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2019 Game Developers Choice/Independent Games Festival Awards Nominees Revealed

by Rainier on Jan. 4, 2019 @ 11:59 a.m. PST

The nominees for the 19th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards and the 21st annual Independent Games Festival, have been announced today by organizers.

Winners in all categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony, taking place on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2019 Game Developers Conference (GDC) and held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival Awards (IGF).

Organizers are also announcing that the Game Developers Choice Awards will be hosted once again by Tim Schafer, LucasArts industry veteran and founder of Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts 2). Both GDCA and IGF Awards are available to attend for all GDC 2019 pass-holders, as well as streamed via http://twitch.tv/gdc & other to-be-announced streaming platforms.

The developer-picked GDCA nominations are led by Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 with a total of 7 nominations, followed closely by Sony Santa Monica’s God of War and Insomniac Games’ Marvel's Spider-Man with a total of 6 nominations each. Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2, the sprawling adventure set in a richly detailed open world at the dusk of the Wild West era, received nominations for Best Audio, Best Design, Innovation Award, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year.

Sony Santa Monica’s God of War, the epic new chapter of the influential action series that features stunning battles with gods and an involving tale of a father’s struggles guiding his son through an unforgiving world, was nominated for Best Audio, Best Design, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year. Marvel's Spider-Man, the acclaimed action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games starring the beloved comic book character, was also nominated for Best Audio, Best Design, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year.

Other titles receiving multiple nominations include the rewardingly challenging platformer, Celeste from Matt Makes Games, the innovative puzzle whodunnit game Return of the Obra Dinn from Lucas Pope’s 3909, the deeply immersive take on a classic puzzle game, Tetris Effect from Monstars, Resonair & Enhance, and the emotional tale of life and love, Florence from Mountains.

Any video game that was released and made publicly available during the 2018 calendar year, irrespective of platform or delivery medium, is eligible for free nomination for the 2019 Game Developers Choice Awards. Both nominees and winners are selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.

The complete list of nominees, including honorable mentions, for the 19th annual Game Developers Choice Awards is as follows:

BEST AUDIO

  • Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)

Honorable Mentions: Beat Saber (Beat Games), Wandersong (Greg Lobanov / Humble Bundle), Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909), Battlefield V (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios  / Microsoft Studios)

BEST DEBUT

  • Polyarc (Moss)
  • Mountains (Florence)
  • Nomada Studio (Gris)
  • Villa Gorilla (Yoku's Island Express)
  • Sabotage (The Messenger)

Honorable Mentions: Beat Games (Beat Saber), Digital Sun (Moonlighter), Two Point Studios (Two Point Hospital), Okomotive (Far: Lone Sails)

BEST DESIGN

  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
  • Into the Breach (Subset Games)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions: Frostpunk (11 bit studios), Minit (Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio & Dominik Johann / Devolver Digital), Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909), Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

BEST MOBILE GAME

  • Alto's Odyssey (Snowman)
  • Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
  • Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Devolver Digital)
  • Holedown (Grapefrukt Games)
  • Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)

Honorable Mentions: Furistas Cat Cafe (Runaway), The Room: Old Sins (Fireproof Studios), Pocket Run Pool (Zach Gage), Alphabear 2 (Spry Fox), Twinfold (Kenny Sun)

INNOVATION AWARD

  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
  • Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
  • Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)

Honorable Mentions: Minit (Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio & Dominik Johann / Devolver Digital), Celeste (Matt Makes Games), God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Moss (Polyarc), A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

BEST NARRATIVE

  • Florence (Mountains/Annapurna Interactive)
  • God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Honorable Mentions: Assassin's Creed Odyssey  (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft), Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Celeste (Matt Makes Games), Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (Dim Bulb Games and Serenity Forge / Good Shepherd Entertainment)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey  (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
  • Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
  • God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Honorable Mentions: Sea of Thieves (Rare / Microsoft Studios), Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft), Battlefield V (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)

BEST VISUAL ART

  • Gris (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital)
  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Honorable Mentions: Battlefield V (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance), Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / Bandai Namco Entertainment),  Assassin's Creed Odyssey  (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft), Below (Capybara Games)

BEST VR/AR GAME

  • Budget Cuts (Neat Corporation)
  • Beat Saber (Beat Games)
  • Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)
  • Moss (Polyarc)
  • Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions: Jurassic World Alive (Ludia), In Death (Sólfar Studios), Tendar (Tender Claws), Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Deracine (FromSoftware / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
  • God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions: Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance), Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Bandai Namco Studios & Sora / Nintendo), Into the Breach (Subset Games), Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft), Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive), Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

The Game Developers Choice Awards also recognize two individuals this year with annual Special Awards categories: Pioneer and Lifetime Achievement. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to esteemed writer and director, Amy Hennig, who has had a multifaceted career in game development, starting with development on the Atari 7800 and including roles as creative director and writer of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted game series. The recipient of the Pioneer Award will be announced in the near future.

The IGF Awards will take place March 20th, 2019 at 6.30pm PT during the Game Developers Conference 2019, and will be hosted by Meg Jayanth, the award-winning writer of 80 Days, the acclaimed globetrotting interactive storytelling game and former IGF Award winner for Excellence in Narrative.

After an initial screening process overseen by more than 300 judges, over 500 entries for the 2019 IGF Awards were distributed to a diverse set of expert jurors from across the industry for final consideration. The juries for each individual category then selected the IGF finalists after playing, discussing and meticulously evaluating them.

Among the esteemed award nominees are a few that have received nominations in multiple categories, including most-nominated title Return of the Obra Dinn, the innovative and uniquely stylized murder mystery from Lucas Pope, creator of 2013’s acclaimed Papers, Please. Through the monochromatic perspective of an unnamed insurance adjuster from the East India Company, Return of the Obra Dinn has players investigating the deaths of a crew of sailors aboard a ghost ship, the Obra Dinn. The title has earned nominations for Excellence in Audio, Design, Visual Art, Narrative and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Other titles receiving multiple nominations in the 21st annual IGF include Do Not Feed The Monkeys, a unique digital voyeur simulator that calls on players to spy on characters to pry into their lives, as well the narrative-driven horror-tinged adventure game Paratopic, and the endless sandboarding adventure set against a beautiful and ever-changing natural landscape, Alto's Odyssey.

Showcasing the breadth of games submitted this year, other notable multi-award nominees include Noita, the magical action rogue-lite set in a world where every pixel is physically simulated, Mirror Drop, the psychedelic 3D puzzle game where players maneuver a reflective sphere in a world full of mirrors, over-saturated colors and infinities, and the Internet-crawling adventure set in an alternate universe in the year 1999, Hypnospace Outlaw.

The winners of the IGF will be announced at the Independent Games Festival Awards, which takes place the evening of Wednesday, March 20th 2019 at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. The IGF Awards will immediately precede the Game Developers Choice Awards, which recognizes the best games of the year across all sections of video game development.

IGF Award winners will receive more than $50,000 of prizes in various categories, including the $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Both the IGF Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremonies are available to attend for all GDC 2019 pass-holders, and will be livestreamed online once again via http://twitch.tv/gdc & other to-be-announced streaming outlets.

The full list of finalists for each category of the 2019 Independent Games Festival, along with "honorable mentions," is as follows:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Honorable Mentions: Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit); Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment); Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley); Moss (Polyarc); Unavowed (Wadjet Eye Games); Iconoclasts (Joakim Sandberg); Virtual Virtual Reality (Tender Claws); Beat Saber (Beat Games)

Excellence in Visual Art

Honorable Mentions: Beat Saber (Beat Games); Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit); Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment); Moss (Polyarc); Iconoclasts (Joakim Sandberg); Guildlings (Sirvo Studios); Paratopic (Arbitrary Metric)

Excellence in Audio

Honorable Mentions: Creaks (Amanita Design); Holedown (grapefrukt games); Pikuniku (Sectordub); The Messenger (Sabotage); Distance (Refract Studios); Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit); Wattam (Funomena)

Excellence in Design

Honorable Mentions: Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment); Carto (Sunhead Games); Black Room (Cassie McQuater); JUMPGRID (Ian MacLarty); Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley); Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran); Beat Saber (Beat Games)

Excellence in Narrative

Honorable Mentions: Do Not Feed The Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios); The Hex (Daniel Mullins Games): Speed Dating for Ghosts (Copychaser Games); after HOURS (Bahiyya Khan, Claire Meekel, Tim Flusk, Abi Meekel); Fortune-499 (AP Thomson); Marie's Room (like Charlie); Tango: The Adventure Game (Gualicho Games)

Nuovo Award

Honorable Mentions: All Our Asias (Sean Han Tani); Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran); Cyberpet Graveyard (alienmelon); levedad (solimporta); Subserial Network (Aether Interactive); macdows 95 (gamebra.in); The Norwood Suite (Cosmo D); Nerve Damage (Dennis Carr)

Best Student Game

Honorable Mentions: We Should Talk (HeartBeetStudio); Coffin Rot Brewing Co. (Rosser-McGraw Studio); Fling to the Finish (SplitSide Games); Indecision. (Bilge Kaan); Seasons (David Su and Dominique Star); supertype (Philipp Stollenmayer); Atlas' Fate: Between Light and Darkness (Baby Robot Games); Marbloid (Supyrb)

Alongside the IGF awards, the alt.ctrl.GDC award will also be announced during the IGF ceremony on March 20, 2019. This award will honor the most engaging, intriguing, and well-executed game using unconventional, accessible or alternative physical controls, with a prize of $3,000 given out to the winning game, and all alt.ctrl.GDC honorees playable on the GDC show floor from March 20th to 22nd.

Also located on the Expo Floor of the Game Developers Conference from March 20th to 22nd, the Independent Games Festival Pavilion will give attendees the chance to play the nominated titles and meet the game creators. Finally, along with the IGF Pavilion, developers can also take part in the Independent Games Summit (March 18th-19th), which highlights the best and brightest of indie development, featuring valuable discussions and networking opportunities. The Game Developers Conference takes place Monday, March 18th to Friday, March 22th, 2019 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

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