Independent Games Festival Announces 2021 Awards Nominees

While the major AAA titles typically dominate the market, it is nice to spread some love to the smaller game developers who pour just as much effort into their projects. The Independent Games Festival aims to do just that by giving out awards to specially crafted indie games.

The competition has been going on for 23 years, the longest-running festival like this organized by Informa Tech, and has a variety of different categories and special game awards. In total, there were 504 entries submitted into the competition, which has been the smallest number of submissions since 2011. This is most likely due to the COVID-19 effects on the gaming industry.

There are seven different categories that specialize in different aspects of game design, such as audio, narrative, and visual design. Each category awards the winning game $2,000 except for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize Pool, which awards its winner $10,000.

One title, in particular, Genesis Noir, has taken nominations in four different categories, including the Seumas McNally grand prize. Developed by Feral Cat Den, the game is set during the time of the Big Bang. Gamers play as a cosmic being whose goal is to stop the universe from expanding to save the love of their life, and it is already available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Epic Games, and Xbox consoles.

Each category also has a list of honorable mentions that fans can browse through on the company website. The Independent Games Festival has given other independent titles in the past well-deserved recognition, including A Short Hike, Outer Wilds, Her Story, Fez, and Minecraft. The virtual event will take place from July 19 to July 23. Category winners will be announced on July 21 at 4:30 p.m. at the online IGF Awards show.

Here is the full list of Independent Game Festival 2021 Awards nominees:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Paradise Killer developed by Kaizen Game Works
Teardown developed by Tuxedo Labs
Chicory: A Colorful Tale developed by The Chicory Team
Genesis Noir developed by Feral Cat Den
Umurangi Generation developed by Origame Digital
Spiritfarer developed by Thunder Lotus

Excellence in Audio

Say No More! developed by Studio Fizbin
Blind Dive developed by Lo-Fi People
Sunlight developed by Krillbite Studio
Genesis Noir developed by Feral Cat Den
Spiritfarer developed by Thunder Lotus
A Monster's Expedition developed in partnership with Through Puzzling Exhibitions and Draknek & Friends.

The Best Student Game

Vessels developed by Local Space Survey Corps, LLC
Dorfromantik developed by Toukana Interactive
Some Old Stuff developed by Hao Fan, Harry (Weizhong) Chen, Haku (Minyan Cai), and Emi Schaufeld
Rainy Seasons developed by Inasa Fujio
Symphoniz developed by Guillaume Roux, Nicolas Derio, Pierre Vrel, Guillaume Gille, Alexis Grand, Simon Larguier, Martin Lepretre, Corentin Pauvrasseau, Kilian Dufour, Alexandre Mansois, Quentin Vernet, Hicham Benrhannou, and Oliver Esman
Hadr developed by Dominil Konecny of Atelier Duchu

Excellence In Design

Teardown developed by Tuxedo Labs
Disc Room developed by Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Terri Vellmann, and Doseone
Shady Part of Me developed by Douze Dixiemes
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension developed by Draw Me a Pixel
Sign of Sojourner developed by Echodog Games
A Monster's Exhibitions developed in partnership with Through Puzzling Exhibitions and Draknek & Friends