Finalists Announced for the 2014 Independent Games Festival, Plenty of Indie Games That I Now Need to Play

Games by Christian Mills

Every year, the Independent Games Festival gathers hundreds of indie games to play, judge, and recognize. Not only are they providing gamers the invaluable service of finding the hidden masterpieces that are released every year, but they also bring awareness to the gems that deserve to be played.

This year the over 650 entrants were distributed to 375 judges to be evaluated for each category like Excellence in Visual Art, Narrative, or Design. 650 is far more entries than they have had in years past, showing the obvious growth of the “indie gaming market” in recent years.

The winners will be announced on March 19th at the Game Developers Conference 2014, where the winners of each category will receive prize moneys (up to $30k for the grand prize), an immense amount of recognition, and even a deal with Valve for Steam distribution (if they wish). The Steam distribution deal may end up being the most valuable prize as many indie games released on Steam have already seen great success, like The Stanley Parable.

I am rather surprised by the number of finalist games that I have already played. I greatly enjoyed The Yawhg, The Stanley Parable, and Kerbal Space Program, so I will be quick to pick up and play the other finalists. The full list of the finalists is below. Which games are you hoping will win?

 

Excellence In Visual Art

DEVICE 6 (Simogo)

Gorogoa (Jason Roberts)

The Banner Saga (Stoic)

Perfect Stride (Arcane Kids)

Samorost3 (Amanita Design)

Drei (Etter)

Honorable mentions: Shelter (Might & Delight); Galak-Z (17-BIT); The Swapper(Facepalm Games); The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll); Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)

 

Excellence In Narrative

The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)

Paralect (Paralect Team)

DEVICE 6 (Simogo)

Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)

The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Honorable mentions: Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games); Gorogoa (Jason Roberts); Redshirt (The Tiniest Shark); Detective Grimoire (SFB Games); Monster Loves You (Radial Games Corp. & Dejobaan Games, LLC.)

 

Excellence In Design

TowerFall Ascension (Matt Thorson)

868-HACK (Michael Brough)

Mushroom 11 (Untame)

Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)

Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Honorable mentions: The Banner Saga (Stoic); Perfect Stride (Arcane Kids); Threes(Asher Vollmer, Greg Wohlwend & Jimmy Hinson); DEVICE 6 (Simogo); Gorogoa(Jason Roberts)

 

Excellence In Audio

Samorost3 (Amanita Design)

Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)

The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

DEVICE 6 (Simogo)

The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)

Honorable mentions: Sokobond (Alan Hazelden, Harry Lee & Ryan Roth); The Banner Saga (Stoic); Potatoman Seeks the Troof (Pixeljam); Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games);Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)

 

Nuovo Award

Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)

Luxuria Superbia (Tale of Tales)

Extrasolar (Lazy 8 Studios)

Perfect Woman (Peter Lu and Lea Schonfelder)

SoundSelf (Robin Arnott)

Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Save the Date (Paper Dino Software)

Corrypt (Michael Brough)

Honorable mentions: Shelter (Might & Delight); DEVICE 6 (Simogo); Elegy for a Dead World (Dejobaan Games with Popcannibal); SUPERHOT (SUPERHOT Team); 18 Cadence (Aaron A. Reed)

 

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)

Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games)

Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

DEVICE 6 (Simogo)

Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)

Honorable mentions: Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games); TowerFall Ascension (Matt Thorson); Kerbal Space Program (Squad); 868-HACK (Michael Brough); The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)

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