The annual Independent Games Festival is a prestigious peer-reviewed award show for the gaming industry. Nominees for each category of indie games released in 2016 have been announced. Thirty different indie games have been selected, with many receiving nominations in multiple categories.
Virginia tops the list with four nominations, followed by Inside, Hyper Light Drifter, and Event [0] with three nominations each.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Inside
- Stardew Valley
- Quadrilateral Cowboy
- Event[0]
- Hyper Light Drifter
- Overcooked
Nuovo Award
- Islands: Non-Places
- Close
- Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
- Oiκοςpiel, Book I
- Everything
- Virginia
- Mu Cartographer
- Lieve Oma
Excellence in Visual Art
- The Flame in the Flood
- Inside
- Virginia
- Old Man’s Journey
- Hyper Light Drifter
- She Remembered Caterpillars
Excellence in Audio
- The Flame in the Flood
- GoNNER
- Virginia
- Hyper Light Drifter
- Everything
- Inside
Excellence in Design
- Imbroglio
- Ultimate Chicken Horse
- Duskers
- Overcooked
- Event[0]
- Quadrilateral Cowboy
Excellence in Narrative
- Ladykiller in a Bind
- 1979 Revolution: Black Friday
- Virginia
- Orwell
- Event[0]
- One Night Stand
Best Student Game
- Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
- Lily, Colors of Santa Luz
- Un Pas Fragile
- FAR: Lone Sails
- Frog Climbers
- Bamboo Heart
The Independent Games Festival kicks off the annual Game Developer’s Conference, March 1-3, 2017. This year’s awards will be hosted by game designer Nina Freeman, whose game Cibele won the Nuovo Award last year.
Nominees for the IGF are reviewed by hundreds of judges and peers from the gaming industry who specialize in each category. The IGF also includes an Audience Award, where anyone can vote for their favorite title from the list of finalists above. Voting will begin later this month.
