Seumas McNally Grand Prize

The Seumas McNally Grand Prize is the main award given at the Independent Games Festival, and annual event that takes place during the Game Developers Conference, one of the largest gatherings of the indie video game industry.[1] The award is named after computer game programmer Seumas McNally (1979–2000), founder of independent game development company Longbow Digital Arts. McNally died of Hodgkin's lymphoma shortly after receiving the award in 2000 for his game Tread Marks. The award is given alongside a prize of US$30,000.[2]

Eighteen video games have received the award, and more than 50 have been selected as finalists. Fire and Darkness became the first recipient of the award in the 1999 edition of the Independent Games Festival.[3] The award was split into two for the 2004 and 2005 Independent Games Festival events,[4][5] but was merged back into a single prize in 2006.[6] From 2011 onwards, a list of "Honorable Mentions," composed of games that were not finalists, was introduced.[7] As of 2014, no studio has been awarded the prize more than once.

Gish and Seed are the only games to become finalists in multiple editions of the event. Additionally, Gish is the only finalist to win the prize in a subsequent edition of the festival.[3][4][5][8] FTL: Faster Than Light was the first game to have been both an honorable mention and a finalist, achieving the former in 2012 and the latter in 2013. The Stanley Parable achieved the same feat, becoming an honorable mention in 2013 and a finalist in 2014.[9][10][11] Games do not have to be published in order to qualify for the prize. When Fez won the award in 2012, it was still undergoing pre-release certification.[12]

Recipients

Year Winner Developer Finalists[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2] Honorable mentions[lower-alpha 3] Ref.
1999 Fire and Darkness Singularity Software N/A [3]
2000 Tread Marks Longbow Games
  • Blix
  • Hardwood Hearts
  • King of Dragon Pass
  • Moonshine Runners
  • Quaternion
  • The Rift (Far Gate)
  • Rogue Wars
  • Seed
 N/A [8]
2001 Shattered Galaxy Nexon
  • Archmage: Stabat Mater
  • Chase Ace 2
  • Hardwood Spades
  • Hostile Space
  • IronSquad
  • SabreWing
  • Strifeshadow
  • Takeda
  • Virtual U
 N/A [13]
2002 Bad Milk Dreaming Media
  • Ace of Angels
  • Banja Taiyo
  • Championship Euchre
  • The Egg Files
  • Insaniquarium
  • Kung Fu Chess
  • Pencil Whipped
  • Static
  • World Dance
 N/A [14]
2003 Wild Earth Super X Studios
  • BaseGolf
  • Furcadia
  • Mr. Bigshot
  • Pontifex 2
  • Reiner Knizia's Samurai
  • Strange Adventures In Infinite Space
  • Teenage Lawnmower
  • Terraformers
  • Word Ninja
 N/A [15]
2004[lower-alpha 4] Savage: The Battle for Newerth
and Oasis		 S2 Games
and Mind Control Software		 N/A [4]
2005[lower-alpha 4] Gish
and Wik and the Fable of Souls		 Chronic Logic
and Reflexive Entertainment		 N/A [5]
2006 Darwinia Introversion Software N/A [6]
2007 Aquaria Bit Blot N/A [16]
2008 Crayon Physics Deluxe Kloonigames N/A [17]
2009 Blueberry Garden Erik Svedang N/A [18]
2010 Monaco Pocketwatch Games N/A [19]
2011 Minecraft Mojang [7]
2012 Fez Polytron [9]
2013 Cart Life Richard Hofmeier [10]
2014 Papers, Please Lucas Pope [11][20]
2015 Outer Wilds Team Outer Wilds [21]

Notes

  1. ↑ From 1999 and until 2005, a list of award-specific finalists was not given. Instead, overall finalists were revealed alongside specific award winners.
  2. ↑ The list of finalists was split into two—one for each category—in 2004 and 2005.[4][5] The entire list of finalists for both categories is provided.
  3. ↑ Honorable mentions were introduced in 2011.[7]
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Seumas McNally Grand Prize was split into two categories in 2004 and 2005: "Open Category" and "Web/Downloadable".[4][5] A single award was given again from 2006 onwards.[6]

References

Specific
  1. ↑ Dominguez, James (14 March 2014). "Locals indie game studios recognised in major industry event". Sidney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "About the IGF". Independent Games Festival. UBM Tech. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "1999 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 1999. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "2004 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2004. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "2005 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2005. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "2006 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "2011 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "2000 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2000. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "2012 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "2013 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "2014 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  12. ↑ de Matos, Xav (7 March 2012). "Fez wins 2012 IGF 'Seumas McNally Grand Prize'". Joystiq. AOL Inc. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "2001 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2001. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "2002 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2002. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "2003 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "2007 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  17. ↑ "2008 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  18. ↑ "2009 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  19. ↑ "2010 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists". Independent Games Festival (United States: UBM Tech). 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  20. ↑ "Papers, Please takes the grand prize at 16th annual IGF Awards". Gamasutra. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  21. ↑ Pitcher, Jenna (March 4, 2015). "OUTER WILDS LEADS THE 17TH ANNUAL INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL AWARDS". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on March 11, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.