10th Annual IGF Finalists Announced

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: December 3rd, 2007

Congratulations Petri, Joakim, Kyle, Edmund, Phil, Aubrey & Tommy, cactus, and all the finalists! Yer goin’ to IGF!

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

• Audiosurf
• Crayon Physics Deluxe
• Hammerfall
• Noitu Love 2: Devolution
• World of Goo

Best Web Browser Game:

• Globulos.com
• Iron Dukes
• Tri-Achnid

Design Innovation Award:

• Battleships Forever
• Fez
• Fret Nice
• Snapshot Adventures: Secret Of Bird Island
• World Of Goo

Excellence in Visual Art:

• Clean Asia!
• Fez
• Hammerfall
• Synaesthete
• The Path

Excellence in Audio:

• Cinnamon Beats
• Fret Nice
• Audiosurf
• Clean Asia!
• OokiBloks

Technical Excellence:

• World of Goo
• Goo!
• Audiosurf
• Axiom: Overdrive
• Gumboy Tournament

[This post was brought to you through a joint collaboration between BMcC and Derek. We love you all.]

UPDATE: Brandon’s thoughts actually in the extended!

Wow, what a great selection of games this year! Lemme break down a few of my thoughts by category:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Audiosurf, huh? That’s one I didn’t see coming — matter of fact, I hadn’t even heard of it before IGF! But I think the two biggest contenders for the Big Prize are Crayon Physics Deluxe and World of Goo. I haven’t played either (You listening, Petri and Kyle?), but from what I’ve seen and heard, they seem to be incredibly polished and original. And fun!

Of course, I would also love to see Noitu Love 2 come away with the win. The fact that an oldschool, pixely 2D game could make it to the top spot is a testament to its pure awesomeness. I mean, look at it! Play Chalk! You know it’s gonna be dynamite.

Best Web Browser Game

Tri-Achnid would be great. Iron Dukes looks like good clean fun. Globulos… is certainly browser-based!

I… I don’t know much about web games. :’(

Design Innovation Award

Oh man! This is a big category. I think Fez has the most potential at this point, especially as more and more gameplay elements get woven in to the 2D/3D mechanic… The mind just boggles! It all comes down to gettin’ it done.

The rest are real strong contenders, natch.

Excellence in Visual Art

Heck yes, I’m so happy cactus got a nomination. Let alone two! He is so unapologetically indie… I can’t wait to meet him in person at GDC. (If you’re reading this — save up and practice that English! We’re going to party.)

Fez is still awesome to behold (for enjoy).

And even though they create a bit of ruckus on the forums, you gotta admit The Path looks wonderful. :)

Excellence in Audio

As I understand it, Audiosurf plays to your music. So, like, shouldn’t its audio rating vary depending on the judge’s musical tastes and mood? I guess they all listen to pretty good stuff, huh? :P

I’d personally like to see more “traditional” games in this category. But I can’t honestly be surprised by an audio game taking it.

Technical Excellence

Battle of the Goos! Seriously. Who will emerge victorious? Tommy’s certainly got a whole heck of a lot of technical trickery tied into his game… But I’ve heard tell that World of Goo is remarkably well put together. This is gonna be an interesting decision.

Games That Didn’t Make It This Year

Matt was telling me at Gamma that there are always a number of games that could of made it, but just… didn’t. He said many of the slots keep shuffling even up to the last day. Some games that didn’t make it this year, but are certainly worthy of mention:

Cortex Command! This game is really good, and is gonna be bloody great. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if it came away with an award next year… Word is the first commercial version is coming out soon!

Harvest: Massive Encounter! This has already won awards in Sweden (its country of origin), and looks quite impressive. I’m going to cover it real soon, don’t worry. ;)

Gish 2! This was a big contender, and is sure to be a top-tier title once it’s done. Maybe the IGF version was too early? More likely it’s just an example of what Matt was talking about.

Penumbra: Overture! I’m positive this was inches away from a Technical Excellence nod…

The Zoo Race! This game could and should have won every award. Even awards not part of this competition.

So… What do you all think? Who’s going to win? What surprised you? What didn’t make it, but deserved to? What made it, but didn’t deserve to? DISCUSS.