Organizers of Melbourne's Freeplay independent games event in Melbourne have revealed the winners of their inaugural global indie game competition, praising the range and quality of all the entrants.
A separate category, "Best International Game," had to be added to accommodate the high number of overseas contenders in the festival, which was held at the State Library of Victoria August 14 and 15 with the goal of recognizing "creativity, artistry and innovation" in the local independent game space. It also featured a conference program and public expo that saw over 1000 attendees, according to the organizers.
Jolly Rover from Brawsome took the top prize for Australian-developed title, while Brazilian team Yellow Jam's Last Hope won Best International game.
"When we first decided to introduce awards, we could never have predicted the range and quality of the games we'd receive," says co-director Eve Penford-Dennis. "The winning projects demonstrate the personal drive and outlook of their developers – which is exactly what we want to encourage through the Freeplay event and the awards. We look forward to seeing what people can do between now and 2011."
The winners and finalists in each category are as follows (winner listed in bold):
Best Australian Game
Sword Lady & The Viking - Up Down Ready Brawsome - Jolly Rover
Finn Morgan – Colourbind
Best International Game
Mahdi Bahrami (Iran) - Bo
Anders Hojsted (Denmark) - TryFail Yellow Jam (Brazil) – Last Hope
Best Design in a Game Sword Lady & The Viking - Up Down Ready
Alexander Bruce - Hazard: The Journey Of Life
The Voxel Agents - Train Conductor
Best On-Paper Design
Tobye Ryan - Epic Adventure Timothy Ryan - iCrazy Man
Katie Murphy – Galaqua
Best Art in a Game Farbs - Captain Forever (series)
Alexander Bruce - Hazard: The Journey Of Life
KlickTock - Doodle Find
Best Concept Art Fiasco Studios - Exodus
Evan Raynor - City Ruins
CatBus Interactive - Speed Demon
Best Technical Innovation
Farbs - Captain Forever (series) Finn Morgan - Colourbind
Sword Lady & The Viking - Up Down Ready
Best Game Writing
Farbs - Captain Forever (series)
Alexander Bruce - Hazard: The Journey Of Life PVI Collective – Transumer
Best Audio The Voxel Agents - Train Conductor
Tin Man Games - Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes
Brawsome - Jolly Rover
