Village Gamer

The Casual Games Association (CGA) has announced the winner’s of the first North American Indie Prize Showcase at its Casual Connect Conference in San Francisco. Of more than one hundred independent development teams chosen by the Indie Prize committee to demonstrate great unpublished games, ten teams walked away with Indie Prize Awards.

Developer Czarcade was awarded Best in Show for the casual mobile puzzle game Clobbr. The Indie Prize for Best in Show was determined by the audience of show attendees and developers participating in the Indie Prize Showcase. Remaining nine awards where determined by the Casual Connect Indie Prize Committee.

“It is astonishing to see how far talented and creative developers like Czarcade can take their games without the help of a publishing contract or venture capital,” said Jessica Tams, Managing Director of the Casual Games Association. “The Indie Prize Showcase has fast become the most talked about event at Casual Connect and something we hope continues to drive innovation and new publishing relationships.”

Indie Prize Showcase Winners:

Best In Show: Clobbr by Czarcade (Mobile)

Best Game Art: Dragon Up by East Side Games (Mobile)

Best Game Audio: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams by Black Forest Games (Console/Steam)

Most Innovative Game: 7 Grand Steps by Mousechief (PC Download)

Best Story: The Ballads of Reemus by ClickShake Games (PC Download)

Most Promising Game in Development: Lost Toys by Barking Mouse Studio (Mobile)

Best Mobile Game: Skiing Fred by Dedalord Games (Mobile)

Best Desktop Game: Guns of Icarus Online by Muse Games (Steam)

Best Puzzle Game: Rise of The Blobs by Robot Invader (Mobile)

Best Multiplayer: Astroflux by Fula Fisken (Online browser)

Additionally, five game development teams received Director’s Choice award, sponsored by Unity:

Winning Blimp with Mosaique

Keybol with Pretentious Game 2

MagicalTimeBean with Escape Goat 2

Archive Entertainment with 8BitMMO

StaalMedia with Steamyballs

Elin Jonsson, co-founder and artist at Imaginary Games received the Most Prominent Female Developer Award.

Indie Prize Showcase at Casual Connect USA was sponsored by BlackBerry, Applifier, SponsorPay, Gamestick, Soomla, Kongregate and Microsoft. Special prizes were furnished by AppPromo, Applifier, BlackBerry, ClickTeam, Tango, Unity and WildTangent.

The Indie Prize Showcase is a free program created to reward the industry’s top independent development talent with resources, relationships and recognition.