Double Fine’s Hack N Slash Wins IndieCade’s Grand Jury Award

IndieCade is an annual festival that aim to highlight the importance of “promotion, cultivation, and community of independent games development.”

The IndieCade 2014 Awards, as chosen by the IndieCade Jury, were announced on the night of October 9th at the Club Fais Do Do in Los Angeles. Below is the list of awards and their winners.

• Grand Jury Award – Hack ‘n’ Slash (Double Fine)

Puzzle action fantasy game with a computer hacking theme. It was chosen as it “excels in all areas” and stands “at the intersection of design and player choice.”

• Special Recognition Award – N++ (Metanet Software)

Hardcore 2D platformer sequel recognized as “a true work of art” that’s been refined over a decade.

• Story / World Award – Ice-Bound (Down to the Wire)

An interactive storybook for iPad and PCs with webcams (currently on Kickstarter) that merges physical and digital storytelling with the use of Alternative Reality technology. The Jury said that it is “evocative of Jorge Luis Borges.”

• Game Design Award – Grow (Chris Hassebrook, T. A. Pribbenow, Kyle Bromley)

A 2-4 player 3D building game in which you guide the constant growth of a tree and compete by blossoming flowers around it. Described by the Jury as “cutthroat competitive play that is beautiful and unique.”

• Impact Award – Use of Force (Emblematic Group – Nonny de la Peña)

A virtual reality documentary project that recreates the moments of the real event in which Anastasio Hernandez Rojas was beaten and tasered to death by border patrol.  It won “because it’s going to change the world.”

• Interaction Award – Soulfill (Little Wins LLC)

You listen to a narrator on your smartphone and earn points by initiating and maintaining eye contact with strangers while waiting or on public transport. Awarded for “for forcing us to interact in ways we normally wouldn’t.”

• Audio Design Award – Fract OSC (Phosfiend Systems)

A musical exploration and puzzle game with a working synthesizer built into it and many secrets to discover. Jury described it as “a sound adventure around each corner.”

• Technology Award – Choice Chamber (Studio Bean)

A real-time procedurally generated game played over a livestream in which the audience controls the the layout of dangerous chambers one player attempts to traverse.

• Visual Design Award – Framed (Loveshack Entertainment)

A comic book-style puzzle game in which you switch the order of panels to help a character reach safety. Awarded for “its gorgeous art and how [it’s] used in the game.”

• IndieCade Trailblazer Award – Alex Rigopulos (CEO of Harmonix)

“Alex, together with the great people at Harmonix revolutionized the game industry as well as the music industry.”