Tandem Events has announced that nominations are now open for the Develop:Star Awards taking place during Develop:Brighton 2020 on Wednesday 15 July at the Hilton Brighton Metropole.

The Develop:Star Awards are split into 17 categories, for which nominations are open until 23:59 BST on Friday 3 April.  

“The Develop:Star Awards recognise the achievements of our industry’s best and brightest, who continue to push the boundaries of this fabulous and exciting industry,” said Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events.

“This year we’re excited to be introducing four new awards, recognising QA and localisation, creative and technology providers and with our Tomorrow’s Star prize, new talent and the future of the business.”

Last year Overcooked! 2 from Ghost Town Games and Team17 won Game of the Year, with Jagex’s Old School RuneScape picking up the Best Mobile Game award. Sumo Digital won the prize for Best Studio while Weather Factory won Best Micro Studio.

In addition to those 17 categories is the Develop Star Award, which will honour an extraordinary industry figure for their outstanding achievements and contribution to the industry. Last year’s recipient was No Man’s Sky creator and Hello Game co-founder Sean Murray.

The qualifying period for entries is from 1 April 2019 - 31 March 2020. Only games released during this period are eligible for nominations in the appropriate categories, and any supporting evidence or testimony included in the nomination must fall within the same timeframe.

The finalists will be announced in May, after which voting will open to the development community, ensuring the winners are chosen by developers themselves.

The details for each of the 17 awards open for nominations are below:

• Best Visual Art

Recognising a game which demonstrates exceptional achievement in visual art and/or animation, across any genre.

• Best Narrative
  Rewarding a game that far exceeded expectations in storytelling to create an outstanding player experience – through innovative or ground-breaking writing.
   
• Best Game Design
  This award recognises the game that demonstrated exceptional and creative game design via the use of controls, level design, pacing and mechanics.
   
• Best Audio - Sponsored by Dolby
  Rewarding a game that demonstrates distinction in the use of sound or music to improve player experience.
   
• Best Original IP
  This award will recognise the creation of the best new intellectual property in a game.
   
• Best Innovation - Sponsored by Amiqus
  The award which recognises any game, studio or organisation that has created something ground-breaking within the games industry. This could be a technical advance, a pioneering gameplay experience or anything showing true innovation.
   
• Diversity Star
  This award celebrates an individual who has shown a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity within the games industry.
   
• Best QA and Localisation Provider

Recognising the organisation that has provided the highest quality of service and contributed the most to usability, testing and localisation within the game developer community.

• Best Creative Provider
  This award recognises the organisation that has provided exceptional audio assets (voice acting, music or sound effects) or visual assets (porting or creating sections of the game) for the game developer community.
   
• Recruitment Star

Recognising an organisation that has shown outstanding support helping development studios successfully recruit and retain new team members.

• Best Technology Provider
  For this award we’ll be rewarding the organisation who have provided outstanding hardware and/or technological support for UK game developers. This could include third party engines, motion capture tools, dev kits or microprocessors.
   
• Publishing Star - Sponsored by GamesIndustry.biz
  Recognising an organisation that has shown outstanding support helping developers get their game published. This can include via funding, discoverability, research or anything else that helped secure a successful route to market for new games. 
   
• Tomorrow’s Star

The Future Star award will recognise the achievements of new talent in the games industry. Nominees should be below senior management or director level.

• Best Mobile Game
  This award will be given to the game that offers best overall player experience on a mobile phone or tablet.
   
• Game of the Year
  Rewarding the game that stands out above all others in terms of gameplay, storytelling, art style, character development, creativity and overall player experience - across all genres and platforms.
   
• Best Micro Studio
  This award will go to a studio with four or fewer employees who’ve achieved exceptional critical and commercial success during the qualifying period.
   
• Best Studio
  This award celebrates any studio with five or more employees who’ve achieved exceptional critical and commercial success during the qualifying period.

For more information on Develop:Star Awards and how to submit nominations, please visit: www.developconference.com/whats-on/develop-star-awards-2020

About The Develop:Star Awards

Taking place alongside the conference, the Develop:Star Awards 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’.

About Develop:Brighton conference & expo

Develop:Brighton 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 micro indies.

Twitter: @developconf

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