The 2017 Independent Games Festival finalists are here

It’s been a strong year

This is going to be an especially hard year to name winners at the Independent Games Festival.

The list of finalists is out, and even just looking at the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, I feel like we’re being to asked to name our favorite child in a family full of angels. Like, how do you choose between Inside, Stardew Valley, Quadrilateral Cowboy, Event[0], Hyper Light Drifter, and Overcooked? Tough call.

The IGF awards ceremony isn’t too far off. As always, it’ll precede the Game Developers Choice Awards, and this year it’s set for the evening of March 1, hosted by Nina Freeman of Fullbright and Cibele.

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)

2017 Independent Games Festival announces Main Competition finalists! [IGF]