GDC '08: Crayon Physics Deluxe crowned IGF winner

SAN FRANCISCO--Though the Game Developers Choice Awards draws the most attention for its big-name nominees, such as Portal and BioShock this year, its ceremony also honors the winners of the Independent Games Festival. This year, the 10th Annual IGF Awards received a record-breaking 173 entries from across the globe. Its ceremony was hosted by Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch Games, maker of indie eco-education titles.

As was the case last year, the IGF/GDCA ceremony incorporated a series of parody videos from Mega64. Throughout the ceremony, there were more videos from the game-comedy troupe, including one where three guys tried to one-up each other on how indie they were and one where they were practicing acceptance speeches in inappropriate public places.

The running joke of the evening was for IGF winners to make acceptance speeches whilst wearing a monocle. One lens-wearer was Kloonigames' Petri Purho, who accepted the $20,000 grand prize for Crayon Physics Deluxe, a 2D physics title that transforms drawings into physical objects. The Helsinki native wrote his initial acceptance speech (a vulgar exclamation consisting of just two words) in crayon for the audience to see and then verbally thanked his parents for letting him play with crayons.

Physics-based puzzler World of Goo, created by 2D Boy, won both Design Innovation and Technical Excellence categories. The Audience Award was won by Invisible Handlebar's Audiosurf, which grabbed the lion's share of the 3,500 votes cast online.

Best Web Browser Game went to One Ton Ghost for the comedic adventure Iron Dukes, and Excellence in Audio went to Handlebar's Audiosurf, which plays visual representations of songs in 3D.

Kokoromi's Fez nabbed the prize for Excellence in Visual Art for its 2D character in a 3D world, and Best Student Game went to Synaesthete, an arcade-style shooter that had been created by students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.

In the Gleemie Awards, first place and $5,000 went to Handdrawngames' Desktop Tower Defense, second place and $3,000 to Skyrates by Team Skyrates, and third place and $2,000 to Quadradius by Quadradius.

A full list of IGF winners is below.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Crayon Physics Deluxe by Kloonigames

Best Web Browser Game
Iron Dukes by One Ton Ghost

Design Innovation Award
World Of Goo by 2D Boy

Excellence in Visual Art
Fez by Kokoromi

Excellence in Audio
Audiosurf by Invisible Handlebar

Technical Excellence
World Of Goo by 2D Boy

Best Student Game
Synaesthete by DigiPen Institute of Technology

Audience Award
Audiosurf by Invisible Handlebar

Gleemie Awards
First Place--Desktop Tower Defense by Handdrawngames
Second Place--Skyrates by Team Skyrates
Third Place--Quadradius by Quadradius