2015 marked a big year for those invested in the world of independent game development with some of the year's most acclaimed titles coming from the indie realm, and this year's nominations for the Independent Games Festival 2016 includes most of the year's most acclaimed indie titles.
The IGF 2016 Awards revealed their nominations for the year's best indie games ahead of the festival's March 16th presentation date, with the award nominations including several of 2015's most acclaimed indie titles such as Her Story, Undertale, Cibele, Darkest Dungeon, The Beginner's Guide, and numerous others.
The IGF 2016 Awards received more than 750 entries for nominations from a panel of over 400 judges for the show's 18th annual awards, with winners across all the categories to receive prizes in total of over $50,000, with a $30,000 prize being given to the winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the top honor of the night.
The IGF 2016 awards ceremony will be hosted during the upcoming GDC conference in San Francisco on March 16th, 2016, hosted by Capybara Games' Nathan Vella and being streamed live through Twitch on the night of the awards. The full list of nominees are available to view below:
EXCELLENCE IN VISUAL ART
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
Gnog (KO_OP)
Armello (League of Geeks)
Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios Inc.)
Honorable Mentions: Forkride Grilltime Sloth (Black Pants Game Studio [Sebastian Stamm]);
Epistory - Typing Chronicles (Fishing Cactus);
Kingdom (noio & Licorice);
Alto's Adventure (Snowman);
Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play);
Astroneer (System Era Softworks)
EXCELLENCE IN NARRATIVE
The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
Black Closet (Hanako Games)
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
The Magic Circle (Question)
Honorable Mentions: Oxenfree (Night School Studio);
Orion Trail (Schell Games);
Cibele(Star Maid Games);
Contradiction (Tim Follin / Baggy Cat Ltd);
The Writer Will Do Something (Tom Bissell and Matthew S. Burns)
EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Kingdom (noio & Licorice)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Superhot (SUPERHOT)
Infinifactory (Zachtronics)
Honorable Mentions: Gang Beasts (Boneloaf);
Imbroglio (Michael Brough);
Duskers(Misfits Attic);
Chaos Reborn (Snapshot Games);
TIS-100 (Zachtronics);
Soft Body (Zeke Virant)
EXCELLENCE IN AUDIO
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios Inc.)
Lumini (Speelbaars)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Honorable Mentions: Heart Forth, Alicia (Alonso Martin);
The Beginner's Guide(Everything Unlimited Ltd.); Gnog (KO_OP);
Oxenfree (Night School Studio);
Kingdom(noio & Licorice);
Inside My Radio (Seaven Studio)
NUOVO AWARD
The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
Fantastic Contraption (Northway Games & Radial Games)
Orchids To Dusk (Pol Clarissou)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Cibele (Star Maid Games)
Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Progress (Tim Garbos, Martin Kvale and Joel Nyström)
Honorable Mentions: Enough (cabbibo);
Sentree (Glitchnap);
Affordable Space Adventures (KnapNok Games and Nifflas' Games);
Vignettes (Pol Clarissou, Armel Gibson);
Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play);
Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage);
TIS-100(Zachtronics)
BEST STUDENT GAME
Pitfall Planet (Bonfire Games)
Ape Out (Gabe Cuzzillo)
Beglitched (Jenny Jiao Hsia & Alec Thomson)
Circa Infinity (Kenny Sun)
Orchids To Dusk (Pol Clarissou)
Chambara (team ok)
Honorable Mentions: Anarcute (Anarteam);
Gathering Sky (A Stranger Gravity);
Not Everything is Flammable (DAM: David Shiyang Liu, Alex Hu and Mac Lotze);
FAR (Mr. Whale's Game Service);
Sumer (Studio Wumpus);
Bad Blood (Winnie Song)
SEUMAS MCNALLY GRAND PRIZE
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios Inc.)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Superhot (SUPERHOT)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Honorable Mentions: The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.);
Panoramical(Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga);
Affordable Space Adventures (KnapNok Games and Nifflas' Games);
Twelve Minutes (Luis Antonio);
Oxenfree (Night School Studio);
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games);
Cibele (Star Maid Games);
Soft Body (Zeke Virant)
