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2017 Independent Game Festival finalists revealed

Wok

Member
via IGF website

Debuting in 1999, the Independent Games Festival has highlighted the hard work and artistic craft of some of the most celebrated independent games in history, including ground-breaking titles like Papers, Please, Braid, World of Goo, Her Story and Minecraft among many others.

After an initial round of judging by over 340 evaluators, the more than 650 entries for the 2017 IGF Awards were distributed to a group of experts from across the industry for final consideration. These expert juries specializing in distinct disciplines for each category have selected the IGF finalists after playing, discussing and rigorously evaluating them.

Among the diverse selection of 30 different titles, a few games have received award nominations in multiple categories, including Virginia, developer Variable State's first-person thriller propelled by a thought-provoking and mysterious narrative, which has received a total of four nominations (Best Audio, Excellence in Narrative, Excellence in Visual Arts and The Nuovo Award for innovation).

Three other titles are being recognized for their excellence with three nominations apiece, they include Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine, an intense and highly-stylized action adventure RPG that harkens back to classic 16-bit adventures. Inside by developer Playdead, is their much-anticipated follow-up to 2010's Limbo and follows a boy as he finds himself drawn into the center of a secretive and darkly haunting project. Event[0] by Ocelot Society is a sci-fi narrative exploration game in which players must interact with an elaborate onboard AI to communicate and negotiate their way back home.

Click the link to read the rest of the story.

Here are the nominees:

Best Student Game
  • Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor (Sundae Month)
  • Lily, Colors of Santa Luz (Lily, Colors of Santa Luz Team)
  • Un Pas Fragile (PAF team)
  • FAR: Lone Sails (Mr. Whale's Game Service / Mixtvision)
  • Frog Climbers (TeamCrew)
  • Bamboo Heart (Sokpop Collective)
Honorable Mentions: Awkward Dimensions Redux (StevenHarmonGames); DYO (Team DYO); Code 7 - Episode 0: Allocation (Goodwolf Studio); You Must be 18 or Older to Enter (Seemingly Pointless)

Best Audio
  • The Flame in the Flood (The Molasses Flood)
  • GoNNER (Art in Heart)
  • Virginia (Variable State)
  • Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
  • Everything (David OReilly)
  • Inside (Playdead)
Honorable Mentions: 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (iNK Stories); Kingdom: New Lands (Noio); Dropsy (Tendershoot, A Jolly Corpse); Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor (Sundae Month); Sentris (Timbre Interactive); TumbleSeed (TumbleSeed Team)

Excellence in Design
  • Imbroglio (Michael Brough)
  • Ultimate Chicken Horse (Clever Endeavour Games)
  • Duskers (Misfits Attic)
  • Overcooked (Ghost Town Games)
  • Event[0] (Ocelot Society)
  • Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)
Honorable Mentions: She Remembered Caterpillars (jumpsuit entertainment);Elsinore (Golden Glitch Studios); Inside (Playdead); Antihero (Tim Conkling); Replica (Somi); Space Pirate Trainer (I-Illusions)

Excellence in Narrative
  • Ladykiller in a Bind (Love Conquers All Games)
  • 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (iNK Stories)
  • Virginia (Variable State)
  • Orwell (Osmotic Studios )
  • Event[0] (Ocelot Society)
  • One Night Stand (Kinmoku)
Honorable Mentions: A Normal Lost Phone (Accidental Queens); The Lion's Song (Mi'pu'mi Games); Far from Noise (George Batchelor); Inside (Playdead); Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe); Burly Men at Sea (Brain&Brain); Sorcery! 4 (inkle / Steve Jackson)

Excellence in Visual Art
  • The Flame in the Flood (The Molasses Flood)
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Virginia (Variable State)
  • Old Man's Journey (Broken Rules)
  • Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
  • She Remembered Caterpillars (jumpsuit entertainment)
Honorable Mentions: Inks (State of Play); Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall); Mu Cartographer (Titouan Millet); Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play ); Sundered (Thunder Lotus Games); Un Pas Fragile (PAF team)

Nuovo Award
  • Islands: Non-Places (Carlburton LLC)
  • Close (Tobias Zarges and Moritz Eberl)
  • Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor (Sundae Month)
  • Oiκοςpiel, Book I (David Kanaga)
  • Everything (David OReilly)
  • Virginia (Variable State)
  • Mu Cartographer (Titouan Millet)
  • Lieve Oma (Florian Veltman)
Honorable Mentions: Memoir En Code: Reissue (Alex Camilleri); Far from Noise (George Batchelor); Ladykiller in a Bind (Love Conquers All Games); Witchball (S.L.Clark); Project Perfect Citizen (Bad Cop Studios); Wheels of Aurelia (Santa Ragione); Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe)
  • Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)
  • Event[0] (Ocelot Society)
  • Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
  • Overcooked (Ghost Town Games)
Honorable Mentions: 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (iNK Stories); Orwell (Osmotic Studios); Imbroglio (Michael Brough); Virginia (Variable State); Duskers (Misfits Attic); Oiκοςpiel, Book I (David Kanaga)

The IGF 2017 winners will be announced on stage at the Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 1st, 2017 at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center.
 
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