Originally scheduled to take place during the now-postponed GDC, the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony was reformatted as a virtual livestream to recognize the best and brightest games released in the last year.
Australian developer House House’s Untitled Goose Game has earned oodles of accolades and loving internet tributes for its charming portrayal of a playfully malevolent goose on the loose. Tonight, the team added the Game of the Year award to the list of goodies taken by the titular goose, alongside a stolen radio, broom and gardener’s hat. Untitled Goose Game won the hearts of game critics and fans alike with its colorful game design which incorporated elements of puzzle-solving, creative thinking and stealth gameplay.
The other big winners of the night include Remedy Entertainment’s ambitious action-adventure shooter, Control, which won the awards for Best Technology, Best Audio and Best Visual Art. The game expertly incorporates non-linear game progression and solid third-person shooter mechanics with a unique story of supernatural powers, dark conspiracies and transforming brutalist architecture. The narrative-driven role-playing game, Disco Elysium, won the awards for Best Narrative and Best Debut for developer ZA/UM. The game incorporates elaborate dialogue-based gameplay mechanics that manage to balance a carefully crafted story with full player agency over dialogue options and player characteristics.
Elsewhere, developer Hempuli’s imaginative puzzle game, Baba is You, won the Innovation Award and the award for Best Design. Baba is You uses clever word manipulation to let players change the written rulesets of each stage to change the objective to gain the upper hand, with each level representing another ingenious take on the underlying premise.
The full slate of winners of the 2020 GDCAs also includes the Best VR/AR Game, ILMxLAB & Oculus Studios’ Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, a VR experience that sees users cross paths (and lightsabers) with the most feared Sith Lord in the galaxy. The winner of Best Mobile Game went to developer Triband’s What the Golf?, the irreverently funny take on the usually staid sport of golf. And the Audience Award went to thatgamecompany’s Sky: Children of the Light, a beautifully artful and emotionally resonant exploration game with unique cooperative multiplayer gameplay.
The Game Developers Choice Awards honor the very best games of the year, and was created for and voted on by developers. Winners in all categories except the Audience Award and Special Awards 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.
In addition to the best games of the last year, the GDCAs also honor the dedicated individuals who have helped further the art, science and craft of video games with special awards. This year’s Ambassador Award, which honors those who help video games advance to a better place through advocacy and action, went to Kate Edwards, former head of the International Game Developers Association and current Global Game Jam executive director. Kate is particularly known for evangelizing the game community worldwide - both via speaking and mentoring at a multitude of game industry events yearly - and helping new and diverse initiatives across the entire worldwide community.
The Pioneer Award, which recognizes breakthrough tech and game design milestones, went to the trailblazing storyteller and game creator Roberta Williams, for her influential work in the graphical adventure game genre with titles like Mystery House, for creating the landmark King’s Quest game series and for co-founding Sierra On-Line with her husband Ken Williams.
“We are so happy to continue to honor the creative work of the finest game designers in the world by hosting the Game Developers Choice Awards online this year,” said Katie Stern, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference. “Games can help us connect, they can inspire us to create, and sometimes they help us to escape. There is perhaps no better time for us to appreciate what games mean to us than in trying times like these.”
“Games like Untitled Goose Game and Baba is You are unbridled in their joyful approach to play, while others like Control and Disco Elysium can offer compelling narrative experiences to delve into. We thank and honor the winners, nominees and all creators for their part in creating some of the best entertainment the world has to offer.”
The Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:
- Best Audio: Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
- Best Debut: ZA/UM (Disco Elysium)
- Best Design: Baba is You (Hempuli)
- Best Mobile Game: What the Golf? (Triband/The Label Limited)
- Innovation Award: Baba is You (Hempuli)
- Best Narrative: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
- Best Technology: Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
- Best Visual Art: Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
- Best VR/AR Game: Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (ILMxLAB & Oculus Studios/Disney)
- Audience Award: Sky: Children of the Light (thatgamecompany)
- Game of the Year: Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)
- Pioneer Award: Roberta Williams
- Ambassador Award: Kate Edwards
Adam Robinson-Yu’s A Short Hike won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game at the 22nd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards tonight. Originally scheduled to take place during the now-postponed Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, the IGF Awards ceremony was reformatted as a virtual livestream to recognize some of the most innovative and excellent independent games of the past year.
In addition to the Grand Prize, A Short Hike also won the community-driven Audience Award, which is chosen by fans through a public voting process. A Short Hike uses a colorfully retro graphical style to present a vibrant exploration game that has players traversing the wilds of Hawk Peak Provincial Park, discovering hidden treasures, friendly hikers and the outside world in the process.
The full slate of 2020 IGF Award winners feature a slew of distinct creations, including the Excellence in Audio award winner, Die Gute Fabrik’s Mutazione, the “mutant soap opera” adventure game that delves into themes of community and personal connection amidst a curious land of lovable mutated creatures. Inkle Studio’s Heaven’s Vault, the winner for Excellence in Narrative, is an archaeological science-fiction adventure that lets players uncover history and deeper truths through puzzle-solving and conversations.
The Excellence in Design winner, Patrick’s Parabox by Patrick Traynor, is a game that plays with the presence and absence of space, creating elaborate puzzles out of recursion and infinities. The Excellence in Visual Art award went to Knights and Bikes, a colorfully hand-painted coming-of-age adventure by Foam Sword Games.
The Nuovo Award, which honors the title that makes jurors ‘think differently about games as a medium,’ went to developer Christoph Frey for The Space Between, a three act narrative experience using surreal motifs and a distinctly retro aesthetic to tell a story of a budding relationship between an architect named Martin and a woman named Clara. As the two explore the building site of the theatre that Martin is building, the two enter into a space where reality begins to subside and a dreamlike story of human relationships begins to unfold.
Finally, the Best Student Game winner, Goblin Rage’s Bore Dome, is a first-person exploration game that offers players a glimpse into beautiful imperfection.
The winners of the 22nd annual IGF Awards are:
- Excellence in Visual Art ($2,000): Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword)
- Excellence in Audio ($2,000): Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
- Excellence in Design ($2,000): Patrick’s Parabox (Patrick Traynor)
- Excellence in Narrative ($2,000): Heaven’s Vault (Inkle)
- Nuovo Award ($2,000): The Space Between (Christoph Frey)
- Best Student Game ($2,000): Bore Dome (Goblin Rage)
- Audience Award ($2,000): A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)
- Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000): A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)