Game Developers Choice Awards

The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.^[1] Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999.^[2]

Nomination and voting process

In 2007, gamasutra.com took over management of the awards from the IGDA.^[3] An advisory board selected by the editors of gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine oversees the selection process.

Nominations are accepted from registered gamasutra.com users, confirmed to be game developers, and from the advisory board. Once the nomination process is complete, the advisory board identifies five finalists for each regular category.

The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer (formerly known as First Penguin) and Maverick awards are selected by the advisory board. For the other awards, a vote open to all those who participated in the nomination process chooses a recipient from each category's finalists.^[4]

List of winners

Note: Events held for awards are held early in the following year. Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

Game of the Year

The Game of the Year Award recognizes the overall best game released during the previous calendar year, as interpreted by the members of the Game Developers Conference.

Best Debut Game

The Best Debut Game Award recognizes the best game from any development studio which released its first publicly available title during the calendar year. This was formally known as the New Studio of the Year Award. In years prior to 2008, the award was awarded to the studio name, as opposed to the game title.

• 2000: Valve Corporation / Minh Le / Jess Cliffe (for Counter-Strike)
• 2001: Bohemia Interactive (for Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis)
• 2002: Retro Studios (for Metroid Prime)
• 2003: Infinity Ward (for Call of Duty)
• 2004: Crytek (for Far Cry)
• 2005: Double Fine Productions (for Psychonauts)
• 2006: Iron Lore Entertainment (for Titan Quest)
• 2007: Realtime Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios (for Crackdown)
• 2008: Media Molecule (for LittleBigPlanet)
• 2009: Runic Games (for Torchlight)
• 2010: Mojang (for Minecraft)
• 2011: Supergiant Games (for Bastion)
• 2012: Subset Games (for FTL: Faster Than Light)
• 2013: The Fullbright Company (for Gone Home)
• 2014: Stoic Studio (for The Banner Saga)
• 2015: Moon Studios (for Ori and the Blind Forest)^[21]

Best Handheld Game

Best Handheld Game Award recognizes the overall best game commercially released on any handheld platform.

• 2007: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• 2008: God of War: Chains of Olympus
• 2009: Scribblenauts
• 2010: Cut the Rope
• 2011: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
• 2012: The Room
• 2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
• 2014: Monument Valley
• 2015: Her Story^[21]

Best Downloadable Game

Best Downloadable Game Award recognizes the overall best game released on console or PC platforms specifically and solely for digital download - with an emphasis on smaller, more 'casual'-friendly titles.

• 2014: Papers, Please
• 2013: Journey
• 2012: Bastion
• 2011: Minecraft
• 2010: Flower
• 2009: World of Goo
• 2008: flOw

Excellence in Audio

The Excellence in Audio award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in a game, including sound effects, musical composition, sound design and orchestration.

• 2016: Crypt of the NecroDancer^[21]
• 2015: Alien Isolation
• 2014: BioShock Infinite
• 2013: Journey
• 2012: Portal 2
• 2011: Red Dead Redemption
• 2010: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• 2009: Dead Space
• 2008: BioShock
• 2007: Guitar Hero II
• 2006: Guitar Hero
• 2005: Halo 2
• 2004: Call of Duty
• 2003: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
• 2002: Halo: Combat Evolved
• 2001: Diablo II

Excellence in Game Design/Best Design

The Excellence in Game Design award recognizes the overall excellence of design in a game, including gameplay, mechanics, puzzles, play balancing and scenarios.

• 2016: Rocket League^[21]
• 2015: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
• 2014: The Last of Us
• 2013: Journey
• 2012: Portal 2
• 2011: Red Dead Redemption
• 2010: Batman: Arkham Asylum
• 2009: LittleBigPlanet
• 2008: Portal
• 2007: Wii Sports
• 2006: Shadow of the Colossus
• 2005: Katamari Damacy
• 2004: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• 2003: Battlefield 1942
• 2002: Grand Theft Auto III
• 2001: Deus Ex

Best Technology

The Technology award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in a game, including graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking and physics.

2016: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt^[21]

2015: Destiny

2014: Grand Theft Auto V

2013: Far Cry 3

2012: Battlefield 3

2011: Red Dead Redemption

2010: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2009: LittleBigPlanet

2008: Crysis

2007: Gears of War

2006: Nintendogs

2005: Half-Life 2

Excellence in Visual Arts

The Excellence in Visual Arts award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in a game, including animation, modeling, art direction and textures.

2016: Ori and the Blind Forest^[21]

2015: Monument Valley

2014: BioShock Infinite

2013: Journey

2012: Uncharted 3

2011: Limbo

2010: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2009: Prince of Persia

2008: BioShock

2007: Gears of War

2006: Shadow of the Colossus

2005: World of Warcraft

2004: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

2003: Kingdom Hearts

2002: ICO

2001: Jet Grind Radio

Excellence in Writing/Best Narrative

The Excellence in Writing award recognizes the quality of writing in a game, including story, plot construction, dialogue and branching narratives.

2016: Her Story^[21]

2015: Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3

2014: The Last of Us

2013: The Walking Dead

2012: Portal 2

2011: Mass Effect 2

2010: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2009: Fallout 3

2008: BioShock

2007: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

2006: Psychonauts

2005: Half-Life 2

2004: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

2003: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Game Innovation Spotlights/Innovation Award

The Game Innovation Spotlights recognize games that demonstrate innovation and push the boundaries of games as an expressive medium. Multiple awards are given each year.

2016: Her Story^[21]

2015: Monument Valley

2014: Papers, Please

2013: Journey

2012: Johann Sebastian Joust

2011: Minecraft

2010: Scribblenauts

2009: LittleBigPlanet

2008: Portal

2007: Line Rider; Ōkami; Wii Sports

2006: Nintendogs; Guitar Hero

2005: Donkey Konga; I Love Bees; Katamari Damacy

2004: EyeToy: Play; Viewtiful Joe; WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

2003: Animal Crossing; Battlefield 1942; Medal of Honor: Allied Assault; The Thing

2002: Black and White; Grand Theft Auto III; ICO; Majestic; Rez

2001: Counter-Strike; Crazy Taxi; Deus Ex; Jet Grind Radio; No One Lives Forever

Special Awards Recipients

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the achievements of a developer who has impacted games and game development.

2016: Todd Howard^[21]

2015: Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy series)

2014: Ken Kutaragi

2013: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (Bioware)

2012: Warren Spector (Deus Ex, System Shock, Thief: The Dark Project)

2011: Peter Molyneux (God games)

2010: John Carmack (Doom series)

2009: Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear series)

2008: Sid Meier (Civilization series and many different simulators)

2007: Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda)

2006: Richard Garriott (Ultima)

2005: Eugene Jarvis (Defender and Robotron: 2084)

2004: Mark Cerny (Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon)

2003: Gunpei Yokoi (1941–1997) (Game Boy, Super Mario Land series, Metroid series)

2002: Yuji Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog)

2001: Will Wright (Sim games)

The Pioneer Award

Known as the First Penguin award until 2007, the Pioneer Award celebrates individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept or gameplay design.

2016: Markus "Notch" Persson (creator of Minecraft)^[21]

2015: David Braben (founder of Frontier Developments, co-creator of the Elite series)

2014: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill (creators of Riot Games)^[22]

2013: Steve Russell (creator of Spacewar!)

2012: Dave Theurer

2011: Yu Suzuki

2010: Gabe Newell (founder of Valve Corporation)

2009: Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy (founders of Harmonix)

2008: Ralph Baer (inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey)

2007: Alexey Pajitnov (creator of Tetris)

2006: Don Woods, Will Crowther (creators of the early text game Adventure)

2005: Richard Bartle (co-creator of MUD, ancestor to MMOs)

2004: Masaya Matsuura (founder of NanaOn-Sha, pioneer of music/game integration)

2003: David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Jim Levy, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead (founders of Activision)

2002: Hubert Chardot ("for his risk-taking work on Alone in the Dark")

2001: Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer (creators of LucasArts's Habitat)

Ambassador Award

The Ambassador Award is given to individuals within or outside the industry who helped video games "advance to a better place."^[23] It replaced the IGDA Award for Community Contribution after 2008.^[24]

2016: Tracy Fullerton^[21]

2015: Brenda Romero

2014: Anita Sarkeesian (Feminist Frequency)^[22]

2013: Chris Melissinos (Sun Microsystems)

2012: Kenneth Doroshow and Paul M. Smith (the lawyers in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association who argued for the Entertainment Merchants Association in the US Supreme Court.)

2011: Tim Brengle and Ian Mackenzie (Organizers of the Game Developers Conference volunteer program for 20+ years^[25])

2010: Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Robert Khoo

2009: Tommy Tallarico

2008: Jason Della Rocca

Audience Award

These awards are voted by the audience for best game of that year.

2016: Life Is Strange^[21]

2015: Elite: Dangerous

2014: Kerbal Space Program

2013: Dishonored

Retired awards

The following award categories have been retired or replaced with a different focus.

Character Design

The Character Design award recognizes the overall excellence of non-licensed character design in a game, including originality, character arc and emotional depth.

2007: Ōkami

2006: Shadow of the Colossus

2005: Half-Life 2

Excellence in Level Design

2003: Metroid Prime

2002: ICO

2001: American McGee's Alice

Excellence in Programming

2004: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2003: Neverwinter Nights

2002: Black and White

2001: The Sims

IGDA Award for Community Contribution

The IGDA Award for Community Contribution recognized developers for significant efforts "building community, sharing knowledge, speaking on behalf of developers and/or contributing to the art form of game development".^[24] The Ambassador Award replaced it after 2007.^[23]

2007: George Sanger

2006: Chris Hecker

2005: Sheri Graner Ray

2004: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk

2003: Doug Church (Eidos Interactive)

2002: Jeff Lander

2001: John Carmack

Original Game Character of the Year

2004: "HK-47" from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

2003: "Sly Cooper" from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

2002: "Daxter" from Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

2001: "Seaman" from Seaman

Maverick Award

The Maverick Award recognizes the current achievements of a developer who exhibits independence in thought and action while experimenting with alternate/emerging forms of digital games.

2007: Greg Costikyan

2006: Mike Dornbrook, Eran Egozy, Greg LoPiccolo, and Alex Rigopulos (Harmonix Music Systems)

2005: Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr, and Nick Tandavanitj (Blast Theory)

2004: Brian Fiete, Jason Kapalka, and John Vechey (PopCap Games)

Best New Social/Online Game

2010: FarmVille

References

External links

• Official website