Independent Games Festival awards finalists revealed

Independent Games Festival (IGF) organizers today announced the Main Competition finalists for the 16th annual awards show, including main prize nominees The Stanley Parable and Don't Starve.

This year's pool saw more than 650 entrants, but a panel of judges whittled the list down to a group of more than 30 games that were released in the past year.

This year's IGF Awards take place on Wednesday, March 19 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco as part of the 2014 Game Developers Conference. Yet again, GameSpot is the exclusive streaming partner for the event.

All Main Competition finalist games will be playable at GDC 2014 March 19-21. What's more, finalists will receive a Steam distribution offer, while the winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize will take home $30,000. Past winners of that award include the likes of Minecraft and Super Meat Boy.

The full list of finalists for every category for this year's IGF awards, including honorable mentions, is listed below.

Excellence In Visual Art:

• DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
• Gorogoa (Jason Roberts)
• The Banner Saga (Stoic)
• Perfect Stride (Arcane Kids)
• Samorost3 (Amanita Design)
• Drei (Etter)
• Honorable mentions: Shelter (Might & Delight); Galak-Z (17-BIT); The Swapper(Facepalm Games); The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll); Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)

Excellence In Narrative:

• The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)
• Paralect (Paralect Team)
• DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
• Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
• The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)
• Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
• Honorable mentions: Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games); Gorogoa (Jason Roberts); Redshirt (The Tiniest Shark); Detective Grimoire (SFB Games); Monster Loves You (Radial Games Corp. & Dejobaan Games, LLC.)

Excellence In Design:

• TowerFall Ascension (Matt Thorson)
• 868-HACK (Michael Brough)
• Mushroom 11 (Untame)
• Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
• Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
• Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
• Honorable mentions: The Banner Saga (Stoic); Perfect Stride (Arcane Kids); Threes(Asher Vollmer, Greg Wohlwend & Jimmy Hinson); DEVICE 6 (Simogo); Gorogoa(Jason Roberts)

Excellence In Audio:

• Samorost3 (Amanita Design)
• Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
• The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)
• Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
• DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
• The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)
• Honorable mentions: Sokobond (Alan Hazelden, Harry Lee & Ryan Roth); The Banner Saga (Stoic); Potatoman Seeks the Troof (Pixeljam); Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games);Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)

Nuovo Award:

• Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
• Luxuria Superbia (Tale of Tales)
• Extrasolar (Lazy 8 Studios)
• Perfect Woman (Peter Lu and Lea Schonfelder)
• SoundSelf (Robin Arnott)
• Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
• Save the Date (Paper Dino Software)
• Corrypt (Michael Brough)
• Honorable mentions: Shelter (Might & Delight); DEVICE 6 (Simogo); Elegy for a Dead World (Dejobaan Games with Popcannibal); SUPERHOT (SUPERHOT Team); 18 Cadence (Aaron A. Reed)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

• The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)
• Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
• Jazzpunk (Necrophone Games)
• Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
• DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
• Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" (Deirdra Kiai Productions)
• Honorable mentions: Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games); TowerFall Ascension (Matt Thorson); Kerbal Space Program (Squad); 868-HACK (Michael Brough); The Yawhg (Damian Sommer & Emily Carroll)