The Indie Groundbreaker Awards
Join us for our online ceremony on July 29th at 9 p.m. EST! Click here for a link to our event Discord.
The IGDN is pleased to present the Indie Groundbreaker Awards, which are designed to shine a spotlight on excellence in the indie game design community. These awards will recognize games (and game designers) who are creating new and exciting game designs that push the boundaries in innovation, in promoting diversity, and in expanding what it means to be “indie.”
The Indie Groundbreaker Awards, while presented by the IGDN, are meant to recognize all indie designers across the industry. Therefore, our judging panel will be made up of professionals from both inside and outside our organization. These judges will provide an unbiased group decision, as games they have worked on will not be eligible for submission this year.
And the 2023 Nominees are…
MOST INNOVATIVE
A Collection of Improving Exercises - By Tim Hutchings
Dinocar - By Julie-Anne Muñoz
The Sticker Game - By Cassi Mothwin and Joshua Peters
VOID 1680 AM - By Ken Lowery (writer, designer, layout), Jordan Witt (cover artist), Dylan Todd (radio diagram designs)
World Ending Game - By Everest Pipkin (Writer and Designer), Andy Pressman (Layout and Print Design)
Best Art
Dinocar - By Julie-Anne Muñoz
Exquisite Biome -By Caro Asercion (game design, writing, art direction, layout), Si F. Sweetman (illustration)
Ma Nishtana: Why is this Night Different? - By Gabrielle Rabinowitz and Ben Bisogno (Writing and Design), Katrin Dirim (Art)
Notorious - By Jason Price (Writing & Design), Torben Bökemeyer (Artwork), Jack Harrison (Layout), Will Jobst (Editing)
Slugblaster | Kickflip Over a Quantum Centipede - By Mikey Hamm
Best Graphic Design
Butter Princess - By Brian Sago (author), Mike Martens (design)
Dead Air - By Fiona Ruthven
Flabbergasted! - By Fleur Sciortino, Chelsea Sciortino
Lichoma - By Strega Wolf van den Berg (layout, artist & designer), Tessa Winters, Walton Wood, Michael Mars (Writers), Walton Wood, Ian Long, Ashley Kronebusch (Editing)
Best Rules
Justicar - By Nevyn Holmes
The Lovers - By Alyx Schroeder (design) & Adam Vass (design, layout)
Ma Nishtana: Why is this Night Different? - By Gabrielle Rabinowitz and Ben Bisogno (Writing and Design), Katrin Dirim (Art)
Saltfish & Almanacs - By Vee Hendro & Hayley Gordon (Game Designers and Publishers; Storybrewers Roleplaying)
Thousand Arrows - By James Mendez Hodes (Author) Brennan Taylor (Concept & Design), Tim Rodriguez (Publisher)
Best Setting
Dead Air - By Fiona Ruthven
Fight to Survive - By James Kerr (publisher, design, writing, layout), with artists Ian MacLean, Steven Wu, and Sofia Lopez
Gubat Banwa - By Joaquin Kyle Saavedra (Creator, Main Writer, Developer), Dylan Briones (Art Director, Artist)
Here We Used to Fly - By Kurt Refling and Ian Howard (Designers), Jędrzej Nyka, Katarzyna Kołodyńska, and Minerva Fox (Artists), Jean Verne (Layout)
Into the Cess and Citadel - By Charles Ferguson-Avery and Alex Coggon (Writers/Artists), Brandon K. Aten and Matthew Orr (Production)
Game of the Year
Alchemistresses - By Allison Cole(Designer), Dora Rogers(Designer), Michael Marcotte (Designer), Brandy M Wright (Layout), Léonore Renahy (Art)
Butter Princess - By Brian Sago (author), Mike Martens (design)
City of Winter - By Ross Cowman (Game Designer), Doug Keith (Illustrator)
Slugblaster | Kickflip Over a Quantum Centipede - By Mikey Hamm
World Ending Game - By Everest Pipkin (Writer and Designer), Andy Pressman (Layout and Print Design)
Honorable Mentions
Important Dates:
Submissions Open: May 1st, 2023
Submissions Close: May 30th, 2023
Nominees Announced: July 15th, 2023
Winners Announced: July 29th, 2023 (9 p.m. EST)
Submissions
Submissions will continue all through June. You can submit your game by filling out the form at this link We ask that all games are submitted digitally this year. Games must have been released since the last Indie Groundbreakers submission period (June 1st, 2022) and must not have been submitted to a previous Indie Groundbreaker Awards.
Award Categories
There are 5 award categories. Every game submitted will be eligible to win in any one category, as determined by the judges.
Most Innovative – Recognizing the most innovative and unique game design
Best Art – Recognizing the best artwork, logos, graphic design, and layout
Best Rules – Recognizing best mechanics, judging on rules set & clarity
Best Setting – Recognizing the most evocative, interesting, solid and unique setting.
Game of the Year – An overall award given to the best game of the year.
JUDGING
Each year a panel of judges decides the winners and runner ups. Two judges are IGDN members and two are from outside the membership.
Judges can apply by emailing IndieGroundbreaker@gmail.com with the subject line “[year] JUDGE APPLICANT” .
Judges are selected by the IGDN leadership team annually.
Judges decide on finalists in each category from among the nominees, to be announced 30 days before GenCon.
Eligible Games
The awards submissions must conform to the following requirements:
GAMES MUST:
Type of games: The game must be considered a LARP, tabletop RPG, Card Game, Board Game, or some variant within (such as a dice game).
Independently published: The game must be conceived and published by artists, designers, and developers. The judges retain final judgment over whether or not a product
is “indie.”Complete, published and available: The game must be available on some kind of store-front, whether it be a free pdf download on DriveThruRPG, purchased through Amazon, or distributed through Alliance. Furthermore, the game must be complete, including all pieces and information necessary for a full (non-demo) game. Reasonable exceptions apply for universally available materials, such as the need for pencils and paper.
Recent: Games must have been released since the last Indie Groundbreakers.
GAMES CANNOT BE:
Sports or Sport-like: The game should be able to be played well without the need to train the player’s physical attributes in order to get better at it. While obvious exclusions are things like tennis and baseball, this also includes other physical games that do not have a storytelling component.
Video Games: Games that solely rely on digital interface. Electronic components are welcome, but must focus on the above “game must be” criterium.
Re-releases & Second editions: Previously released products are only eligible if they have not previously won in any category. If a new edition is a substantial revision (i.e. D&D 5th Edition) it can be declared eligible by unanimous consent of the judges.
Judges: Games created by or produced by a judge of that year’s awards are disqualified.
Illegal or unethical.
Winners & Prizes
AWARD WINNERS
An IGDN PDF gaming bundle.
Acknowledgments on hall of fame award page.
Rights to the Indie Groundbreaker Awards Winner logo and acknowledgements on the winning game.
RUNNER UPS
Rights to the Indie Groundbreaker Awards Winner logo.
Acknowledgements as a Indie Groundbreaker Runner-Up.
*Physical copies will not be returned. They will be used by the judges to determine quality and then raffled off to help cover the costs of the awards program.
GAME OF THE YEAR
An IGDN PDF gaming bundle.
Recognition on hall of fame award page.
Rights to the Indie Groundbreaker Awards Game of the Year logo and acknowledgements on the winning game.
The “Game of the Year” is invited to display and sell their winning game at all major conventions with an IGDN presence, free of cost (shipping not included), for the next year.
JUDGES
Digital copies of all submitted games.
Acknowledgements on the hall of fame award page.
Meet the 2023 Indie Groundbreakers Judges!
Samantha Leigh (she/they)
Samantha Leigh (she/they) is a game designer and the owner of Blinking Birch Games. Sam is best known for their solo tarot game, Anamnesis, and her short-form videos about indie TTRPGs. They have written for The Zone, Cloud Empress, and Project ECCO, among others.
Sonya Henar (she/her)
Sonya Henar (she/her) is a freelance character designer and Ennie Award winning illustrator. She’s worked on a number of projects ranging from mobile games, board games, card games, a calendar, ttrpg books, and even designing for tv animation. When she isn’t working, she’s often found chasing down and stopping the mischievous antics of her massively huge one year old golden retriever puppy, Farley (who she had to chase down and get a rock out of his mouth while typing up this bio).
Doug Levandowski (he/him)
Doug Levandowski (he/him) is a freelance game designer and writer from New Jersey. His work includes all of the Kids on Bikes RPGs, a bunch of weird little indie games you can find on itch.io, and, most recently, Home from Wet Ink Games. His ideal rules for an RPG are, “Tell a story with friends. Use dice if you want.”
And the 2022 Nominees are…
MOST INNOVATIVE
A Fantastic Longing For Adventure - Tim Hutchings
Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall - Wet Ink Games and Game and a Curry
LAST SENTINELS - Jason Price
My Body is a Cage - Batts
Shanty Hunters - Tristan Zimmerman
BEST ART
A Fantastic Longing For Adventure - Tim Hutchings
The Girlfriend of My Girlfriend is My Friend - Sasha "stargazersasha" Winter
Monster Care Squad - Sandy Pug Games
My Body is a Cage - Batts
Stacks of Goblins - CobblePath Games
BEST RULES
Archives of Alexandria - Adam Vass & Will Jobst
Grasping Nettles - Adam Bell
GUN&SLINGER - Nevyn Holmes
Savage Sisters - @9thLevelGames
Thursday - Eli Seitz
BEST SETTING
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to ToonTown - Vivien Grimm
Arcon: City of Neon Daylight - Kienna Shaw, Jason Cutrone and Metal Weave Games
Brave Zenith - Giuliano Roverato
Stealing the Throne - Nick Bate
Xanadu - Carrollastrophe Games
Game of the year
Brave Zenith - Giuliano Roverato
GUN&SLINGER - Nevyn Holmes
LAST SENTINELS - Jason Price
Shanty Hunters - Tristan Zimmerman
Stacks of Goblins - CobblePath Games
And the Winners are…
All previous award winners can be found here
Want to know how to apply or how to contribute? Email us at IndieGroundbreaker@gmail.com