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Bringing together the game dev community to celebrate the very best games and talent.
Taking place virtually at 5pm on Wednesday 4 November during Develop:Brighton Digital, the Develop:Star Awards 2020 recognised the very best games and talent within the industry with categories that enabled studios of every size to shine.
These awards are all about the game dev community celebrating the creative excellence of the game devs behind the best games of the previous 12 months.
The Develop:star Awards 2020 winners are:
You can view the virtual Star Awards ceremony here
How it works
Shortlist selection
Selection of the winners
View the Develop:Star Awards terms and conditions here
The awards are split into 18 different categories, focusing on the achievements of development teams and the success of great games over the previous 12 months. Within the 18 categories, one ultimate ‘Develop Star’ will be awarded to honour an extraordinary game developer for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry.
Recognising a game which demonstrates exceptional achievement in visual art and/or animation, across any genre.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this game deserves the Best Visual Art award and what is extraordinary about the team’s work. Give examples from the nominated game and how the team’s work supported the overall goals of the game. What makes the visual art in this game stand out?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement.
Rewarding a team who have far exceeded expectation in their storytelling to create an outstanding player experience – through innovative or ground-breaking writing.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this game deserves the Best Narrative award and what is extraordinary about the team’s work. Give examples from the nominated game and how the team’s work supported the overall goals of the game. What makes this narrative stand out?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement in dialogue and narrative design.
This award recognises a team responsible for exceptional and creative game design via the use of controls, level design, pacing and mechanics.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this game deserves the Best Game Design award and what is extraordinary about the team’s work. Give examples from the nominated game and how the team’s work supported the overall goals of the game. What makes this game design stand out?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement.
Rewarding a game that demonstrates distinction in the use of sound or music to improve player experience.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this game deserves the Best Audio award and what is extraordinary about it. Give examples from the nominated game and how the team’s work supported the overall goals of the game. What makes the audio in this game stand out?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement.
This award will recognise the creation of the best new intellectual property.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your nominated game deserves the Best Original IP award and what is extraordinary about it. Give examples from the game, its inspirations and what the goals were. What makes this original IP stand out?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement.
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.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this team deserves the Best Innovation in Game Development award and what’s extraordinary about their work. Explain how they came up with the new idea, what makes it so ground-breaking and why it has been such a success. What makes this project and the achievements of the team stand out?
Judges will look for a real departure from anything that has gone before, plus evidence of critical and/or commercial success.
This award celebrates an individual who has shown a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity within the games industry.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this person deserves the Diversity award and what is extraordinary about what they’ve achieved. Give examples of how they’ve successfully promoted diversity and inclusion. What makes this person stand out? Include any supporting evidence and testimony within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020)
Judges will look for a trailblazer who has gone above and beyond to further the cause of diversity in our industry.
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.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your organisation deserves the Best QA and Localisation award. What is your core business and how has your product/service supported game developers? Please describe in depth one title that you’re especially proud of helping bring to market within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020) and why. You may provide up to three customer testimonials.
Judges will look for excellence in service levels, delivery on brief and resulting critical and/or commercial success for the client.
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.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your organisation deserves the Best Creative Provider award. What is your core business and how has your product/service supported game developers? Please describe in depth one title that you’re especially proud of helping bring to market within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020) and why. Please provide up to three customer testimonials.
Judges will look for innovation, creativity, excellence in service levels, delivery on brief and resulting critical and/or commercial success for the client.
For this award we’ll be rewarding the organisation that has provided outstanding hardware and/or technological support for UK game developers. This could include third party engines, motion capture tools, dev kits or microprocessors.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your organisation deserve the Best Technology Provider award. Please describe in depth one title that you’re especially proud of helping bring to market within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020) and why. Please provide up to three customer testimonials.
Judges will look for innovation, excellence in service levels, delivery on brief and resulting critical and/or commercial success for the client.
Recognising an organisation that has shown outstanding support helping development studios successfully recruit and retain new team members.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your organisation deserves to be recognised as our Recruitment Star. Give us an example of your best placement within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020) and tell us how you contributed to your clients’ success. Please provide up to three testimonials from studios you’ve worked with.
Judges will look for innovative approaches and the resulting success for the developer.
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.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your organisation deserves to be recognised as our Publishing Star. Give us examples of a game or games you’re really proud to have supported within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020) and tell us how you contributed to their success. Please provide up to three testimonials from developers you’ve worked with.
Judges will look for innovative approaches and the resulting critical and/or commercial success for the developer.
This award will be given to the game that offers best overall player experience on a mobile phone or tablet.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this game deserves the Best Mobile Game award and what’s extraordinary about it. Give examples from the nominated game & explain what makes this game and the team’s achievements stand out?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement.
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.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why this game deserves the Game of the Year award and what’s extraordinary about it. Give examples from the nominated game, their inspirations and what the goals were. What makes this game stand out as Game of the Year?
Judges will look for innovation, creativity and technical achievement not just commercial success.
This award will go to a studio with four or fewer employees who’ve achieved exceptional critical and commercial success during the qualifying period.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your studio deserves to win Best Micro Studio. What makes your studio and the achievements of your team stand out? Explain your company culture and team dynamic, what’s remarkable about your game(s), development and production process and community engagement?
Link to examples of your latest game(s) from within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020)
Judges will look for evidence of all round outstanding achievement and individuality as well as critical and commercial success.
This award celebrates any studio with five or more employees who’ve achieved exceptional critical and commercial success during the qualifying period.
Entry Requirements:
Tell us why your studio deserves to win Best Studio. What makes your studio and the achievements of your team stand out? Explain your company culture and team dynamic, what’s remarkable about your game(s), development and production process and community engagement?
Link to examples of your latest game(s) from within the qualifying period (1 April 2019 – 29 May 2020)
Judges will look for evidence of all round outstanding achievement and individuality as well as critical and commercial success.
The Develop:Star Awards winners were announced in a virtual ceremony at 5pm on Wednesday 4 November.
This special award will be selected by the Develop:Brighton team to honour an extraordinary game developer for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry.
The 2020 Develop:Star was Todd Howard from Bethesda.
The Develop:Star Awards offer a range of sponsorship opportunities to help you achieve your marketing & promotional goals. Whatever your aims, there’s something to suit every pocket - all designed to maximise your exposure.
To find out how you can get involved contact us at:
E: hello@tandemevents.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 3927 6440
The Develop:Brighton team is here to help, so if you’ve got any questions or queries about anything please get in touch.
You can reach us by phone or email:
E: hello@tandemevents.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 3927 6440