Develop Awards 2015: The finalists revealed

The finalists for the 2015 Develop Industry Excellence Awards have been selected, with close to 140 companies competing for glory at this year’s event.

2015 has been one of the strongest years for submissions, with more than 250 companies nominated, but sadly not everyone can make the shortlist.

There are 137 companies among this year’s finalists, encompassing tools providers, technology and services firms, outsourcers, and specialists in audio, VFX, QA and recruitment – not to mention 71 games studios.

The finalists hail from all over the UK and Europe, with representatives of countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Italy and more in the mix.

The developer with the most nominations this year is Britain’s own Creative Assembly, with three nominations for the seminal Alien: Isolation and a nod for the firm itself in the In-House Studio category.

The Alien studio is followed closely by the Ubisoft-owned Reflections, which racks up three nominations – two of which were for its experimental title turned PC hit Grow Home. Evolution Studios also stands with three nominations, including two for PS4 racer Driveclub.

Overall, publisher Ubisoft leads with the most nominations thanks to three for Reflections, two for Ubisoft Montpellier’s acclaimed Valiant Hearts: The Great War and one for the new Climax-developed Assassin’s Creed Chronicles.

Close behind with five places in the shortlist is Square Enix, thanks to double nominations for Mediatonic’s Heavenstrike Rivals and Dontnod’s episodic series Life Is Strange, plus a slot in the Publishing Hero category.

The Develop Awards have been revamped this year, split into three categories: Creativity, Tech & Services and Studio. Due to the flood of nominations this year, new and updated categories make up for a total of 20 awards.

New prizes this year include: Technology Provider, for firms that offer hardware and technological support to developers; two New Games IP awards, one for PC/console and one for mobile; and two Creative Outsourcer awards, one for audio and the other for both visual contributions and outsourced development work.

Following the popularity of last year’s new categories, there are separate awards for QA and Localisation, Design and Creativity Tools, and Production Tools.

The winners will be announced during this year’s Develop Awards ceremony at the Brighton Hilton Metropole on Wednesday, July 15th. The winner of this year’s special awards, such as Development Legend, will be revealed closer to the time.

To book your ticket, contact Kathryn Humphrey via khumphrey@nbmedia.com or call her on 01992 535646.

For more information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Charlotte Nangle via cnangle@nbmedia.com or call her on 01992 515303.

Current Develop Awards supporters include Gold Partners UKIE, Amiqus and Unity, Table Gift Partner OPM, Drinks Reception Partner Keywords Studios and Event Partners Green Man Loaded and Develop: Brighton. Unity is also partner for the Micro Studio Award, while IconicFuture is partner for the Use of a Licence or IP Award.

Develop Awards 2015: The Finalists

CREATIVITY

New Games IP – PC/console

• Block N Load – Jagex Games Studio
• Cities: Skylines – Colossal Order
• Dying Light – Techland
• Grow Home – Reflections, a Ubisoft Studio
• I Am Bread – Bossa Studios
• Life is Strange – Dontnod Entertainment
• The Escapists – Mouldy Toof Studios
• TerraTech – Payload Studios

New Games IP – Mobile

• Plunder Pirates – Midoki
• Boom Beach – Supercell
• Best Fiends – Seriously
• Heavenstrike Rivals – Mediatonic/Square Enix
• Playworld Superheroes – Starship
• World of Warriors – Candylabs, a Mind Candy studio
• Size Does Matter – DOS Studios
• King of Thieves – ZeptoLab UK

Use of a Licence or IP

• Alien: Isolation – Creative Assembly
• Angry Birds Transformers – Exient
• Assassin’s Creed Chronicles – Climax Studios
• Disney Infinity 2.0: Guardians of the Galaxy playset– Studio Gobo
• Forza Horizon 2 – Playground Games
• Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions – Lucid Games
• LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham – TT Games
• Talisman: Digital Edition – Nomad Games

Visual Arts

• Alien: Isolation – Creative Assembly
• Beseige – Spiderling Games
• Driveclub – Evolution Studios
• Elite: Dangerous – Frontier Developments
• Grow Home – Reflections, a Ubisoft Studio
• Grand Theft Auto V (PC) – Rockstar North
• Lumino City – State of Play Games
• Shards of War – Bigpoint

Audio Accomplishment

• Alien: Isolation – Creative Assembly
• Angry Birds Epic – Chimera Entertainment
• Elite: Dangerous – Frontier Developments
• Forza Horizon 2 – Playground Games 
• The Sailor’s Dream – Simogo
• Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey – Red Thread Games
• Driveclub – Evolution Studios
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War – Ubisoft Montpellier

UseofNarrative

• 80 Days – Inkle Studios
• Heavenstrike Rivals – Mediatonic/Square Enix
• Life Is Strange – Dontnod Entertainment
• LittleBigPlanet 3 – Sumo Digital
• Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark – Italic Pig
• Soul Axiom – Wales Interactive
• Sunless Sea – Failbetter Games
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War – Ubisoft Montpellier

TECH &SERVICES

Technology Provider

• ARM
• Dimensional Imaging
• Imagination Technologies
• Intel
• Multiplay
• Nvidia
• Oculus VR
• SoftLayer Technologies

Design & Creativity Tool

• Enlighten 3 with Forge – Geomerics
• Granite – Graphine Software
• Havok Cloth – Havok
• SpeedTree for Games – SpeedTree
• Substance Designer 5 – Allegorithmic
• Umbra –Umbra Software
• Wwise – Audiokinetic
• Yebis 3 – Silicon Studio

ProductionTool

• Deadline – Thinkbox Software
• Fabric – Tazman Audio
• GameBench – GameBench
• GameSparks – GameSparks
• Marmalade – Marmalade Technologies
• Perforce – Perforce Software
• Simplygon – Donya Labs
• Shotgun 6 – Shotgun Software/Autodesk

Engine

• ChilliSource – ChilliWorks
• Construct 2 – Scirra
• CryEngine – Crytek
• GameGuru – The Game Creators
• GameMaker – YoYo Games
• PlayCanvas – PlayCanvas
• Unity 5 – Unity Technologies
• Unreal Engine 4 – Epic Games

Services

• Audiomotion
• Carbon Digital
• Cubic Motion
• DeltaDNA
• Pinewood Studios Group
• Player Research
• Soundcuts
• Sperasoft

QA & Localisation

• LocalizeDirect
• Keywords Studios
• OneSky
• Pole To Win
• Testology
• Testronic
• Universally Speaking
• VMC

CreativeOutsourcer–Visual&Development

• Axis – Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns trailer
• BlitWorks – Don’t Stave (PS Vita)
• D3T – Super Stardust Ultra (PS4)
• Just Add Water – Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty
• Realtime UK – Smite trailer
• Speech Graphics – Shadow of Mordor

CreativeOutsourcer–Audio

• 93 Steps – Wargaming trailers
• Christopher Randle – LA Cops
• OMUK – Tropico 5
• SIDE – Alien: Isolation
• Sounding Sweet – Forza Horizon 2
• Stafford Bawler – Monument Valley: Forgotten Shores

Recruiter

• Aardvark Swift
• Amiqus
• Avatar Games
• Creative Personnel
• Datascope
• Guru Careers
• OPM
• SpecialMove

STUDIOS

Publishing Hero

• 505 Games
• Chillingo
• Curve Digital
• Deep Silver
• Greenshoots
• Team17
• SCEE Strategic Content
• Square Enix 

MicroStudio – Presented by Unity

• Christian West 
• Guerilla Tea 
• Lamplight Studios
• Mode7
• Modern Dream
• Mouldy Toof Studios 
• Roll7
• Team Lumo

IndependentStudio

• 8-bit Studio
• Amplitude Studios
• Eight Pixels Square
• Goodgame Studios
• InnoGames
• Lucid Games
• Rebellion
• Space Ape Games

In-HouseStudio

• Candylabs, a Mind Candy studio
• Creative Assembly
• Evolution Studios
• Reflections, a Ubisoft studio
• Rockstar North
• Sega Hardlight
• Sports Interactive
• Ubisoft BlueByte

NewStudio

• Deco Digital
• Freejam
• Payload Studios
• Seriously
• Starship
• Team Junkfish

Have you booked your place yet?

We continue to ensure the Develop Awards is an affordable way to attend a key industry event, honour your peers and network with some of the finest in the global games industry.

Single seat ticket prices are the same as last year, full prices after the early bird remain the same – or even cheaper in the case of the Gold Table deal.

Early bird prices, for those tickets or tables booked on or before Friday, June 12th, are:

• Gold Table of ten: £2,275 + VAT
• Standard Table of ten: £1,975 + VAT
• Single Seats: £199 + VAT

From Friday, June 12th the prices change to: 

• Gold Table of 10: £2,675 + VAT
• Standard Table of 10: £2,375 + VAT
• Single Seats: £239 + VAT

To book your place at the event email khumphrey@nbmedia.com

Contact aboucher@nbmedia.com or cnangle@nbmedia.com to find out about the opportunities available, both at the event and in editorial coverage before, during and after the Awards.