Tandem Events has today announced the shortlists for the Develop:Star Awards 2021. The winners will now be selected by industry vote, open to previous delegates.
The vote opens today and closes on 24 September. Winners will be announced at the Develop:Star Awards ceremony on the evening of Wednesday 27 October, during Develop:Brighton 2021.
Shortlists were decided across 17 categories by a panel of industry experts and developers, who reviewed a record number of submissions.
PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal, from Housemarque and Sony Interactive Entertainment, is the most nominated game with six nominations, followed by The Chinese Room and Sumo Digital’s Little Orpheus with five nominations.
Seven finalists will compete for the Best Studio award: Creative Assembly, FuturLab, Housemarque, Mediatonic, nDreams, Sumo Digital and ustwo games.
Those who have attended Develop:Brighton since and including the 2017 conference, plus anyone who has registered for this year’s conference, will be invited to vote through a dedicated awards platform. Attendees will be contacted directly with further instructions.
“This incredible collection of games, teams and individuals shows the best the games industry has to offer, and we’re excited to offer the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the hard work of so many over the past year, “said Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events.
“I’d like to shout out the new Tomorrow’s Star category in particular, recognising some of the incredible future talent emerging in the industry. Good luck to all our nominees, we’re looking forward to seeing you at the ceremony on 27 October.”
Table bookings and individual tickets for the awards are available to purchase now with an Early Bird discount of up to £400 until 15 September. Further details and links to purchase tickets can be found at: https://www.developconference.com/whats-on/develop-star-awards
All tickets include a three-course dinner and invite to the drinks reception and after party.
The nominees for the Develop:Star Awards 2021 are:
Best Visual Art
- Before I Forget - 3-Fold Games
- Little Orpheus - The Chinese Room, Sumo Digital
- Mundaun - Hidden Fields, MWM Interactive
- Returnal – Housemarque, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- South of the Circle - State of Play
- The Last Campfire - Hello Games
Best Narrative
- Little Orpheus - The Chinese Room, Sumo Digital
- Orwell's Animal Farm - Nerial, The Dairymen
- Returnal – Housemarque, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Röki - Polygon Treehouse, United Label
- South of the Circle - State of Play
- The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope - Supermassive Games, Bandai Namco
Best Game Design
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Mediatonic, Epic Games
- Lost Words: Beyond the Page - Sketchbook Games, Modus Games
- Magic: The Gathering Arena (Mobile) - Wizards of the Coast
- Returnal - Housemarque, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure - Sumo Sheffield, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Weaving Tides - Follow the Feathers, Crytivo
Best Audio
- A Total War Saga: Troy - Creative Assembly, SEGA
- DIRT 5 - Codemasters
- Little Orpheus - The Chinese Room, Sumo Digital
- Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Returnal - Housemarque, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure - Sumo Sheffield, Sony Interactive Entertainment
Best Original IP
- Alba: A Wildlife Adventure- ustwo games
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout - Mediatonic, Epic Games
- Little Orpheus - The Chinese Room, Sumo Digital
- PowerWash Simulator – Futurlab, Square Enix
- Returnal – Housemarque, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Rogue Company - First Watch, Hi-Rez Studios
Best Innovation
- Before I Forget - 3-Fold Games
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker - Blackbird Interactive, Focus Home Interactive
- Lost Words: Beyond the Page - Sketchbook Games, Modus Games
- South of the Circle - State of Play
- The Oeuvre - 89o
- Watch Dogs: Legion - Ubisoft
Diversity Star
- Anisa Sanusi - Limit Break
- Cinzia Musio - Splash Damage
- Dan Bernado - Playtra
- Rebecca Sampson - Hangar 13
- Robin Gray - Gayming Mag
- Tentacle Zone Incubator - Payload Studios
Best QA & Localisation
- Keywords Studios
- Localsoft
- Player Research
- PTW
- Testronic
- Universally Speaking
Best Creative Provider
- Atomhawk
- Keywords Studios
- Liquid Crimson
- Pitstop Productions
- PlayStation Studios Creative Arts
- SIDE UK
Best Technology Provider
- GameMaker Studio 2
- Genba Digital
- Keywords Studio
- Unity
- Unreal Engine
- Utopia Analytics
Tomorrow’s Star
- Dominic Shaw - Ukie
- Joshua Brown - Futurlab
- Julia Kenny - SEGA
- Julian Mair-MacFarlane - Mediatonic
- Melissa Chaplin - Robot Teddy
- Reema Ishaque - Splash Damage
Recruitment Star
- Aardvark Swift
- Amiqus Recruitment
- Datascope Recruitment
- OPMjobs
- Skillsearch Limited
- Sumo Group
Publishing Star
- Curve Digital
- Kwalee
- No More Robots
- Team17
- Wales Interactive
- Wired Productions
Best Mobile Game
- A Monster's Expedition - Draknek & Friends
- Alba: A Wildlife Adventure - ustwo games
- Little Orpheus - The Chinese Room. Sumo Digital
- Magic: The Gathering Arena (Mobile) - Wizards of the Coast
- Orwell's Animal Farm - Nerial, The Dairymen
- South of the Circle - State of Play
Game of the Year
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Mediatonic, Epic Games
- Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Returnal – Housemarque, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure - Sumo Sheffield, Sony Interactive Entertainment
- The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope - Supermassive Games, Bandai Namco
- The Last Campfire - Hello Games
Best Micro Studio
- Denki
- Hidden Fields
- inkle
- Perchang
- Polygon Treehouse
Best Studio
- Creative Assembly
- FuturLab
- Housemarque
- Mediatonic
- nDreams
- Sumo Digital
- ustwo games
For more information visit the Develop:Brighton website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Or you can contact the team via email on [email protected].
--- END ---
About Develop:Brighton conference & expo
The Develop:Brighton conference is where the European developer community comes together to learn from each other and share experiences, be inspired by world renowned experts and gurus, get up-to-date with the latest development tools and techniques, make new contacts and catch up with old ones.
With a programme that is shaped by some of the industry's key figures, the conference touches all levels of the development community from the largest studios to the smallest indies; from development directors to programmers.
About The Develop:Star Awards
Taking place alongside the conference, the new Develop:Star Awards will recognise the very best of the game development community. The achievements of developers and success of great games and creativity will be celebrated across 18 categories, including one ultimate ‘Develop Star’. This award will honour an extraordinary game developer for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry.
Twitter: @developconf
LinkedIn: Develop-Brighton
Facebook: developconference
LATEST NEWS
Don’t miss out!
Develop:Brighton offers you an inspiring mix of top-notch speakers, practical how-to sessions, insights into the latest trends and technologies, plus fantastic networking opportunities. Find out about the different conference pass options and prices here or...
Register Now
Develop:Brighton’s a great conference. It’s got a spread of people from all parts of the games industry talking about such a wide range of topics.
David Amor
Mag Interactive
One of the things I like about Develop is it brings people together from across Europe and the whole world. There is a very high level of professionals here, so you have company leaders having drinks with juniors from their community.
Dr Mata Haggis-Burridge
NHTV
If you really want to have a good interface with the British game developer community then this is the place to come.
Kate Edwards
Geogrify
We are so lucky to have Develop here in the UK. It’s a unique event where you can come and discover new things with people who care passionately about video games. It’s a sea full of new ideas.
Jonathan Smith
TT Games
Develop is a very important place – it’s one of the few developer focussed conferences we have in Europe and that makes it very valuable.
Rami Ismail
Vlambeer
There’s really something for everyone at Develop and the experience of being around like-minded people is really useful.
Grace Carroll
Creative Assembly
Develop is a really great way to network, it’s also great for going to talks and finding that little tip that you didn’t know before and thinking – oh I’ll bring that back to the team!
Leanne Loombe
Riot Games
It’s really nice to see some of the younger people in our studio come to Develop, interact with other people in the dev community and make new contacts. I think it’s really important to learn from other people.
Abbie Heppe
Media Molecule
I absolutely love coming to Develop, it’s a brilliant, brilliant conference – you just know you’re guaranteed to meet everyone.
Jo Twist, OBE
Ukie
I really like Develop, I really like the intimacy of it and I love the location.. there’s a good diversity of talks going on so there hasn’t been a time when there’s nothing I want to see.
Brenda Romero
Romero Games
Get involved today!
There are many ways you can be part of Develop:Brighton - including taking a booth in the Expo or choosing one of the many sponsorship opporunities during the event or at the Star Awards.
Contact us now!Our 2022 Partners
Platinum Partners
Partners
Media Partners
