent developers with a maxed-out credit card and a dream.
For every big company in attendance at this year’s Game Developers Conference –the EAs, Activisions, THQs and Take 2s of the world– there are hundreds of small, independent studios, some consisting of just one or two people. While they lack the resources of the big guys, they make up for it in creativity and daring. The games they make can be as good or better than what’s produced by the big guys, and at their best, they’re the cutting edge, the work that expands the art form.
Those indie designers were honored this year at the Game Developers Conference during the thirteenth annual Independent Game Festival Awards. This year’s IGF entries were distributed to more than 150 notable industry judges for evaluation, and their highest recommendations passed on to a set of elite discipline-specific juries for each award, who debated and voted on their favorites.
Here’s a list of the winners, a quote from the developers, and most importantly –links to each game. Have fun.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize: Minecraft
Mojang (Online, Windows PC, Mac, and Linux)
Quote from the winner: “Everyone who’s ever made a game or played a game: You’re awesome.”
Minecraft is a sandbox game which allows players to build constructions with textured cubes in a 3D world. The game has two variants; Alpha and Classic, both with single- and multiplayer options.
Other nominees:
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Desktop Dungeons
• Minecraft
• Nidhogg
• SpyPartyExcellence In Visual Art: BIT.TRIP RUNNER
Gaijin Games (WiiWare)
Quote from the winner: “Being part of the independent game community is such a great place to be, because it’s just so full of love and creativity and talent.”
RUNNER is fast, exhilarating action-platformer. It is the fourth entry in the award-winning and critically acclaimed BIT.TRIP series.
Other nominees:
• Bastion
• Cave Story (2010 Edition)
• The Dream Machine
• HohokumTechnical Excellence: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Frictional Games (Windows PC, Mac, and Linux)
Quote from the winner: “Thanks to IGN for complaining that stuff was crap, so I had to remake it.”
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first person horror game with focus on immersion. The game enables real-world physics, making interaction truly intuitive, and allows you to step inside the world of Amnesia.
Other nominees:
• Confetti Carnival
• Miegakure
• Minecraft
• Neverdaunt:8BitExcellence In Design: Desktop Dungeons
QFC Design (Windows PC)
Quote from the winner: “We kinda didn’t write a speech, ’cause, you know, Minecraft.”
Desktop Dungeons is a ten-minute “dungeon crawl” adventure that distills the roguelike genre to its most basic components, turning it into a single-screen puzzle adventure comparable to the likes of Oasis and Tower of the Sorcerer.
Other nominees:
• Faraway
• Minecraft
• Nidhogg
• Super Crate BoxExcellence in Audio: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Frictional Games (Windows PC, Mac, and Linux)
Quote from the winner: “Mom and Dad, you don’t have to use an egg clock anymore to tell me how long I have to play games. It worked out okay.”
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first person horror game with focus on immersion. The game enables real-world physics, making interaction truly intuitive, and allows you to step inside the world of Amnesia.
Other nominees:
• Bastion
• BIT.TRIP BEAT
• Cobalt
• Retro City RampageBest Mobile Game: Helsing’s Fire
Ratloop (iOS)
Quote from the winner: (Thanking family) “Buying an iPad just so you can play our game for one dollar… that’s love.”
Lead Dr. Helsing and his assistant Raffton on their quest to rid the world of Dracula’s evil horde and cleanse the unholy blight that contains them!
Other nominees:
• Colorbind
• Halcyon
• Shot Shot Shoot
• SolipskierNuovo Award: Nidhogg
(Nuovo honors “abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games”)
Messhof (TBA)
Quote from the winner: “Thanks, NYU Game Center; thanks, community.”
Nidhogg is a 2 player fencing game with football & platforming elements.
Other nominees:
• Bohm
• Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now (B.U.T.T.O.N.)
• The Cat and the Coup
• Dinner Date
• Hazard: The Journey of Life
• A House in California
• Loop RaccordStudent Showcase: FRACT
University of Montreal (Windows PC and Mac)
Quote from the winner: “I decided at 28 I wanted to go back to school and learn about game design.”
FRACT is a first person puzzle game — very much in the vein of the classic Myst titles. The player is let loose into an abstract world built on sound and structures inspired by electronic music.
Other nominees:
• e7
• GLiD
• OctoDad
• PaperPlane
• Solace
• Tiny and Big
• Toys
