Overwatch’s carefully calibrated balance and polished gameplay mechanics also earned the game the award for Best Design.
Developer Playdead’s beautifully macabre and engrossing platformer, Inside, also earned two awards in total, for Best Audio and Best Visual Art. The awards reflect the strong artistry of the title, which depicts a dark conspiracy using a stark visual motif with foreboding lighting and haunting animation. Developer Campo Santo’s compelling first-person adventure game, Firewatch, was the final double award-winner of the night, earning the team the awards for Best Debut and Best Narrative. The game, which features the voice talent of Mad Men’s Rich Sommer, portrays a deeply engrossing tale that enwraps the player in a branching script filled with mystery, suspense, humor and longing.
The full slate of winners at tonight’s ceremony also includes the augmented reality (AR) game Pokemon Go by Niantic, which became a worldwide sensation and earned the award for Best Mobile/Handheld Game. The massively ambitious, procedurally-generated universe of No Man’s Sky earned developer Hello Games the Innovation Award, while the grandiose production and graphics in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End earned that title the award for Best Technology. The charmingly off-kilter virtual reality (VR) game, Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives, received the award for Best VR/AR Game. The Audience Award is chosen among the entire selection of GDCA finalists using a public online voting process, and was presented to developer EA DICE for Battlefield 1.
The Game Developers Choice Awards honor the very best games of the year, and was created for and voted on by developers. Winners are selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only group comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.
Every year, the Game Developers Choice Awards also recognize developers who have made significant contributions to the art, science and craft of video games with three special awards. This year, the Pioneer Award was given to Jordan Mechner, the game designer, programmer and screenwriter best known for creating the landmark series, Prince of Persia.
The Ambassador Award, which recognizes those whose actions have helped video games to “advance to a better place,” went to Mark DeLoura, for dedicating his life to the education and the productive use of technology within academia, the media and videogames, holding roles that include Senior Advisor for Digital Media during the Obama administration.
The Lifetime Achievement award was given to Tim Sweeney, the founder of Epic Games, and the creator of seminal game/creation tool ZZT and the influential Unreal Engine. Following the 1998 PC game Unreal, which Sweeney co-created, the game's engine became the underpinning for a slew of acclaimed games, including Epic's own Gears of War and Unreal franchises, as well as the BioShock series, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, and the Batman: Arkham series of games.
“This year’s amazing slate of winners is a testament to the diversity of experiences in games. Pokemon Go took gaming outdoors using AR, while Job Simulator showed how lo-fi aesthetics could meet cutting edge tech for a winning VR experience. Overwatch once again proved Blizzard’s uncanny ability to make a perfectly balanced multiplayer game, and Inside delved deep into our dark psyches to unearth our scariest nightmares,” said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference. “These nominees speak to the strength of games as a medium, but also show the various textures and possible creative outlets that interactive entertainment can provide. Congrats to all of the winners and nominees for following their visions and thanks to all developers who strive to make amazing games for us day in and day out.”
The Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:
- Best Audio: Inside (Playdead)
- Best Debut: Campo Santo (Firewatch)
- Best Design: Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Pokemon Go (Niantic)
- Innovation Award: No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Best Narrative: Firewatch (Campo Santo)
- Best Technology: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog)
- Best Visual Art: Inside (Playdead)
- Best VR/AR Game: Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives (Owlchemy Labs)
- Audience Award: Battlefield 1 (EA DICE)
- Game of the Year: Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Pioneer Award: Jordan Mechner
- Ambassador Award: Mark DeLoura
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Tim Sweeney
Quadrilateral Cowboy from developer Blendo Games was awarded with the $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game at the 19th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards tonight. The ceremony took place as part of the 2017 Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. In addition to the grand prize, Quadrilateral Cowboy also took home the award for Excellence in Design. Quadrilateral Cowboy is a title set in a retro-tech world of 1980s computer coding and features a series of cyberpunk heist missions with a unique blend of puzzles, computer hacking and a captivating narrative.
The night’s other multiple award winner was Hyper Light Drifter, an action adventure role-playing game that pays tribute to classic titles from the 16bit era. Developer Heart Machine received two awards in recognition of their debut title, Excellence in Visual Art and the Audience Award, which is chosen from among all of the IGF finalists through a public online voting process.
Honored for Excellence in Narrative, Ladykiller in a Bind from Love Conquers All Games, is a provocative visual novel about social manipulation, crossdressing, and exploring sexual power dynamics. GoNNER, a challenging action platformer with roguelike elements from developer Art in Heart, won the Excellence in Audio Award for its creative sound design and catchy music. The Best Student Game award was given to Un Pas Fragile, which portrays the story of a little frog who aspires to perform ballet.
The Nuovo Award, which recognizes the artistry behind abstract and unconventional games, was awarded to creator David Kanaga for his game, Oiκοςpiel, Book I. The game playfully utilizes absurd imagery, language and music to create a unique vision of a mythologically-inspired dog opera told in five acts.
All IGF titles, including both finalists and winners, are playable for any GDC pass holder and can be found within the IGF Pavilion located on the GDC Expo Floor in San Francisco's Moscone Center through Friday, March 3rd.
The following games are the winners of the 19th annual IGF Awards:
- Excellence in Narrative ($3,000): Ladykiller in a Bind (Love Conquers All Games)
- Excellence in Audio ($3,000): GoNNER (Art in Heart)
- Excellence in Design ($3,000): Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)
- Excellence in Visual Art ($3,000): Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- Nuovo Award ($5,000): Oiκοςpiel, Book I (David Kanaga)
- Best Student Game ($3,000): Un Pas Fragile (Géraud de Courrèges, Alisée Preud'homme, Gregory Parisi, Gaspard Morel)
- Audience Award ($3,000): Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- alt.ctrl.GDC Award: Fear Sphere (New Arcade)
- Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30,000): Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)