Finalists for 19th IGF awards are announced

The finalists for the 19th Independent Games Festival (IGF) have been revealed, ahead of the ceremony hosted by game designer Nina Freeman — designer of the 2016 IGF Nuovo Award-winning Cibele — taking place on March 1 2017.

Four games are making a big splash with three nominations apiece, Hyper Light Drifter, Virginia, Inside and Event[0].

The IGF awards focus on the indie end of the gaming industry, but immediately precede the Game Developers Choice awards. Both of these awards ceremonies will be hosted on GDC’s official Twitch channel.

The full nominations list is below, including honourable mentions.

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)

Excellence in 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)
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)