Inscryption and Unpacking earn multiple nominations for the 2022 IGF Awards

GDC organisers Informa Tech have announced the finalists for the the 24th annual awards ceremony of the Independent Games Festival.

Leading the nominations are Daniel Mullins Games’ Inscryption, and Witch Beam’s Unpacking, who have received four nominations each. Both games are nominated in the Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

The other nominees for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize are:

• Cruelty Squad (also nominated for the Nuovo Award) by Consumer Softproducts.

• Loop Hero by Four Quarters.

• The Eternal Cylinder (also nominated for Excellence in Visual Art) by ACE Team.

• Unsighted by Studio Pixel Punk.

This year’s nominees were selected by hundreds of judges, sifting through over 400 entries. This when then passed over to a diverse panel of judges from across the games industry for final consideration.

The winners will be announced during the Independent Games Festival Awards, taking place on Wednesday, March 23rd. The festival is a part of GDC 2022, which will take place physically and online from March 21st – 25th.

The full list of finalists for the IGF Awards are as follows:

Best Student Game

• Cai Cai Balão (Look Up Games)
• Abriss – build to destroy (Randwerk Games eG)
• Letter Lattice (Ethan Zarov)
• Smalllife (Yueqi Wu)
• Nainai’s Recipe (Fan Fang, Mai Hou)
• Live Adventure (Live Adventure Team)

Honourable Mentions: Astreia’s Gift (Femy Nassirou & Hervé Blanchot), There You Are (Funky Dango), The Bleeding Tree (No Input Interactive), dumpling.love (the parks staff), Lysfangha (Baptiste Marsac & Daphne Pauchet-Deloffre), Jivana (Team Jivana), Hook Up (Team Hook Up), Come with Me (Xin Ye)

Excellence in Audio

• Toem (Something We Made)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)
• Jett: The Far Shore (Superbrothers A/V + Pine Scented)
• Mini Motorways (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Sable (Shedworks)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)

Honourable Mentions: Severed Steel (Greylock Studios), A Musical Story (Glee-Cheese Studios), Death’s Door (Acid Nerve), The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Falling Squirrel), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab), Overboard! (inkle), The Wild at Heart (Moonlight Kids)

Excellence in Design

• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)
• Overboard! (inkle)
• Strange Horticulture (Bad Viking)
• Webbed (Sbug Games)
• Midnight Protocol (LuGus Studios)

Honourable Mentions: Loop Hero (Four Quarters), Unsighted (Studio Pixel Punk), Mini Motorways (Dinosaur Polo Club), Card Shark (Nerial), KeyWe (Stonewheat & Sons), Sunshine Heavy Industries (Daisyowl Games)

Excellence in Narrative

• Last Call (Nina Freeman and Jake Jefferies)
• Neurocracy (Playthroughline)
• Closed Hands (Passenger)
• Overboard! (inkle)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)

Honourable Mentions: Card Shark (Nerial), Norco (Geography of Robots), The Big Con (Mighty Yell ), Tux and Fanny (Ghost Time Games), Opus: Echo of Starsong (Sigono), Sable (Shedworks), Blackhaven (Historiated Games)

Excellence in Visual Art

• The Eternal Cylinder (ACE Team)
• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery (Silver Lining Studio)
• Papetura (Petums)
• Fuzz Dungeon (Jeremy Couillard)
• The Wild at Heart (Moonlight Kids)
• Jett: The Far Shore (Superbrothers A/V + Pine Scented)

Honourable Mention: Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games), A Musical Story (Glee-Cheese Studios), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab), Saturnalia (Santa Ragione) Stonefly (Flight School Studio),