Congratulations to all the winners of A MAZE. / Berlin 2022!
In this year, we received 189 amazing works by international artists from 51 countries. With help of the selection committee, we nominated 25 of them and our independent jury honoured the most forward thinking, genre pushing works with one of the 5 awards. With the addition of the Audience Award, which is chosen by the community, we are presenting a total of 7.000€ in prizes. A new award by our new award sponsors Wings has 2.000€ for the chosen winner.
We thank everyone who submitted and encourage everyone to look at all nominations, honorable mentions and submissions. As every year, the selection is hard, but our artists entries excellent. So without further ado - The winners of the 11TH INTERNATIONAL GAMES AND PLAYFUL MEDIA FESTIVAL are:
DIGITAL MOMENT AWARD
BORE DOME
Goblin Rage
PC
“The winners of this award experiment with new mechanics for narrative and gameplay. This experience playfully overturns the sensations we take for granted. The format of this game is not what we experienced before.” Jooyoung Oh
HUMAN HUMAN MACHINE AWARD
Okthryssia and Saturnia's Bureaucratic Adventures
Fantasia Malware
PC
“This game combines all my favorite things, stellar graphics, colors, and a strage narrative that kept me fully engaged. Okthryssia and Saturnia’s Bureaucratic Adventures - Fantasia Malware feels at once familiar and totally bizarre. We’re all caught in the hellscape of bureaucracy, why not at least make the gameplay fun and futuristic if we must participate? This project is what I imagine happening when Humans/Humans and Machines collaborate in awkward and fantastical ways. The outcomes are as unpredictable as we would expect Malware to be. ” Ash Baccus-Clark
LONG FEATURE AWARD
NORCO
Raw Fury / Geography of Robots (US)
PC, Mac
“NORCO is a monumental and timely achievement. Although its story takes place in the near-future, NORCO deftly illustrates how history is embedded in the landscapes that surround us. The game depicts a Louisiana where the rich hold parties in refurbished plantations. Where decades of fossil fuel extraction have poisoned both soil and bodies in equal measure. But NORCO's world is also full of vibrant (and incredibly well-written) characters - people who refuse to simply disappear under the weight of history.” David Cribb
EXPLORER AWARD
We Are One
Flat Head Studio
Oculus Quest 2, Valve Index, Oculus Rift
“The game principle is as new as it is ingenious. Each new challenge builds on the other and must be prepared by the player for the next level, without being able to see into the future. A dramaturgically highly exciting trick and an exciting challenge for one player who can suddenly be many. You get to know yourself all over again in the loop. And the winner of the Explorer Award is Flat Head Studio with We Are One” Bernadette Binner
AUDIENCE AWARD
Titanic II: Orchestra for Dying at Sea
Flan Falacci
PC, Mac
“Titanic II: Orchestra for Dying at Sea by Flan Falacci was selected by all participants as the winner of the Audience Award out of all exhibited works”
MOST AMAZING AWARD
Tux and Fanny
Albert Birney and Gabriel Koenig
PC, XBoxOne, XBox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
“After dark, almost dystopian years in world history, this year’s winner of Most Amazing Game feels like the escapism we all needed. Like falling down the rabbit hole, the game unfolds a surreal world where it seems like there are no boundaries for creativity and playfulness with its poetic and meaningful micro-games, imaginative, explorative visuals and weird personal stories. An utterly unique and strange experience in a universe that keeps on giving — and that you really don’t want to leave.” Ida Hartmann
WINGS AWARD
A Rejection Story!
Faezeh Khomeyrani
Web
“We are incredibly excited to be giving away this brand new “WINGS Diversity Award” for the first time here at AMAZE. Our mission at WINGS is to highlight and amplify voices that are less heard in this industry, so this partnership with Amaze, which is showcasing arthouse games by creators from a variety of backgrounds, is a great fit for us. WINGS provides funding to indie games by teams in which women and marginalized gender developers hold key positions. We are happy to say that we have funded 10 games and are always looking for more to support in the future. Without further ado, we are happy to give away the WINGS Diversity Award to Faezeh Khomeyrani and her game A Rejection Story about a girl applying for her dream job in a video game studio. It was so hard to choose among all the amazing entries for diversity, but we’re very happy to highlight Faezeh and her work. She's been very prolific and we can’t wait to play her next games. We encourage you all to give them a try as well! Congrats Faezeh! ” Krista May
