It may not be the sexiest event during SXSW but co-hosts Meredith Molinari, host of the PlayStation Network’s reality series The Tester, and local indie game developer Adam Saltsman had some surprising charm for such an odd couple as they ad-libbed the majority of their way through the technical-difficulty ridden event. And the winners are …
Taking home the Intel award for innovation was Austin sound designer Robin Arnott’s Deep Sea: a visual-less game that involves putting on a gas mask and listening for monsters in an attempt to blow them out of the virtual depths without any help from your eyes.
Black Pants Games were handed the Unity Award for Overall Excellence for their game Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers.
Chewy, a sticky and gooey game from Happy Candy Land involves stretching and sticking in an attempt to overcome obstacles and too hope the award for best design and $25,000.
For Technical Excellence the team at Turtle Sandbox also took home a $25,000 novelty check for their puzzle game, Creo, that makes players design vehicles to get from point A to B. With lots of hurdles and baddies between the two.
Best Audio went to the Limbo-esque Skinny. That means another $25,000 and another weird snakelike trophy.
More money and a trophy for Best Art went to the lovingly rendered Uncanny Fish Hunt.
Finally, the big money ($50,000) went to Marco Marino and Matthew Thomas for their electro-spider platformer GLiD. The game’s unique controls and polished design are certainly deserving.
This article appears in March 11 • 2011.
