Swedish Game Awards Winners Announced

Winners for Sweden’s largest game development competition were announced over the weekend in central Stockholm. A total of 100 000 SEK ($17,000 USD) was awarded to the winners, who were selected by jury. The big name winners are: Game of the Year: Magicka, by students at Luleå University of Technology in Skellefteå Best Innovation: Blueberry Garden, by Erik Svedäng of University of Skövde Best Execution: Boingo, by students at Blekinge Institute of Technology and SOFE in Karlshamn Mobile Games with Netbeans 6.0 and Java ME prize: Swarm, by students at Stockholm University Magicka, which took the biggest prize of 35 000SEK, is a multiplayer action game that the jury described as “a game of great depth and style, with polished gameplay and excellent presentation.” Erik Svedäng’s adventure game Blueberry Garden (shown), won for Best Innovation (25 000 SEK) for its focus on exploration and interactive storytelling. According to the jury, the game had “a brilliant concept” and succeeded in evoking “the feeling that the game world is truly alive.” Action-packed puzzle game Boingo, was praised for its solid graphics, presentation, and control. Boingo was also a community favorite, taking home the Gamer’s Choice prize (5000 SEK). A mouthful of an award, the “Mobile Games with Netbeans 6.0 and Java ME prize” (10 000 SEK) was given to Swarm, a humorous racing game where the player controls a swarm of pixels. One trend among the top competition entries was the use of the new game development framework XNA. Among the 10 nominated games, four used XNA. To see more screenshots from the winning games, visit gameawards.se.