The Independent Games Festival has revealed their finalists for the 2018 main competition.
In a post to the festival’s main website, IGF revealed their nominees for their 2018 awards ceremony, scheduled for March 21, 2018 during the Game Developer’s conference in San Francisco, California. Of the 35 nominated, several received nominations in multiple categories: Hempuli’s Baba is You received four nominations total, while Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods and Bennett Foddy’s Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy both received three nominations apiece.
The winners will be announced immediately following the GDC Awards in the Moscone Convention Center at 7:00 p.m. PST. Winners will receive up to $50,000 in prizes across the various categories, not least of which being the $30,000 given for the winner of the show’s Seuma McNally Grand Prize.
The alt.crtl.GDC category will also return this year, honoring those who created new or one of a kind gaming peripherals. The finalists will be announced the week of the show, with their peripherals on display for attendees to see.
Those interested can also vote for their favorite title through the Audience Choice Award poll, which will open later this month. A full list of the nominees, as well as the honorable mentions, can be viewed down below.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
- West of Loathing (Asymmetric Publications)
- Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- Heat Signature (Suspicious Developments)
- Baba is You (Hempuli)
Honorable Mentions
- Tacoma (Fullbright)
- Rain World (VIDEOCULT)
- Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (Game Grumps)
- Cosmic Top Secret (klassefilm)
- Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)
- Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
- Everything is Going to Be OK (Nathalie Lawhead)
Excellence in Visual Art
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
- Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
- Echo (Ultra Ultra)
- Luna (Funamena)
- The Gardens Between (The Voxel Agents)
- Chuchel (Amanita Design)
Honorable Mentions
- Jettomero: Hero of the Universe (Ghost Time Games)
- Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
- AER – Memories of Old (Forgotten Key)
- Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games)
- Rain World (VIDEOCULT)
- Shape of the World (Hollow Tree Games)
- Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)
Excellence in Audio
- Tormentor X Punisher (e-studio)
- Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
- Vignettes (Skeleton Business)
- Rain World (VIDEOCULT)
- Uurnog Uurnlimited (Nifflas Games)
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Honorable Mentions
- Tumbleseed (Benedict Fritz, Greg Wohlwend, Joel Corelitz, David Laskey and Jenna Blazevich)
- Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)
- Tacoma (Fullbright)
- Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games)
- Million Onion Hotel (Onion Games)
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
Excellence in Design
- Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- Shenzhen I/O (Zachtronics)
- Wilmot’s Warehouse (Richard Hogg, Ricky Haggett, Eli Rainsberry)
- Baba is You (Hempuli)
- Uurnog Uurnlimited (Nifflas Games)
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
Honorable Mentions
- Heat Signature (Suspicious Developments)
- Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
- Factorio (Wube Software)
- Space Pirate Trainer (I-Illusions)
- Battle Chef Brigade (Trinket Studios)
Excellence in Narrative
- Tacoma (Fullbright)
- Attentat 1942 (Charles University and Czech Academy of Sciences)
- Where The Water Tastes Like Wine (Dim Bulb Games)
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
- Butterfly Soup (Brianna Lei)
- Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games)
Honorable Mentions
- A Mortician’s Tale (Laundry Bear Games)
- Lost Memories Dot Net (Star Maid Games)
- Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (Game Grumps)
- Bury Me, my Love (The Pixel Hunt, Figs and ARTE France)
- Cosmic Top Secret (klassefilm)
- West of Loathing (Asymmetric Publications)
- Rakuen (Laura Shigihara)
Nuovo Award
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
- Tarotica Voo Doo (TPM.CO SOFT WORKS)
- 10 Mississippi (Karina Popp)
- A Mortician’s Tale (Laundry Bear Games)
- Cosmic Top Secret (klassefilm)
- Everything is Going to Be OK (Nathalie Lawhead)
- Baba is You (Hempuli)
- Kids (Playables)
Honorable Mentions
- Where The Water Tastes Like Wine (Dim Bulb Games)
- IO Interloper (DANG!)
- The Norwood Suite (Cosmo D Studios)
- Cheap Golf (Pixel Jam)
- Witchball (S.L. Clark)
- Million Onion Hotel (Onion Games)
Best Student Game
- IO Interloper (DANG!)
- Don’t Make Love (Maggese)
- Penny Blue Finds A Clue (DigiPen Team Cactus Curse)
- We Were Here (Team Mayhem Games)
- Baba is You (Hempuli)
- Guardian of the Gears (DigiPen Team Studio 76)
Honorable Mentions
- Crewsaders (Titan Squad)
- A.L.F.R.E.D. (Hugo Lefevre, Joseph Reichenbach, Romain Jaohar-Gaillard, Garance Royere Lebigre, Nicolas Tham, Marion Speiser, Delphine Migeot de Baran, Song Huang)
- MOLOCH (Seemingly Pointless)
- Kyklo’s Code (Cube Factory)
- Membrane (Perfect Hat / Seth S. Scott)
- That Blooming Feeling (The Tots Team)
- Tell Me What You See (Pesky Bees)
