2016 Independent Games Festival Announces Finalists

The judges of the 18th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) have announced the 2016 awards finalists from a record-breaking 750 entries. The IGF, which recognizes outstanding development in independent games, has nominated 25 innovative and exemplary projects released in the past year, as selected by a panel of industry professionals.

Finalists for IGF 2016 include Dinosaur Polo Club’s minimalistic subway layout game Mini Metro, Sam Barlow’s engrossing crime fiction game Her Story, and That Dragon, Cancer, Nominous Games’ deeply personal and emotional journey through a young boy’s cancer treatment.

The winners of the IGF Awards will be announced at the Independent Games Festival Awards, which take place on the evening of Wednesday, March 16th at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center, during the 30th Game Developers Conference (GDC). All finalist games will be playable at the IGF Pavilion located at the 2016 GDC Expo floor from March 16-18, with the developers present.

The full list of finalists for each category of the 2016 Independent Games Festival is as follows:

Excellence in Visual Art

Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
Gnog (KO_OP)
Armello (League of Geeks)
Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios)

Excellence in Narrative

The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited)
Black Closet (Hanako Games)
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
The Magic Circle (Question)

Excellence in Design

Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Kingdom (noio & Licorice)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Superhot (SUPERHOT)
Infinifactory (Zachtronics)

Excellence in Audio

Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios)
Lumini (Speelbaars)
Undertale (Toby Fox)

Nuovo Award

The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited)
Panoramical (Fernando Ramallo & David Kanaga)
Fantastic Contraption (Northway Games & Radial Games)
Orchids To Dusk (Pol Clarissou)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Cibele (Star Maid Games)
Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Progress (Tim Garbos, Martin Kvale and Joel Nyström)

Best Student Game

Pitfall Planet (Bonfire Games)
Ape Out (Gabe Cuzzillo)
Beglitched (Jenny Jiao Hsia & Alec Thomson)
Circa Infinity (Kenny Sun)
Orchids To Dusk (Pol Clarissou)
Chambara (team ok)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Superhot (SUPERHOT)
Undertale (Toby Fox)