A Slow Year, Continuity And More Honored At IndieCade

Organizers for IndieCade, an annual Los Angeles-based international festival devoted to independent games, have announced the just-wrapped event's winners across thirteen categories, including a "Trailblazer Award" for Double Fine's Tim Schafer and two nods for Ian Bogost's Atari title A Slow Year. The awards featured numerous nods to titles already notable from 2010 Independent Games Festival wins. Some of these include Student Showcase Award winner Continuity, which took home IndieCade's Gameplay Innovation Award, and IGF Technical Excellence award winner Limbo, which was honored at IndieCade in the Sound category. The full list of IndieCade winners are as follows: Gameplay Innovation Award: Continuity Technological Innovation Award: Miegakure Sound Award: Limbo World and Story Award: Games of Nonchalance Documentary Award: The Cat and the Coup Aesthetics Award: Spirits Sublime Experience Award: Faraway Fun and Compelling Award: VVVVVV Wild Card Award: B.U.T.T.O.N. Trailblazer Award: Tim Schafer Virtuoso Award: A Slow Year Vanguard Award: A Slow Year Jury Award: Groping in the Dark Bogost's A Slow Year, which earned accolades in the Virtuoso and Vanguard categories, is a collection of four game “poems” for the Atari Video Computer System, one for each season, about the experience of observation and awareness. The Trailblazer Award was added to IndieCade "to honor an individual who has displayed extraordinary vision and creativity in the field of game design, while serving as an inspiration to up-and-coming designers in the field." "Holy cow. I had no idea I was so old," said Schafer, commenting on the honor. "Is this because of the grey in my beard? Well, it's an honor and I'm happy that it's coming from a great organization like IndieCade." Now in its fourth year, the IndieCade festival, which took place from October 8th to the 10th in Culver City, CA, aims to provide exhibitions, conferences, and curated attractions that "encourage, publicize, and cultivate, innovation and artistry in interactive media", as it strives to "create a public perception of games as rich, diverse, artistic, and culturally significant." [UPDATE: Three additional awards were handed out at the final day of Indiecade on Sunday, October 10: Audience Choice Award: Retro/Grade Developer's Choice Award: Sixteen Tons Kids' Choice Award: Humans vs. Zombies]