Game Connection Europe is off to a busy start, with over 1700 people attending the opening day of the B2B conference, with many more visitors expected in the next two days to attend meetings and sessions. One of the highlights of Day One included the Development Awards Ceremony taking place yesterday afternoon. The Game Connection Development Awards (formerly „Selected Projects“) are open to console, mobile, social, casual, and online games at any stage of development with no restriction on genre, platform, or distribution method.
Each of the finalists, who were picked by a Judging Comittee of international industry experts, was presented with the unique opportunity to showcase their project to a large number of potential partners, ranging from publishers, distributors, buyers, and the press at the event. Winners were announced at the end of each category presentation. In addition to the Development Awards, a „European Games Booster Award“, created in partnership with MEDIA Creative Europe, was given out to the best European nominee in each of the ten categories. Vlad Micu from Critical Force Entertainment hosted the ceremony.
French studio Area Effect came out as the biggest winner of the day, taking home five trophies in total for their action-exploration game Izle. Area Effect won both the development award and the European Games Booster Award for the main category „Most Creative & Original Project“ as well as „Best Desktop Downloadable“. They were also awarded the European Games Booster for „Best Hardcore Game“, while the Development Award in this category went to Russian Studio HeroCraft for Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf. Danish studio osao games (Chronology) walked away with four trophies, winning both the Development Award and the European Games Booster for „Best Mobile/Tablet“ and „Best Casual Game“. Both awards also went to Lka.it from Italy (The Town of Light) for „Excellence in Story & Storytelling“, Nyamyam from the UK (Tengami) for „Excellence in Art“, and French studios Pastagames (Pix the Cat) and ENGAMI (Shiness) for „Most Promising IP“ and „Best Console/PC Hardcore“ respectively. US-based studio React! Games won „Best Social Game“ for Super Dungeon Bros., while the European Games Booster in that category went to Tribe Studios from Finland for Velvet Sundown.
Previous winners include Loading Human from Untold Games, White Night from OSome Studio, Contrast from Compulsion Games, Badland from Frogmind, and Limbo from PlayDead.
The Game Connection Development Awards were given out in partnership with Microsoft Games, Bandai Namco Games and Focus Home International.
All winners (bolded) and nominees at a glance, including trailers:
ORIGINALITY
- Remembering – Monobanda, The Netherlands (PC; PSN; Wii U)
- Izle – Area Effect, France (PC; PSN; Xbox Live Arcade) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Darklings – Mild Mania LTD., Turkey (Smartphones; Tablets)
- Perfect Circles – Illusion Group&Riccardo Boccuzzi, Italy (Smartphones; Tablets)
- Schein – Zeppelin Studio, Austria (PC)
STORY TELLING
- Izle – Area Effect, France (PC; PSN; Xbox Live Arcade)
- The Town of Lights – Lka.it, Italy (PC) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Whispering Willows – Night Light Interactive, United States (PC; Ouya)
- Chronology – osao Games, Denmark (Smartphones; PC; Xbox One)
- Perfect Circles – Illusion Group&Riccardo Boccuzzi, Italy (Tablets; Smartphones)
ART
- Guns and Robots – Masthead Studios, Bulgaria (PC; Web browser)
- Tengami – Nyamyam, United Kingdom (Tablets; Wii U) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Darklings – Mild Mania LTD., Turkey (Smartphones; Tablets)
- Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf – HeroCraft, Russia (Tablets; Smarthphones; PC)
- Chronology – osao Games, Denmark (Smartphones; PC; Xbox One)
MOST PROMISING IP
- Imperia Online – Imperia Online LTD., Bulgaria (Web browsers; Smartphones; Social Networks)
- Izle – Area Effect, France (PC; PSN; Xbox Live Arcade)
- Pix the Cat – Pastagames, France (PS4; PS Vita) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Overkill 3 – Craneball Studios, Czech Republic (Tablets; Smartphones; Ouya)
- Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf – HeroCraft, Russia (Tablets; Smarthphones; PC)
CONSOLE/PC HARDCORE
- ParVaNeh: Legacy of the Light’s Guardians – Bearded Bird, Iran (PC)
- Pix the Cat – Pastagames, France (PS4; PS Vita)
- Narcosis – Honor Code Inc., United States (PC; Oculus VR; PS4)
- Shiness – ENIGAMI, France (PC; PS4; Xbox One) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Nero – Storm in a Teacup SRL, Italy (Xbox One; PC; PS4)
DESKTOP DOWNLOADABLE
- Izle – Area Effect, France (PC; PSN; Xbox Live Arcade) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Imperia Online – Imperia Online LTD., Bulgaria (Web browsers; Smartphones; Social Networks)
- Guns and Robots – Masthead Studios, Bulgaria (PC; Web browser)
- Whispering Willows – Night Light Interactive, United States (PC; Ouya)
- Schein – Zeppelin Studio, Austria (PC)
MOBILE/TABLETS
- Chronology – osao Games, Denmark (Smartphones; PC; Xbox One) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf – HeroCraft, Russia (Tablets; Smarthphones; PC)
- Darklings – Mild Mania LTD., Turkey (Smartphones; Tablets)
- Tengami – Nyamyam, United Kingdom (Tablets; Wii U)
- Perfect Circles – Illusion Group&Riccardo Boccuzzi, Italy (Tablets; Smartphones)
CASUAL GAME
- Guns and Robots – Masthead Studios, Bulgaria (PC; Web browser)
- Whispering Willows – Night Light Interactive, United States (PC; Ouya)
- Chronology – osao Games, Denmark (Smartphones; PC; Xbox One) – Development Award and European Games Booster Award
- Darklings – Mild Mania LTD., Turkey (Smartphones; Tablets)
- Tengami – Nyamyam, United Kingdom (Tablets; Wii U)
HARDCORE GAME
- Izle – Area Effect, France (PC; PSN; Xbox Live Arcade) – European Games Booster Award
- Imperia Online – Imperia Online LTD., Bulgaria (Web browsers; Smartphones; Social Networks)
- Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf – HeroCraft, Russia (Tablets; Smarthphones; PC) – Development Award
- Schein – Zeppelin Studio, Austria (PC)
- Perfect Circles – Illusion Group&Riccardo Boccuzzi, Italy (Tablets; Smartphones)
SOCIAL GAME
- Dead Cells – Motion Twin, France (Tablets; Smartphones; Web browsers)
- Tropical Wars – Vertige SAS, France (Smartphones; PC; Social Networks)
- Super Dungeon Bros. – React! Games, USA (PC; PS4; Xbox Live Arcade) – Development Award
- What on Earth! – Traplight Games, Finland (Tablets)
- Velvet Sundown – Tribe Studios, Finland (PC; Tablets) – European Games Booster Award
The jury consisted of the following industry experts: Agostino Simonetta (Independant), Arthur Chow (6waves), Careen Yapp (Gaikai), Casey Lee (Com2us USA), Cedric Lagarrigue (Focus Home Interactive), Deborah Papiernik (Ubisoft Entertainment), Guy Richards (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe), Jennie Sue (:DeNA), Jere Mäkiniemi (Rovio Entertainment), Jim Ying (Tango), Katie Morgan (Reverb Publishing), Dennis Yi (Gamevil), Levi Buchanan (Chillingo), Neil Haldar (GREE International), Robert Loya (Activision Blizzard), Samuel Gatté (Namco Bandai Games), Sarita Churchill-Viramontez (Microsoft Studios), Tatiana Timoshenko (G5 Entertainment), Vincent Dondaine (Bulkypix), Jack Hong Suk Chun (LINE Corporation) and Thierry Beaujard (Peaceful Fish).
The Game Connection Development Awards were given out on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 between 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm.
