After a brutal round of judging, the longlist for the inaugural Scottish Games Awards, to be held next Thursday as part of Scottish Games Week, has been whittled down to a shortlist. There are now 3 nominees left in each category; 3 games, or people working in games, who have the chance to make history by claiming one of the first-ever Scottish Games Awards.
The shortlist is as follows:
Category 1: Art and Animation
- Just Take Your Left (Mehrdad Rezaei)
- Cloudpunk (ION LANDS)
- Train Sim World 2: Island Line 2022 (Rivet Games)
Category 2: Audio
- SOLAS 128 (Amicable Animal)
- Train Sim World 2: Island Line 2022 (Rivet Games)
- A Bonnie Odyssey (Astrodreamer Studio)
Category 3: Best Educational Programme
- University of the West of Scotland Games Development Programme
- Robert Burns’ Farm at Ellisland in Minecraft
- Dundee & Angus College: HN Games Development
Category 4: Best Educator
- Daisy Abbott
- Erin Hughes
- Dr Lynn Love
Category 5: Best Large-Budget Game
Category 6: Best Small-Budget Game
Category 7: Creativity
Category 8: Diversity Champion
- Joanne Lacey
- Searra Dodds
- Tanya Laird
Category 9: Lifetime Achievement
- Tanya Laird
- Dave Jones
- Chris Sawyer
Category 10: Stewart Gilray Award (Community Spirit)
- Malath Abbas
- Colin Macdonald
- Dr Amanda Ford
Category 11: Technical Achievement
- Monstrum 2 (Team Junkfish)
- A Bonnie Odyssey (Astrodreamer Studio)
- From the Depths (Brilliant Skies Ltd.)
Category 12: Tools and Technology
But just who will be taking home the glory? You can find out for yourself at the Awards ceremony next week, which will be held at the Malmaison in Dundee on Thursday the 27th of October.
As before, the remaining nominees will have to run the gauntlet of our formidable judging panel, consisting of the following industry icons:
- Brian Baird: Technical Director at Bethesda Games Studios Austin
- Joe Donnelly: Feature Writer at GamesRadar+
- Alisdair Gunn: Director at Glasgow City Innovation District
- Steven Hamill: COO at Scottish Edge
- Keza MacDonald: Video Games Editor at The Guardian
- Jim Trinca: Games journalist and video producer
- Jo Twist: CEO of UKIE
The panel will be chaired by Chris Scullion, Features Editor at VGC and author of The N64 Encyclopedia. He had this to say on the judging process:
“The quality of the nominees in this inaugural Scottish Games Awards is a testament to the level of talent that can be found in all sectors of the Scottish games industry. It was an honour to chair the judging panel for the first ever Awards, and I look forward to it being a catalyst for future celebrations of this thriving industry for years to come.”
Brian Baglow, Founder of the Scottish Games Network and Director of Scottish Games Week, was keen to reflect on the judging process so far, and the sheer volume of talent present across all the nominees:
“It has been inspiring to see the whole games awards unfold and take shape. From the call for entries it was clear that the judges were going to have a difficult task given the quality of the people, organisations and games which were received.
Scotland is home to some of the most creative, talented and passionate people creating, teaching, or working in the global games ecosystem. I’m delighted we are able to recognise and celebrate them as part of Scottish Games Week.
I’d like to thank Chris and the judges for all of their hard work and wish all of our finalists the very best of luck. We will see you in Dundee!”
The Scottish Games Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday the 27th of October, at the Malmaison in Dundee. You can get tickets here, and you can grab tickets to other Scottish Games Week events here.