Games for Change Awards' innovation, impact and gameplay finalists announced

Organizers of the Games for Change festival, an event dedicated to celebrating the "positive social impact of games," announced today the finalists in categories that focus on impact, innovation and gameplay.

Developers submitted their games to a panel of judges that includes representatives from Kickstarter, MIT Game Lab, Mozilla, the United Nations Foundation, Zynga and many more. Finalists and categories for the awards to be presented June 18 include:

Best Gameplay

• Reach for the Sun, Filament Games' game where payers "help a young seedling grow and reproduce before winter approaches."
• Quandary, Learning Games Network's game where players "shape the future of a new society while learning how to recognize ethical issues and deal with challenging situations in their own lives."
• The Republia Times, Lucas Pope's game where players use their "influence to print positive articles that paint Republia in a good light."

Most Innovative

• Blindside, Epicycle's "immersive 3D audio adventure" that was "Inspired by one of the creator's personal story of being temporarily blinded in a high-school chemistry accident."
• Jewish Time Jump, ConverJent's "geolocational augmented reality game" were players "travel back in time to the early 1900s in Greenwich Village to uncover a story in Jewish and American history lost to time."
• Nevermind, Team Nevermind's "biofeedback-enhanced psychological horror video game that challenges players to go outside the comforts of reality."

Most Significant Impact

• Data Dealer, Cuteacute Media OG's game "about collecting, collating, and selling personal data," which was funded by Viennese and Austrian government agencies.
• Eskom Energy Planner, Formula D Interactive's game that allows players to "take custody of a virtual city's power plan and to see a balance between the most efficient technologies currently available and the most environmentally friendly ones."
• The Republia Times, which was also nominated for Best Gameplay above.

The Games for Change festival will take place June 17-19 in New York City. You can purchase tickets for the event online until June 7.