The juries for the 15th annual Independent Games Festival have released a list of this year's finalists, which honors games like FTL: Faster Than Light, Hotline Miami and Super Hexagon.
This year's finalists divide into seven categories that recognize achievements in art, audio, storytelling and more. The categories and nominees include:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Cart Life
- FTL: Faster than Light
- Hotline Miami
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Little Inferno
Excellence in Visual Art
- Guacamelee
- Incredipede
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
- Year Walk
Technical Excellence
- Intrusion 2
- LiquidSketch
- Little Inferno
- Perspective
- StarForge
Excellence in Design
- FTL: Faster than Light
- Samurai Gunn
- Starseed Pilgrim
- Super Hexagon
- Super Space ____
Excellence in Audio
- 140
- Bad Hotel
- Hotline Miami
- Kentucky Route Zero
- PixelJunk 4am
Excellence in Narrative
- Cart Life
- dys4ia
- Gone Home
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Thirty Flights of Loving
Nuovo
- 7 Grand Steps
- Bientôt lâ€TMété
- Cart Life
- dys4ia
- Little Inferno
- MirrorMoon
- Spaceteam
- VESPER.5
The winners will be announced at the Independent Games Festival, which takes place March 25 through 29 in San Francisco alongside the Game Developer's Conference.
Last month, Valve announced that it would offer Steam distribution agreements to the finalists.
Last year's winners included Spelunky, Dear Esther and Fez, which took home the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. The IGF selected Braid, World of Goo and Super Meat Boy as winners from previous years.