Every year, for the past twelve years, the annual Independent Games Festival Awards have taken place in concert with the Game Developers Conference, a gathering of professional game developers from all around the world.

This year, the thirteenth annual IGF Awards will take place to recognise the work and accomplishments of some of the best independent game developers, who are all currently chipping away at their grand game designs to eventually share a finished, fully polished product with the world.

Finalists for the awards ceremony have been announced, and there are some heavy-hitters in amongst the categories which comprise ‘Excellence in Visual Art,’ ‘Excellence in Design,’ and the ultra-prestigious ‘Seumas McNally Grand Prize.’

Included in the nominees list is the Cape Town, South Africa-based QCF Design for the team’s fast-paced Roguelike dungeon-crawling RPG, Desktop Dungeons.

Here is the full list of nominees in each category:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
• SpyParty (Chris Hecker)
• Desktop Dungeons (QCF Design)
• Minecraft (Mojang)
• Nidhogg (Messhof)

Honorable mentions:

Neptune’s Pride (Iron Helmet Games); Super Crate Box (Vlambeer); Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale (Carpe Fulgur); Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games); Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment)

Excellence In Visual Art

• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• The Dream Machine (Cockroach)
• Cave Story (2010 Edition) (Nicalis)
• Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games)
• Hohokum (Honeyslug & Richard Hogg)

Honorable mentions:

Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment); Cobalt (Oxeye Game Studio); Faraway (Steph Thirion); Helsing’s Fire (Ratloop); Flotilla (Blendo Games)

Technical Excellence

• Minecraft (Mojang)
• Confetti Carnival (SpikySnail Games)
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
• Neverdaunt:8Bit (Robot Loves Kitty)
• Miegakure (Marc Ten Bosch)

Honorable mentions:

Cobalt (Oxeye Game Studio); Achron (Hazardous Software); Hazard: The Journey Of Life (Demruth); Overgrowth (Wolfire Games); Swimming Under Clouds (Piece Of Pie Studios)

Excellence In Design

• Desktop Dungeons (QCF Design)
• Super Crate Box (Vlambeer)
• Nidhogg (Messhof)
• Faraway (Steph Thirion)
• Minecraft (Mojang)

Honorable mentions:

Helsing’s Fire (Ratloop); Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale (Carpe Fulgur); Flotilla (Blendo Games); Bo (Mahdi Bahrami); Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now B.U.T.T.O.N. (Copenhagen Game Collective)

Excellence In Audio

• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment)
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
• Bit.Trip Beat (Gaijin Games)
• Cobalt (Oxeye Game Studio)

Honorable mentions:

Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games); Cave Story (2010 Edition) (Nicalis); Jamestown (Final Form Games); NightSky (Nicalis); Planck (Shadegrown Games)

Best Mobile Game

• Shot Shot Shoot (Erik Svedang)
• Colorbind (Nonverbal)
• Helsing’s Fire (Ratloop)
• Solipskier (Mikengreg)
• Halcyon (Stfj)

Honorable mentions:

Flick Kick Football (PikPok); Shibuya (Nevercenter); Spirits (Spaces Of Play); Tentacles (Press Play); Trainyard (Matt Rix)

The 13th Annual IGF Awards will take place on March 2nd, so look out for the winners then!