Here Are the Finalists for the Australian Game Developer Awards
Watch the live birthing of a game, is what I thought when I saw that one of the new categories for this year’s Interactive Games & Entertainment Association’s (IGEA) Australian Game Developer Awards (AGDAs). Said new category being ‘Best Emerging Game’. Such vivid imagery exists alongside the other new categories: ‘The Game Connect Award’ (best at Connect Four?), ‘Best Mobile Game’ and ‘Best Ongoing Game’. Now, that last one refers to games as a service, which I’m not so sure we should be rewarding, but hey that’s why I just write the news.
Anyway, these new awards join the existing categories, all to go before a panel of 38 judges who have been sworn to secrecy and must each produce a game-themed gavel with which to pound out their votes.
This year’s AGDAs will be streamed via Twitch on 7 October at 7PM AEDT. You’ll be able to watch the ceremony at https://www.twitch.tv/igea_au.
Below are the main categories and finalists. I must admit I haven’t heard of some of these, so I have a bit of home-grown homework to catch up on. Have you played them all? Reckon they deserve to win? Well, gets you a Waluigi gavel and whack along at home during the night!
AGDA Award Finalists
Best Art
- Windbound (5 Lives Studios)
- Rite (Pond Games)
- Necrobarista (Route 59)
Best Gameplay
- Boomerang Fu (Cranky Watermelon)
- Baron: Fur is Gonna Fly (DM Games)
- Moving Out (SMG Studio)
Best Narrative
- Necrobarista (Route 59)
- Under a Star Called Sun (Cécile Richard)
- Quantum Suicide (Cotton Candy Cyanide)
Best Sound
- Roombo: First Blood (Samurai Punk)
- Audioplay: Alien Strike (Audioplay)
- Boomerang Fu (Cranky Watermelon)
Best Music
- Rite (Pond Games)
- Baron: Fur is Gonna Fly (DM Games)
- Under a Star Called Sun (Cécile Richard)
Best AR/VR
- Misadventure in Little Lon (True Crime Mysteries)
- Shooty Skies Overdrive (Mighty Games Group)
- Espire 1: VR Operative (Digital Lode)
Best Serious Game
- Under a Star Called Sun (Cécile Richard)
- Kana Quest (Not Dead Design)
- KangaZoo (Chaos Theory Games & Pentaquest)
Best Mobile Game
- Ballistic Baseball (Gameloft Brisbane)
- Crossy Road Castle (Hipster Whale)
- Pico Tanks: Multiplayer Mayhem (Panda Arcade)
Best Ongoing Game (Game as a Service)
- World of Tanks (Wargaming Sydney)
- Piffle (Hipster Whale and Mighty Games Group)
- Battlestar Galactica Deadlock (Black Lab Games)
Best Emerging Game
- Quantum Suicide (Cotton Candy Cyanide)
- Rite (Pond Games)
- Elden: Path of the Forgotten (Onerat)
Game of the Year
- Boomerang Fu (Cranky Watermelon)
- Necrobarista (Route 59)
- Moving Out (SMG Studio)
Winners of the Rising Star, Adam Lancman, Studio of the Year and The Game Connect Awards will be announced on the night.
