Results of the 2023 IFDB Awards

Competitions
1

The results of the 2023 IFDB awards are in! There were some dramatic changes at the last minute, including a tie for first place!

If any winners of any category want to make a speech or acceptance below, feel free.

Congratulations to all those who won! Thanks to everyone who participated. Apologies for posting late at night on a weekend; however, the results are already public, so I felt it was best to acknowledge it.

One category, Outstanding Unity Game, received only 3 votes for its winner. However, as all other entrants received only 1 vote, I felt that it was fair to award a result.

Several wonderful games placed highly in multiple polls without receiving any individual awards. Some great games received only a small number of votes, and some games were not recognized at all. Thanks to everyone who was made an effort to make a game in 2023, and to those who are making games in 2024!

Results

Outstanding Game of the Year 2023

Tie: Dr Ludwig and the Devil, by SV Linwood
Tie: Repeat the Ending, by Drew Cook

Author’s Choice for Best Game of 2023

Winner: Repeat the Ending, by Drew Cook

Outstanding Debut 2023

Winner: Repeat the Ending, by Drew Cook

Outstanding Game over 2 hours in 2023

Winner: Never Gives Up Her Dead, by Mathbrush

Outstanding Short Game of 2023

Winner: The Dying of the Light, by Amanda Walker

Outstanding Underappreciated Game of 2023

Winner: Kaboom, by anonymous, artwork by Vera Pohl

Most Sequel-worthy Game of 2023

Winner: Lady Thalia and the Masterpiece of Moldavia, by E. Joyce and N. Cormier

Trailblazer Award of 2023

Winner: Repeat the Ending, by Drew Cook

Outstanding Worldbuilding of 2023

Winner: His Majesty’s Royal Space Navy Service Handbook, by Austin Auclair

Outstanding Use of Interactivity in 2023

Winner: One King to Loot them All, by Onno Brouwer

Outstanding Retro Game of 2023

Winner: LAKE Adventure, by B.J. Best

Outstanding German Game of 2023

Winner: Fischstäbchen, by Olaf Nowacki

Outstanding Spanish Game of 2023

Winner: El Virulé, segunda parte: Padre, by paravaariar

Outstanding French Game of 2023

Winner: DOL-OS, by manonamora

Outstanding Children’s Game of 2023

Winner: Barry Basic and the Witch’s Cave, by Dee Cooke

Outstanding Fantasy Game of 2023

Winner: How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title, by John Ziegler

Outstanding Educational Game of 2023

Winner: Dysfluent, by Allyson Gray

Outstanding Historical Game of 2023

Winner: Xanthippe’s Last Night with Socrates, by Victor Gijsbers

Outstanding Horror Game of 2023

Winner: Eat the Eldritch, by Olaf Nowacki

Outstanding Humor Game of 2023

Winner: Dr Ludwig and the Devil, by SV Linwood

Outstanding Mystery Game of 2023

Winner: LUNIUM, by Ben Jackson

Outstanding RPG of 2023

Winner: The Vambrace of Destiny, by Arthur DiBianca

Outstanding Romance Game of 2023

Winner: Xanthippe’s Last Night with Socrates, by Victor Gijsbers

Outstanding Science Fiction Game of 2023

Winner: Never Gives Up Her Dead, by Mathbrush

Outstanding Slice of Life Game of 2023

Winner: Dysfluent, by Allyson Gray

Outstanding Surreal Game of 2023

Winner: The Gift of What You Notice More, by Xavid and Zan

Outstanding Inform 7 Game of 2023

Winner: Repeat the Ending, by Drew Cook

Outstanding Twine Game of 2023

Winner: LUNIUM, by Ben Jackson

Outstanding Ink Game of 2023

Winner: Xanthippe’s Last Night with Socrates, by Victor Gijsbers

Outstanding Choicescript Game of 2023

Winner: Bali B&B, by Felicity Banks

Outstanding Inform 6 Game of 2023

Winner: You Are Standing, by Aaron A. Reed

Outstanding PunyInform Game of 2023

Winner: The Ghosts of Blackwood Manor, by Stefan Vogt

Outstanding Game in a Custom System of 2023

Winner: Latter-Day Pamphlets, by Robert from High Tower Games

Outstanding Moiki Game of 2023

Winner: Retour vers l’extérieur, by No Game Without Stakes

Outstanding Ren’py Game of 2023

Winner: The Good Weapon, by Madeline Wu

Outstanding Adventuron Game of 2023

Winner: The Familiar, by groggydog

Outstanding Unity Game of 2023

Winner: Out of Scope, by Drew Castalia

Outstanding Bitsy Game of 2023

Winner: the mountain is as it always was, by christine mi

Outstanding Texture Game of 2023

Winner: All Hands, by Natasha Ramoutar

Outstanding Gruescript Game of 2023

Winner: Tricks of light in the forest, by Pseudavid

Outstanding TADS Game of 2023

Winner: How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title, by John Ziegler

Outstanding ADRIFT Game of 2023

Winner: Xanix - Xixon Resurgence, by Larry Horsfield

Outstanding Decker Game of 2023

Winner: Solkatt_ (french version), by BenyDanette

Outstanding Game in an Uncommon System of 2023

Winner: ConfigurationUploader, by Autumn Chen

45 Likes
2

The shortfalls of Cook’s game at the time of its original release have been delineated ad nauseum by literary scholars, so I won’t describe them here. But I think they’re worth remembering when we consider the tremendous success of this critical edition: sometimes a little polish (or perhaps a great deal) is all that separates a diamond from the rough. Congratulations Searcy, Collins, Smythe, et al. Your work was no doubt grueling, but it is deeply appreciated.

22 Likes
3

Hear hear – I stand by my review of the original, but what a difference a few decades and some diligent recontextualizing can make!

(Congrats to all the other winners, too – there were actually a lot of games I didn’t get a chance to play last year since they were released outside of the big Comps; that’s a good sign for the health of the scene, I think, and the awards are a good guide to where to focus).

19 Likes
4

Congrats guys! I can see a lot of worthy winners up there - but to all those who were so close, I think you deserve recognition as well.

TBH, I find it kind of funny that Eat the Eldritch won in the Horror category, since it lays quite a lot more on the comedical side than the horror side (but yeah, it’s definitely a high-quality, good game, so it also s=does deserve that). Wait, didn’t I also vote for it…?

17 Likes
5

There is a mistake in the PunyInform category. The winner is THE GHOSTS of Blackwood Manor by @8bit_era :slight_smile:

It is wrong in IFDB too.

17 Likes
6

Congratulations to all the winners! Some stuff definitely look familiar, since they were entries in Spring Thing/IFComp/other comps or jams.

(The CoG community didn’t really pick up the tab this time. It’s fine, since the people there are more focused on their own base.)

Hope the 2024 version has some new authors coming to the fore!

15 Likes
7

Congratulations to everybody, winners, participants and organizers!

15 Likes
8

Congratulations to everyone who won, judged and created IF in 2023!

17 Likes
9

Congrats to winners and all IF authors of 2023!

14 Likes
10

Congratulations to everyone! What a great set of games.

13 Likes
11

What an amazing cohort of winners! :green_heart:
2023 had such great games :smiley:

12 Likes
12

Blimey! :rofl: you’re right! So for the readers of this thread until @mathbrush fixes this:

The winner of the outstanding PunyInform game is “The Ghosts of Blackwood Manor” by author Stefan Vogt (me). Linky The Ghosts of Blackwood Manor - Details

11 Likes
13

Just woke up and fixed the error!

The ifdb page is editable by anyone. Feel free to edit it further if more errors arise!

10 Likes
14

Personally I think, that apart from 2017, 2023 was the best year for multiple very high-rated games. I can name them!

12 Likes
15

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees! What a high quality year. Thanks also to Mathbrush for putting in all the massive amounts of work to make this run smoothly.

I’m also shocked (in a good way!) that the Lady Thalia games won Most Sequel Worthy! The Little Match Girl series is a true juggernaut of IF that I’d be proud to take second place behind, so I was very surprised when we overtook it in the last few hours of voting. Thanks everyone for your literal votes of confidence in us, and of course thank you @EJoyce for being the best coauthor I could ask for.

I’d also like to spotlight @inventor200’s I Am Prey for being the highest-ranked game in the category that wasn’t already part of an existing series. Both first and second place are already part of long-running series that, let’s be real, were probably going to get more entries regardless of how the IFDB awards went. (LTMM in fact ends on a massive, deliberate sequel hook!) But I Am Prey is not just a standalone game but the author’s debut work, and I think its performance means something different for it accordingly.

Joey, your game was excellent and even if you don’t make a sequel I hope you take I Am Prey’s performance here as the badge of honor it should be. And for anyone who hasn’t played it yet – what are you waiting for?

23 Likes
16

I Am Prey also came in second for Outstanding Debut and Trailblazer, as well as third place in Science Fiction. I may be wrong, but I think it’s the highest-placing game that didn’t win.

17 Likes
17

Yeah, I’m sad it didn’t get a single award. But oh well, it is remembered by others!

12 Likes
18

Good to know! I think that’s a big achievement in and of itself, especially in a strong year like this.

13 Likes
19

Congratulations to this year’s IFDB winners! :tada:

14 Likes
20

Congrats to @kamineko for such a well deserved sweep of awards, and to everybody else. And thanks for the love for my little bitty game, y’all.

Thanks, Brian, for herding the cats!

18 Likes