The move to a new venue didn’t slow down Brazil’s Independent Games Festival 2019, which took place in Sao Paulo’s busy financial district’s Paulista Avenue, down at Club Homs last week. As usual, BIG Festival was free to enter and open to the public, where crowds gathered to see the independent games that were competing for the big awards, as well as still work in progress projects, including VR titles.
The awards ceremony took place in the evening of June 28th, and along with the ‘Best Art’ prize, Spanish dev Nomada Studio’s GRIS nailed the coveted ‘Best Game’ trophy, beating Burning Daylight from France’s Miyu Distribution, Cyber Ops: Tactical Hacking Support straight out of Chile’s Octeto Studios, Do Not Feed The Monkeys another game from Spain, by Fictiorama Studios, Pixel Ripped 1989, the only VR game in the category, by Brazilian ARVORE Immersive Experiences, She Dreams Elsewhere. developed by USA-basedStudio Zevere, and Spaceline Crew by Coffeenauts from Brazil.
Along those, Adore, by Cadabra Games, was the big winner in the ‘Best Brazilian Game’ category, an isometric rogue-like game with some Diablo influences thrown in for good measure. Argentina’s NGC Studios will bring home the ‘Best Latin American Game’ prize with Quantum League, a fresh take on FPS that allows you to record your teams’ actions in order to counter the opposition, one of my favorites from this year’s Indie Media Exchange (also known as the MIX) down in Los Angeles, during E3. POLYARC GAMES’ Moss scurried with the ‘Best XR/VR Game’ prize, and from what I’ve played of it on and off during the many demos that I’ve had of it, it’s certainly one of the best games to play on whatever set of goggles you might own. And the popular vote decided that the ‘People’s Choice Award’ at the show this year was Spaceline Crew, a cute and colorful party comedy game from Brazil’s own Coffenauts.
Here’s the full list of winners from the show:
Best Game
GRIS (Nomada Studio), Spain
Best Brazilian Game
Adore (Cadabra Games), Brazil
Best Game Latin America
Quantum League (NGD Studios), Argentina
Best Art
GRIS (Nomada Studios), Spain
Best Narrative
Forgotten Anne (ThroughLine Games), Denmark
Best Gameplay
JUMPGRID (Ian MacLarty), Australia
Best Sound
Unheard (NEXT Studios), China
Best Innovative Game
Pixel Ripped 1989 (ARVORE Immersive Experiences), Brazil
BIG Impact: Educational
Cidade em Jogo (Fundação Brava e Flux Games), Brazil
BIG Impact: Social Issues
Marie’s Room (like Charlie), Belgium
BIG Impact: Diversity
Huni Kuin: Yube Baitana (Bobware/Beya Xinã Bena), Brazil
Best Student Game
Burning Daylight (Miyu Distribution), France
Best Mobile Game
Starlit On Wheels (Rockhead Studios), Brazil
Best Multiplayer Game
Spitlings (Massive Miniteam GmbH), Germany
Best Kids Game
It’s Paper Guy! (The Paper Team), France
Best Virtual Reality Game
Moss (POLYARC GAMES), USA
BIG Brands
Authentic Game Oficial (Little Giants Studio), Brazil
Humble BIG New Talent Award
Space Routine (Menic Games), Argentina
Nordic Game Pitch Award
Grashers (Pink Array), Brazil
People’s Choice Award
Spaceline Crew (Coffeenauts), Brazil
