Just for fun, I wanted to make an unofficial set of awards for the games of IFComp 2024! Feel free to add your own below, especially for the games I didn’t play.
Most intriguing worldbuilding: 198BREW, by DWaM
Most charming inanimate objects: An Account of Your Visit to the Enchanted House & What You Found There, by Mandy Benanav
Best riddle-type puzzles: The Apothecary’s Assistant, by Allyson Gray
Best action captain: Awakened Deeply, by R.A. Cooper
Best experience serving spirits: Bad Beer, by Vivienne Dunstan
Worst experience serving spirits: The Bat, by Chandler Groover
Most unusual reptiles: 大鱼 | Big Fish, by 海边的taku (a.k.a. Binggang Zhuo)
Best photography: Birding in Pope Lick Park, by Eric Lathrop
Most detailed breakfast implementation of all time: Breakfast in the Dolomites, by Roberto Ceccarelli
Coolest directions: Bureau of Strange Happenings, by Phil Riley
Most likely to make you want to go outside: Campfire, by loreKin
Five Stars: Civil Service, by Helen L Liston
The coolest hand-draw illustrations: The Curse, by Rob
The Thanos Award (Reality can be whatever I want): A Death in Hyperspace, by Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J Kim, Sara Messenger, Naca Rat, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Best Helping a Friend through a Meltdown: Deliquescence, by Not-Only But-Also Riley
Most iconic duo: The Den, by Ben Jackson
Coolest mechs: The Deserter, by MemoryCanyon
Best 3d graphics: Doctor Who and the Dalek Super-Brain, by jkj yuio
Most unusual dragon: The Dragon of Silverton Mine, by Vukasin Davic
Best Boyfailure: A Dream Of Silence: Act 3, by Abigail Corfman
Most tools: Dust, by IkeC
Your choices are Fiction, Fancy, Feast, or Friends: Eikas, by Lauren O’Donoghue
Most innovative design: A few hours later in the day of The Egocentric, by Ola Hansson
Most unsettling atmosphere: Final Call, by Emily Stewart, Zoe Danieli
Inspiring the most Thermodynamics Discussion: First Contact, by dott. Piergiorgio
Best Cyberpunk: Focal Shift, by Fred Snyder
Most detailed room: Forbidden Lore, by Alex Crossley
Most wardrobe changes: Forsaken Denizen, by C.E.J. Pacian
Most ways to die: The Garbage of the Future, by AM Ruf
Most complicated weighing puzzle: Hebe, by Marina Diagourta
Best Infocom tribute: Hildy, by J. Michael
Best symbolism: House of Wolves, by Shruti Deo
Most artistic: Imprimatura, by Elizabeth Ballou
Most suspects: The Killings in Wasacona, by Steve Kollmansberger
Best Hubris: KING OF XANADU, by MACHINES UNDERNEATH
Best Doomscrolling: LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST, by THE BODY & THE BLOOD
Best setup: The Lost Artist: Prologue, by Alejandro Ruiz del Sol and Martina Oyhenard
Best Stuffed Animals: The Master’s Lair, by Stefan Hoffmann
Best-hidden Bathroom: The Maze Gallery, by Cryptic Conservatory, Paxton et al.
Most meditative/thought-provoking: Metallic Red, by Riaz Moola
Most-murderous magicians: Miss Duckworthy’s School for Magic-Infested Young People, by Felicity Banks
Most acrobatic canine: Miss Gosling’s Last Case, by Daniel M. Stelzer
My Neighbor is Literally Satan: Quest for the Teacup of Minor Sentimental Value, by Damon L. Wakes
Best team: Redjackets, by Anna C. Webster
Most complex new system: Return to Claymorgue’s Castle, by Claudio Daffra
Most unexpected sequel: ROD MCSCHLONG GETS PUNCHED IN THE DONG, by Hubert Janus
Best magic system: The Saltcast Adventure, by Beth Carpenter
Nicest AI: The Shyler Project, by Naomi Norbez (call me Bez; e/he)
Most gags: Sidekick, by Charles Moore
Most realistic uncle: String Theory, by W Pzinski
Best baby PC: Traffic, by D. S. Yu
Best medieval detective: The Triskelion Affair, by Clyde Falsoon
Most depressingly realistic: Turn Right, by Dee Cooke
Most literary: Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe, by Jim Nelson
Most: Uninteractive Fiction, by Leah Thargic
Most surprising ending Unreal People, by Viwoo
Most poetic Verses, by Kit Riemer
Funniest aliens: A Very Strong Gland, by Arthur DiBianca
Most unique maze: A Warm Reception, by Joshua Hetzel
Most binary: Welcome to the Universe, by Colton Olds
Most supportive partner: When the Millennium Made Marvelous Moves, by Michael Baltes
Thing 1 and Thing 2 return: Where Nothing Is Ever Named, by Viktor Sobol
Most fun new mechanic Why Pout?, by Andrew Schultz
Best clue mechanics: Winter-Over, by Emery Joyce and N. Cormier
Best voice-acting: Yancy At The End Of The World!, by Naomi Norbez (call me Bez; e/he)
Best use of css and styling: You, by Carter X Gwertzman
Best opponents: You Can’t Save Her, by Sarah Mak
