The 2021 Freeplay Awards Finalists
The Freeplay Award
🏆 Umurangi Generation – ORIGAME DIGITAL 🏆
Excellence in Design
- art of rally – Funselektor
- Ring of Pain – Twice Different
- Room to Grow – Mischka Kamener
- Webbed – Sbug Games 🏆
- Wrestledunk Sports – Team Fractal Alligator
Excellence in Visual Art
- Completely Stretchy and Uncomfortably Sticky – Daniel Ferguson 🏆
- Parselings A Deckbuilding TTRPG – Smunchy Games
- Ring of Pain – Twice Different
- The Snowgardens – Anthony Cristiano
- Umurangi Generation – ORIGAME DIGITAL
Excellence in Audio
- art of rally – Funselektor
- Mealmates – magicdweedoo 🏆
- Neon Cyborg Cat Club – Edwin Montgomery
- Umurangi Generation – ORIGAME DIGITAL
- Webbed – Sbug Games
Excellence in Narrative
- A Long Goodbye – Dana McKay 🏆
- Detective Story – Ange Crawford
- Hard Wired Island – Weird Age Games
- UNDER A STAR CALLED SUN – Cecile Richard
- Villagesong – Storybrewers Roleplaying
Non-Digital Game Award
- Hard Wired Island – Weird Age Games
- Mausritter – Isaac Williams
- Rascals – Caradoc Games
- The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The Universe – Ella Lim 🏆
- Villagesong – Storybrewers Roleplaying
Micro-Game Award
- A Long Goodbye – Dana McKay
- Starjump – Luca Harris
- S̶p̶i̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ – Jack Wilson
- Terracotta – Olivia Haines
- UNDER A STAR CALLED SUN – Cecile Richard 🏆
Experimental Game Award
- Dearest; vacancies in deep time – Mohamed Chamas
- Heartree – Helen Kwok & Israel Carter
- Neon Cyborg Cat Club – Edwin Montgomery 🏆
- REDBLUE – Noah Seymour
- The Solivagants (or, Videogames Fail at Character Context) – Rowan Crawford
Student Game Award
- A Long Goodbye – Dana McKay
- Azoic (Golem) – Tumbleweed Games
- Completely Stretchy and Uncomfortably Sticky – Daniel Ferguson
- Sink / Swim – Michelle Chen
- The Snowgardens – Anthony Cristiano 🏆
Across The Ditch Award
- Before We Leave – Balancing Monkey Games 🏆
- Best Friend Forever – Starcolt
- Tana’s S.H.A.P.E – Tana Tanoi
- Trigger Witch – Rainbite
- Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary – Sky Bear Games
Honourable Mentions
Monolith – Ella Lim
Guild Master – Chris Antony
Pareidolia – Rowan Crawford
Bodily Visions – Tim Snowdon
Real-Time Cancellation Adventure – Vidya Rajan
Hannah: A Friend in Need – Lotus Media Studios
Hi [NAME] I’m Dad! – Logan Timmins
The Swamp You Die In – Ive Sorocuk
Seventeen Reasons – Steve Dee
Video World – Jacob Leaney
18 Holes – Seabrook Studios
Pebble Witch – Fuzzy Ghost
Wii Splorts – Zac Lucarelli
Hope – Scott Cabot
2021 Freeplay Awards Jury
Jason Imms (Jury Chair, TAS)
is a founder and board member of Tasmanian Game Makers, Director of Quality Assurance at Mighty Kingdom, and formerly a games and technology journalist for a wide range of Australian and US publications (GameSpot, Giant Bomb, Kill Screen, Hyper Magazine, PC PowerPlay, and more), and managing director of The Machine QA. His varied career and experience in the Australian games scene has led to him sitting on the Film Victoria digital media assessment panel, and the Tasmanian Ministerial Arts and Cultural Advisory Council.
Jason is a father of five, a husband to one, and a firm believer in the power of video games as art, entertainment, education, and for social change.
Caitlin Cronin (VIC) is a producer, editor, writer, some-time presenter and full-time spreadsheet enthusiast. She’s been published in Kotaku and The Big Issue, sat on a number of judging panels, and worked in vast array of industries including games, government and publishing. Creator of the ACMI Gamers Club – a monthly meet-up dedicated to providing a space for underrepresented folks to meet and play video games – she is passionate about games as a medium for everyone.
Samantha E. Schaffer (SA) is an American artist and software developer based in Adelaide. Their passion is exploring the intersection of art and technology, as well as minimizing its barriers to entry to help others do the same. As an independent game developer, Sam creates art-games that blur the line between game and poetry. In their free time, they can be found wandering around taking photos, playing too much Pokemon Go, and judging you.
Jae Stuart (NSW) is a designer and programmer drawn to narrative games. Projects they’ve worked on have been shown at Amaze, GDC and SXSW, and nominated for awards at Freeplay and Play By Play. In 2020 they collaborated with Cecile Richard on the online social spaces the Freeplay ZONE and Parallels ZONE for Freeplay and a ZONE for the Researching Game-making Workshop. Inspired by art game events they worked with Sydney gamedevs to organise a popup games space, Serenade, at the very beginning of 2020 and a Games Space for Static Vision’s Dreamscapes Festival in 2021.
Demi Schänzel (NZ) is a small-time designer in the digital humanities, advocating for compassionate design practices and exploring the intersection between game design and online communication. With games often focussed on the kindred and intimate; Demi adores nothing more than to snuggle up over the computer with freshly-brewed coffee, and quietly code their mornings away.
Anthony Sweet (WA) is a writer and designer for strategy game specialist Black Lab Games. He also runs the Perth-based interactive writers’ group The Page, and has been involved in the WA games scene in one form or another for over a decade.
Ben McKenzie (VIC) is a performer, writer and game designer. He is a creator and star of radio comedy Night Terrace, host and producer of the Terry Pratchett podcast Pratchat, and teaches writing for Collarts’ comedy degree. His games work runs the gamut of tabletop, digital, escape rooms, live action, VR and ARGs. His favourite dinosaur is Stegosaurus, and his favourite element is helium.
Edmond Tran (NSW) is the managing editor of ScreenHub. He was previously at GameSpot for 12 years, where he served as the Australian Editor.
Andrew Brophy (VIC) is a game designer from Melbourne. He is ½ of Hovergarden and ⅞ of the videogame Knuckle Sandwich.
Allison Walker (VIC) is a Naarm based, all around audio nerd for games and live events. She can be found in a variety of environments and in a variety of forms: She is a self taught composer, live-coder, sound engineer, games designer, sound designer, drummer, workshop facilitator, and classically trained pianist. Most of her free time is spent thinking about birds and reading comics.
Ngoc Vu (VIC) is a games artist who was born and raised in Melbourne and currently works as a character artist for Hindsight. She is most renown for her work as lead artist on Necrobarista, which was awarded for it’s artistic excellence at the 2020 AGDAs and Freeplay 2019. When not drafting concepts, 3D modelling, or animating for her current projects, Ngoc likes to have a good lie down with her 2 dogs.
Previous Awards
2020
The Freeplay Award: A Hand With Many Fingers
Category Winners
Excellence in Design: A Hand with Many Fingers
Excellence in Visual Art: ENDLESS SCROLL
Excellence in Audio: Unfamiliar
Excellence in Narrative: Life Tastes Like Cardboard
Non-Digital Game Award: The Outer Whorls
Micro-Game Award: Something Looks Weird
Experimental Game Award: If We Were Allowed To Visit
Student Game Award: Ascent of Grob’s Domain
Across The Ditch Award: Leap of Leaf
2019
The Freeplay Award: New Ice York
Category Winners
Excellence in Design: JUMPGRID
Excellence in Visual Art: Necrobarista
Excellence in Audio: Skyward Journey
Excellence in Narrative: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
Non-Digital Game Award: Edible Games Cookbook
Micro-Game Award: Novena
Experimental Game Award: The Common Campfire
Student Game Award: Pigeon Game
Across The Ditch Award: Toripon 鳥ポン
2018
The Freeplay Award: The Catacombs of Solaris
Category Winners
Excellence in Design: Dissembler
Excellence in Visual Art: Paperbark
Excellence in Audio: Florence
Excellence in Narrative: Bound By Blood
Non-Digital Game Award: {<>}
Micro-Game Award: Rise
Experimental Game Award: Thomas Bowker’s Draw
Student Game Award: Lacuna
Across The Ditch Award: Echo Grotto
2015
Category Winners
Best Visual Art: Movement Study 1
Best Audio: Submerged
Best Narrative: Project Ven
Best Tech: Space Dust Racers
Best Non-Digital: Rise to Power
2013
Category Winners
Design: Framed
Visual Art: The Paper Fox
Audio Design: Particulars
Narrative: Particulars
Technical Innovation: Turnover
Non-Digital: Outside These City Walls
People’s Choice: Turnover
2012
Category Winners
Best International Game: Splice
Best Art in a Game: Toybox
Best Concept Art: Peleda
Best Audio in a Game: Lunar Flight
Best Technical Innovation: Automation
Best Writing in a Game: Flatland: Fallen Angle
2011
Category Winners
Best Design: Antichamber
Best On-Paper Design: Dead Eye
Best Art: Warco
Best Concept Art: Firo
Best Technical Innovation: Kingspray
Best Game Writing: MacGuffin’s Curse
Best Audio: Solar 2
2010
Category Winners
Best On-Paper Design: iCrazy Man
Best Art in a Game: Captain Forever (Series)
Best Concept Art: Exodus
Best Technical Innovation: Colourbind
Best Game Writing: Transumer
Best Audio: Train Conductor
Best International Game: Last Hope