I started Pocketwatch in January 2005. My first game, Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, was nominated for the Seumus McNally Grand Prize in the 2006 Independent Games Festival, the year that Darwinia (deservedly) won. The IGF has certainly changed, and so has the indie scene, in the 8 years hence.

But we’re built for change. The IGF, indies, we’re built to change.

Full list of nominees and Honorable Mentions

Excellence In Visual Art

DEVICE 6

Gorogoa

The Banner Saga

Perfect Stride

Samorost3

Drei

Excellence In Narrative

The Yawhg

Paralect

DEVICE 6

Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!”

The Stanley Parable

Papers, Please

Excellence In Design

TowerFall Ascension

868-HACK

Mushroom 11

Papers, Please

Don’t Starve

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Excellence In Audio

Samorost3

Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!”

The Stanley Parable

Crypt of the NecroDancer

DEVICE 6

The Yawhg

Nuovo Award

Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!”

Luxuria Superbia

Extrasolar

Perfect Woman

SoundSelf

Papers, Please

Save the Date

Corrypt

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

The Stanley Parable

Don’t Starve

Jazzpunk

Papers, Please

DEVICE 6

Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!”

Early on, the IGF rewarded games made by small teams with low budgets. Games made with big teams and budgets had to overcome prejudice on behalf of the judges. The IGF rewarded auteurship with games like Darwinia, Braid, Crayon Physics, World of Goo.

As indies became more well known, and as individuals within our field honed their craft, the IGF began recognizing quality and depth over innovation. The Nuovo award was created in order to celebrate innovation for innovation sake, and to open up more space in the other fields for purely craft-based nominations. Minecraft won, as much as a celebration of its success as it was a celebration of the game. Fez, in many ways, was the pinnacle of the old-school indie craft: It was a retro-platformer with a clever twist and a sense of authorship.

But I think those wins forced us to say “OK, we finally made it”, and ask “where do we go now?”

And so last year, a little known game that was intentionally un-fun, won. Cart Life’s win was diametrically opposite to Fez. The IGF was changing, and with it, the IGF has helped to explore new territory on behalf of all game development. Games such as Dys4ia and Gone Home explored fresh subject matters more directly, with less emphasis on traditional mechanics.

Not every game has to be Cart Life, not every game has to be Fez. It’s our job as indies to explore the outer reaches of game development, to try the things that no one else is trying. It’s our job to make games for people that aren’t “a big enough market” for big budget companies to chase. It’s our job to experiment for years with mechanics that haven’t yet been invented, and it’s our job to demonstrate that games can explore characters beyond the traditional white male or orcish backgrounds. It’s also our job to simply make great games. No single game can accomplish all these goals.

The things we celebrate and explore are subject to change, of course. Such as it is with the IGF.

What do you think? What should the IGF celebrate? How should it evolve? And more importantly, what should win this year?