Independent Games Festival award winners: some categories not won by Minecraft
The IGF awards ceremony took place last night at GDC, recognising the best new and forthcoming indie games. Minecraft was the obvious favourite to win the overall prize, which it did, but it wasn't the clean sweep some expected. The Technical Excellence category was instead won by first-person horror Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Design went to low-fi 2D Rogue-like game Desktop Dungeons.
Here's the full list of winners and nominees, along with where you can play them or at least see them played.
Student Showcase Award
Winner - FRACT
Nominees:
- e7
- GLiD
- OctoDad
- PaperPlane
- Solace
- Tiny and Big
- Toys
Technical Excellence
Winner - Amnesia: The Dark Descent
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Nominees:
- Confetti Carnival
- Miegakure
- Minecraft
- Neverdaunt:8Bit
Excellence In Design
Winner - Desktop Dungeons
Nominees:
- Faraway
- Minecraft
- Nidhogg
- Super Crate Box
Best Mobile Game
Winner - Helsing's Fire
Nominees:
- Colorbind
- Halcyon
- Shot Shot Shoot
- Solipskier
Excellence In Visual Art
Winner - Bit.Trip Runner
Nominees:
- Bastion
- Cave Story (2010 Edition)
- The Dream Machine
- Hohokum
Excellence In Audio
Winner - Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Nominees:
- Bastion
- Bit.Trip Beat
- Cobalt
- Retro City Rampage
Audience Award
Winner - Minecraft
Minecraft Classic (free-to play) | Site | 10 incredible Minecraft creations
Direct2Drive Vision Award
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Nominees:
- Flotilla
- Confetti Carnival
- Hazard: The Journey of Life
- NightSky
Nuovo Award
Winner - Nidhogg
Site | Trailer | PC Gamer UK Indie Special podcast - in which Tom and Graham discuss their Nidhogg duels.
Nominees:
- Bohm
- Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now (B.U.T.T.O.N.)
- The Cat and the Coup
- Dinner Date
- Hazard: The Journey Of Life
- A House in California
- Loop Raccord
Seamus McNally Grand Prize
Winner - Minecraft
Minecraft Classic (free-to play) | Site | 10 incredible Minecraft creations
Runners up:
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Desktop Dungeons
- Nidhogg
- SpyParty
[thanks TIGsource ]
Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.