Here are your winners of the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards

The Game Developers Choice Awards are voted on by developers for developers. It's a chance for the members of the games industry to reward their peers, to say this is the best work happening in video games today. One would expect this to be the folks at flush AAA publishers but many of tonight's winners were indies as if to say: Finally, indies and mainstream games are on equal ground. Gamers deserve excellent games from both sectors, and the awards are one way of showing they're getting it.

The night's host was Cliff Blezinski, the director of the Gears of War trilogy, and the face of Epic Games. Cliff has a dry sense of humor that connected with pockets of the audience. Jokes involving fellow industry stars, like Geoff Keighley, host of the VGAs, and Tim Schafer, founder of Double Fine, got the most laughs.

But like IGF host Andy Schatz, Blezinski keenly let the winners take the spotlight.

"During the development of Portal 2, I thought it was going to kill me," said Chet Faliszek, while accepting the award for Best Narrative. "Just being dead was the award I thought I was going to get." That was a recurring theme. People who love what they do, work hard doing it, and are incredibly thrilled and humbled by the praise.

Best Audio

• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• LittleBigPlanet 2 (Media Molecule)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
• Dead Space 2 (Visceral Games)
• Portal 2 (Valve)

Best Debut

• Supergiant Games (Bastion)
• Team Bondi (L.A. Noire)
• Re-Logic (Terraria)
• BioWare Austin (Star Wars: The Old Republic)
• Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)

Best Narrative

• Portal 2 (Valve)
• The Witcher 2 (CD Projekt RED)
• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog)
• Saints Row: The Third (Volition)

Best Visual Arts

• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog)
• Rayman Origins (Ubisoft Montpellier)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
• El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (Ignition Japan)
• Battlefield 3 (DICE)

Best Downloadable Game

• Stacking (Double Fine)
• From Dust (Ubisoft Montpellier)
• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• Outland (Housemarque)
• Frozen Synapse (Mode 7)

Best Game Design

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo)
• Portal 2 (Valve)
• Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
• Dark Souls (FromSoftware)

Best Technology

• Battlefield 3 (DICE)
• L.A. Noire (Team Bondi)
• Crysis 2 (Crytek Frankfurt/UK)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

• Tiny Tower (NimbleBit)
• Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo)
• Jetpack Joyride (Halfbrick)
• Infinity Blade II (Chair Entertainment)
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capy Games/Superbrothers)

Innovation Award

• Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Toys For Bob)
• Portal 2 (Valve) (NimbleBit)
• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
• L.A. Noire (Team Bondi)

Ambassador Award

• Ken Doroshow and Paul M. Smith

The Pioneer Award

• Dave Theurer

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Warren Spector

Game of the Year

• Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
• Portal 2 (Valve)
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal)