Freeplay Awards 2024 nominees detailed

Freeplay Awards 2024 nominees have been detailed ahead of an awards ceremony in late February, organisers have declared.

“Turning 20 this year, Freeplay is one of the world’s longest running independent video games festivals,with a rich history of premiering and platforming Australian games from Untitled Goose Game, Florence and Cult of the Lamb since it started in Melbourne as part of Next Wave in 2004,” organisers said in a press release.

“While initially focused on interactive media and games, Freeplay and its associated Awards have expanded over the years to explore play and experimental games across digital and physical spaces [in Australia and New Zealand].”

Ahead of the 29 February awards ceremony, here are this year’s nominees.

Across the Ditch

• Arcane Crimes Division (Imaginary Empire)
• Idyll (Demi Schänzel)
• Seedlings (Bardsley Creative)

Design

• Dap (Melting Parrot)
• Wayward Strand (ghost pattern)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam Games)
• Spin Rhythm XD (Super Spin Digital)
• Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)
• KILLBUG (Samurai Punk)

Visual Art

• Wayward Strand (ghost pattern)
• Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)
• Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg (Fuzzy Ghost)
• Dap (Melting Parrot)
• You Will (Not) Remain (Bad Eldritches)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam Games)

Audio

• Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)
• Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Summerfall Studios)
• Dap (Melting Parrot)
• Wayward Strand (ghost pattern)
• You Will (Not) Remain (Bad Eldritches)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam Games)

Narrative

• Wayward Strand (ghost pattern)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam Games)
• Trail of the Wretched (Xavier Bell, Jason Reagen, Khoa Ho)
• Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg (Fuzzy Ghost)
• Amarantus (ub4q)
• Final Profit: A Shop RPG (Brent Arnold)

Non-Digital

• Owlbear Omelette (Caradoc Games)
• Rainbow Paths (Helen Kwok & Chad Toprak)
• Mesozoic Mayhem (Craig Somerton)
• TRADE (Barking Spider Creative)
• Fragged Empire 2 (Wade Dyer)
• The Score (Tin Star Games)

Micro-Game

• The Search for the Golden Crown Plant (Tom and Dad Games)
• Seethe and Scab (Max Myers)
• Bin Chicken Has A Go! (T-Dog eXtreme)
• In Search of Lost Scroll (Vidya Rajan)
• Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Sure! (Toot Games)
• Sometimes (Elliot Cox)

Experimental

• Grasping (Duncan Corrigan)
• THE SOUL OF TOO BIRDS (Nonsense Machine)
• In Search of Lost Scroll (Vidya Rajan)
• Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg (Fuzzy Ghost)
• The Hotline (Kasey Gambling)
• Quite Contrary (Helen Kwok & Chad Toprak)

Emerging Developers

• Dial In (Julian Lia)
• Florrae (Perlinators)
• Final Profit: A Shop RPG (Brent Arnold)
• You Will (Not) Remain (Bad Eldritches)
• In Search of Lost Scroll (Vidya Rajan)
• Dap (Melting Parrot)

“The response to this year’s Awards round went beyond all our expectations, and it’s been a pleasure to see people from all sorts of backgrounds in games and play put their hat in the ring,” said Creatrix Tiara, Freeplay awards lead.

Best of luck to all nominees.