The Independent Games Festival, the scrappier sibling to the Game Developer Conference, has announced the nominees for this year’s Independent Games Festival Awards.
Not surprisingly, House House’s Untitled Goose Game stole the spotlight, earning two total nominations (for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize” and “Excellence In Audio”). However, it was Die Gute Fabrik’s Mutazione that lead the pack. In addition to a nomination for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize,” the mutant soap opera is also in competition for “Excellence In Visual Art,” “Excellence In Audio,” and “Excellence In Narrative.”
Other games in the running for the IGF’s top prize this year are Mega Crit’s Slay the Spire, Adam Robinson-Yu’s A Short Hike, Zachtronics’s Eliza, and Sean Han Tani and Marina Kittaka’s Anodyne 2: Return to Dust.
The winners of the Independent Games Festival Awards will be revealed on Wednesday, March 18, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. League of Geeks’s Trent Kusters will serve as the host of the ceremony, which will be livestreamed for viewers at home on the GDC’s Twitch channel.
The complete list of nominees (and Honorable Mentions) from the 2020 Independent Games Festival Awards can be found after the break.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Eliza (Zachtronics)
- A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)
- Untitled Goose Game (House House)
- Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
- Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games)
- Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (Sean Han Tani + Marina Kittaka)
Honorable Mentions
Katana Zero (Askiisoft), Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries), Song of Bloom (Philipp Stollenmayer), Wide Ocean Big Jacket (Turnfollow), Elsinore (Golden Glitch), Astrologaster (Nyamyam), Heaven’s Vault (inkle)Excellence In Visual Art
- Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
- Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword)
- Void Bastards (Blue Manchu)
- Creature in the Well (Flight School Studio)
- Eastward (Pixpil)
- Stone Story RPG (Martian Rex / standardcombo)
Honorable Mentions
Luna: The Shadow Dust (Lantern Studio), Eastshade (Eastshade Studios), Minute of Islands (Studio Fizbin), Katana Zero (Askiisoft), Song of Bloom (Philipp Stollenmayer), A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu), Creaks (Amanita Design)Excellence In Narrative
- Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
- Heaven’s Vault (inkle)
- Elsinore (Golden Glitch)
- Wide Ocean Big Jacket (Turnfollow)
- Eliza (Zachtronics)
- Lionkiller (Sisi Jiang)
Honorable Mentions
American Election (Greg Buchanan), Night Call (Monkey Moon, BlackMuffin), Astrologaster (Nyamyam), A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu), Adventures With Anxiety! (Nicky Case), Observation (No Code)Excellence In Design
- Katana Zero (Askiisoft)
- Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries)
- Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games)
- A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)
- Elsinore (Golden Glitch)
- Patrick’s Parabox (Patrick Traynor)
Honorable Mentions
Guildlings (Sirvo Studios), Nauticrawl (Andrea Interguglielmi), Blabyrinth (Sleeping Beast Games), Children of Morta (Dead Mage), Void Bastards (Blue Manchu), Untitled Goose Game (House House), Creature in the Well (Flight School Studio)Excellence In Audio
- Observation (No Code)
- Vectronom (Ludopium)
- Astrologaster (Nyamyam)
- Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword)
- Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
- Untitled Goose Game (House House)
Honorable Mentions
Afterparty (Night School Studio), Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to) (Popcannibal), Manifold Garden (William Chyr Studio), Alt-Frequencies (Accidental Queens), Don’t Look (Don’t Look Team), Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries), Tales From Off-Peak City Volume 1 (Cosmo D)Nuovo Award
- Tales From Off-Peak City Volume 1 (Cosmo D)
- Infini (Barnaque)
- The Space Between (Christoph Frey)
- Life Tastes Like Cardboard (Demensa)
- Promesa (Julián Palacios)
- Song of Bloom (Philipp Stollenmayer)
- The Longing (Studio Seufz)
- Pagan: Autogeny (Oleander Garden)
Honorable Mentions
Astrologaster (Nyamyam), Elsinore (Golden Glitch), Fit for a King (Brent Ellison + Tanya X. Short), My Exercise (Atsushi Wada, Ryoya Usuha, Nobuaki Doi), Where the Bees Make Honey (Brian Wilson), Smile For Me (Gabe Lane + Yugo Limbo / LimboLane)Best Student Game
- Orbital Bullet (SmokeStab)
- A Juggler’s Tale (Kaleidoscube)
- Forgotten (Mutiny Games)
- Neon Beats (OKYO Games)
- Bore Dome (Goblin Rage)
- Nothing In Sight (Nothing In Sight Team)
Honorable Mentions
Unhatched (Filip Loster), Du Rejser (You Travel) (Victor Selnæs Breum + Katinka), Trail Mix (Puzzsoft), Where the Bees Make Honey (Brian Wilson), Northbound (Johannes Köberle + Arno Justus), Evergreen Blues (David Su + Dominique Star)
