Origame Digital’s Umurangi Generation won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 23rd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards tonight. The ceremony, which honored some of the most innovative and excellent independent games of the past year, took place as part of the 2021 Game Developers Conference (GDC) virtual event.
In addition to the Grand Prize, Umurangi Generation also won the Excellence in Narrative Award. Umurangi Generation is a first-person photography game set in a bleak future by Origame Digital. Following an impending crisis, players act as a courier for the Tauranga Express where they unlock a variety of photography lenses and equipment throughout the game.
The full slate of 2021 IGF Award winners feature many notable and fan-favorite titles, including the Excellence in Audio award and Excellence in Visual Art award winner Genesis Noir by Feral Cat Den, a stylish noir adventure game where players explore the mysteries of the Big Bang and seek a way to destroy it before it kills their love.
The Excellence in Design winner, Teardown by Tuxedo Labs, is a game in which players prepare the perfect heist in a simulated and fully destructible voxel world, using the environment to their advantage in the most creative way they can think of. The Nuovo Award, which honors the title that makes jurors ‘think differently about games as a medium,’ went to developer The Game Band for Blaseball, a baseball horror simulation game. In Blaseball, a full season and championship series of “Internet League Blaseball” is simulated.
The Best Student Game winner, Local Space Survey Corps, LLC’s Vessels, is a character-driven story game where players experience atmospheric, environmental storytelling as they piece together clues on a ship reeling from a grisly death and spreading paranoia. Additionally, Arrog by Hermanos Magia and Leap Game Studios won the community-driven Audience Award, which is chosen by fans through a public voting process.
The winners of the 23rd annual Independent Games Festival Awards are:
Best Student Game ($2,000) – Vessels (Local Space Survey Corps, LLC)
Excellence in Audio ($2,000) – Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den)
Excellence in Narrative ($2,000) – Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital)
Audience Award ($2,000) – Arrog (Hermanos Magia and Leap Game Studios)
Excellence in Design ($2,000) – Teardown (Tuxedo Labs)
Excellence in Visual Art ($2,000) – Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den)
Nuovo Award ($2,000) – Blaseball (The Game Band)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000) – Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital)
The IGF was established in 1998 to recognize the best independent game developers and encourage creativity and excellence in independent games.
The awards were livestreamed on the official Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at Twitch.tv/GDC and are archived both on Twitch and on the official GDC YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/c/gdconf.
For more information on the Independent Games Festival, please visit the official IGF website at www.igf.com. For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
Related: HADES Wins Game of the Year at 2021 Game Developers Choice Awards
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