The Independent Games Festival, also known as IGF, announced its finalists last week for the 19th annual awards. The festival will be held on March 1st during GDC where the winners of the 7 categories will be chosen.
The event is to be hosted by Nina Freeman, a figure in the independent game industry best known for the critically acclaimed and award-winning game, Cibele, which tells the story of a 19-year-old girl who finds romance in an online game. Freeman is currently working with Fullbright as a level designer on the highly anticipated title, Tacoma.
After over 650 submissions, and an evaluation process that involved over 340 judges, the process for selecting winners at this year’s IGF Awards will involve experts whom specialize in the medium that they will be judging (audio, visual, narrative, etc…) with 6 games to most categories. Some titles such as Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, Virginia, Hyper Light Drifter, Quadrilateral Cowboy, Event[0], and Overcooked have made a number of these categories.
Finalists who go on to win their categories will be able to take home over $50,000 in prizes with the winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, winning an additional $30,000. Be sure to tune into the official GDC Twitch channel where both the Independent Games Festival and Games Developer Conference awards will be livestreamed.
The following are the 7 categories and the finalists for each category. If you would like to view the honorable mentions for each, please take a moment to visit the IGF official website where you can see all the amazing indie games that have left a remarkable impression on the industry this past year.
Best Student Game
- Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
- Lily, Color of Santa Luz
- Un Pas Fragile
- FAR: Lone Sails
- Frog Climbers
- Bamboo heart
Excellence in Visual Arts
- The Flame in the Flood
- Inside
- Virginia
- Old Man’s Journey
- Hyper Light Drifter
- She Remembered Caterpillars
Excellence in Audio
- The Flame in the Flood
- GoNNer
- Virginia
- Hyper Light Drifter
- Everything
- Inside
Excellence in Design
- Imbroglio
- Ultimate Chicken Horse
- Duskers
- Overcooked
- Event [0]
- Quadrilateral Cowboy
Excellence in Narrative
- Ladykiller in a Bind
- 1979 Revolution: Black Friday
- Virginia
- Orwell
- Event[0]
- One Night Stand
Nuovo Awards
- Island: Non-Places
- Close
- Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
- OIΚΟΣPIEL, BOOK I
- Everything
- Virginia
- Mu Cartographer
- Lieve Oma
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Inside
- Stardew Valley
- Quadrilateral Cowboy
- Event[0]
- Hyper Light Drifter
- Overcooked
Let us know which indie games you would like to see win each category in the comments below. Be sure to bookmark IndieObscura.com for our coverage of the awards to stay up to date on all things indie!