The Initiative Creative Gaming handed out the international Creative Gaming Awards in three categories as part of the PLAY – Creative Gaming Festival (November 5th-13th, 2021). Artists and developers could submit games and playable media that allow players to interact with the game in a creative way.
Indie game developers from around the world had the chance to submit their games and playable media. In addition, all projects in the PLAY21 exhibition could win the Audience Award.
Creativity can mean overturning existing structures, finding new perspectives or simply questioning previous game ideas and finding originality. We do not want to restrict developers in any way and welcome all forms of video games, playful media and performances – whether they are games with a narrative focus; projects that play with the game controls as we know them; video games as media art; or a game that is simply entertaining and that others should play as well.
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The Most Creative Game award honors games and playful media works from around the world that give players the opportunity to interact creatively within the game. The creative freedom can arise in the interaction with the game, out of the game or in the mind of the player.
For example, works in this category may have multiple story paths, non-linear gameplay, role-play opportunities, unexpected interactions with other gamers, or be open to interpretation. The creativity of the players can also be stimulated by built-in editors or the possibility of enriching the game world with your own creations, designs and your own social rules.
The winners will receive prize money of € 1,000 and the PLAY AWARD trophy.
The Alekon Company
US, 2021
Journey through your imagination to photograph whimsical creatures, known as fictions, each embodying a concept, from Rainy Day Magic to Micro Management! Once photographed, these fictions will join you on Dream's Doorstep, where you can befriend them by helping out with mini-games and dialogue quests.
Ichigoichie
SE, 2019
Hexagroove combines elements of strategy, rhythm, and action games in a unique blend of self-expression. Your goal as a DJ is to combine musical loops in real time to regulate a virtual audience's energy, working them into a state of euphoria with your artistic skills. The action swings from contemplative to frantic as you move between song sections in one of fifteen dance music genres with 720 musical loops to freely combine.
Bad Dream Games
US, 2021
One Hand Clapping, being uplifting and accessible for everyone, sets out to make you a believer in your own musical skills. Interact with a colorful world and solve puzzles with melody, rhythm, and harmony. How you do it is completely up to you: no matter if you prefer singing, whistling, humming, or even using an instrument, One Hand Clapping will be your unique musical journey!
What the jury said:
“From capturing adorable fictions in Alekon, to bringing joy to a crowd with our tactical DJing skills in Hexagroove and literally building bridges with our voice in One Hand Clapping, we were once again shown what inspiring interactions are possible in games. The nominees delighted us with unique visuals, interesting gameplay twists, a whole lot of charm, and food for thought. (And by food for thought, we’re not only talking about tossing a Donut to corporal ideas in Alekon)
The Creative Gaming Award recognizes games that allow players to interact freely and express themselves with the medium. All three entries provided us with a new perspective on how games can be experienced, so the choice was not an easy one. The winner of this award however goes beyond traditional gameplay and asks players to interact with the medium in a way we haven't enjoyed before. At the same time it encourages players to get in touch with their own creativity and teaches them to trust their creative voice again.
The Most Creative Game award goes to One Hand Clapping!”
Congratulations to the winner!
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The Most Innovative Newcomer Award honors artists worldwide who have produced a new creative game or playful media work. The winners, be they school-aged teenagers, students, indie developers or artist collectives, prove their creativity with a really innovative debut work.
This can be characterized by special gameplay, transmediality, unprecedented or unexpected interaction possibilities in the game, essential graphic innovations, new interfaces, unusual atmospheres, visual breakthroughs or new topics that are dealt with.
The winners will be supported for one year by a mentorship from the gaming industry and will receive the PLAY AWARD trophy.
In this year, winners can get acquainted with Let's Player, Media Scientist, Host & Caster as well as Funding and Project Manager Jennifer Wergin!
Flat Head Studio
AT, 2022
Solve action-packed FPS puzzles by cloning yourself and playing around with time! Help Yourself is a puzzle shooter where you must work together with yourself - be your own best teammate! Every action you perform in a time loop is precisely replicated by a clone of you in the next loop. You have to cleverly plan ahead and cooperate with your clones across multiple timelines.
Firepunchd Games
DE, tba
Tentacular is a VR game about a gigantic but good hearted tentacled beast trying to figure out its place in the world. Raised amongst humans you try to unravel your mysterious origin while working as the world’s strongest handyman, helping to research a strange and an incredibly powerful energy source. Get your suckers ready!
BitNine Studio
IT, 2022
Become the mighty Terrorbane, a hero caught up in the Developer’s endless pursuit of creating the perfect video game. Embark on a jRPG-inspired adventure, full of references to iconic gaming moments, and hunt down scores of bugs to become the Bane of Errors!
What the jury said:
“From embarking on a journey to understand our place in the world while helping out our human friends in Tentacular, travelling through space and time to solve mind bending puzzles with our different selves in Help Yourself, to fighting and squashing bugs on a meta-adventure beyond that metaphorical 4th wall in Terrorbane - all these games proved that you don’t have to be an established developer with multiple titles under your belt to create something engaging, fun, and innovative.
The Most Innovative Newcomer Award celebrates new creators who didn’t settle for established tropes but achieved something different, beyond the status quo. As we all stand by you here today, the biggest common achievement we recognize in this category is honoring games that allow its players to be inspired, to dream on and come as close to fantasies and players’ freedom as possible, fading limitations. The creativity and uniqueness of all these entries was refreshing to experience and renewed our excitement for the future of games. Thanking you all on behalf of all the future players’ for poking their curiosity as you did ours, the winner of this award didn’t just bring one novel idea to the table, they kept us on our toes at every moment, surprising and delighting us in equal measure while taking us on a wild adventure blurring the line between players and the developer.
The Most Innovative Newcomer Award goes to tERRORbane!”
Congratulations to the winner!
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During the festival, visitors of the festival could choose their favorite from all the works in the exhibition, which will also be honored with the PLAY trophy at the Awards Show.
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Sadly, we can only nominate 6 entries, but still want to draw some attention to other works!
The Honorable Mentions will be featured in the digital exhibition and have the chance to win the Audience Award.
This year, we received 146 entries from 36 countries and opened our review process to a PLAYtest Community. And what can we say, it was a great step to get a more diverse perspective on all works. The 32 international PLAYtesters took a lot of time to play every entry and wrote very thoughtful reviews.
Our 4 international judges choose the winning works.
Bethlehem Anteneh
(ET)
Bethlehem Anteneh (she/her) is an architect, game thinking designer and project manager of Enter Africa, an interdisciplinary project of the Goethe-Institut in 15 African countries. She is interested in ways of how physical environment, challenges and their Game-Thinking overlap to create spaces and activities that elevate human activity, thought and experience.
Helen Krüger
(DE)
Helen (she/her) is a Project Assistant at Gamecity Hamburg and host of the podcast Hold X. Before joining the games industry, she completed a dual study program at the media company Edel Germany and worked as a marketing manager. She loves games that focus on narration and exploration, right now her favorite game is Outer Wilds.
Paolo Pedercini
(US)
Paolo Pedercini (he/him) is a game developer, curator and educator. He teaches digital media production and experimental game design at the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Since 2003 he works under the project name Molleindustria producing provocative games addressing issues of social and environmental justice, religion, and labor and sexuality. Paolo is the director of LIKELIKE, a neo-arcade devoted to independent games and playful art in Pittsburgh, PA.
Timea Tabori
(UK)
Timea (she/her) is a Senior Software Engineer at Netspeak Games. Previously, Timea spent 8 years as an Engine Programmer at Rockstar North and served on the Board of Directors for the Scottish Game Developers Association for 7. She is a Woman in Games Ambassador passionate about inclusivity and heart-centered leadership.
We started off with a one hour live Let's Play by our Hosts Manu and OddNina, followed by the appearance of many guests, the announcements of the award winners and a musical interludes by videogame jazzband Endgegner.
Philipp Stollenmayer
Triple Topping
Fictiorama Studios
Triband
Through Games
Krillbite Studios
No Time
Seed by Seed
Jesper Bergman, Kristina Stiskaite, Zhang Hangning, Wang Kaijun, Alexander Sinn, Merve Metinkol, Songqiao Cai
Pesky Bees
Mr Whale’s Games Service
Carina Anziger, Philip Sonnleitner, Dominik Winter, Bianca Zankl, Florian Peinsold
No Time
Totally not a game studio
Jesper Bergman, Kristina Stiskaite, Zhang Hangning, Wang Kaijun, Alexander Sinn, Merve Metinkol, Songqiao Cai
Henning Steinbock
David Lieb, Ulrike Mayer und Daniel Kaufmann
Elitza Todorova, Marvin Podsenek and Raphael Polte
PLAY21 – Creative Gaming Festival is an event produced by the Initiative Creative Gaming e. V. and jaf – Verein für medienpädagogische Praxis Hamburg e. V. in cooperation with spielbar.de, the platform of the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb on the Subject of Computer Games, Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung Hamburg and JIZ – Jugendinformationszentrum Hamburg (BSB).
Thanks to our locations: SCHORSCH at IFZ and Europa Passage Hamburg
Supported by the BürgerStiftung Hamburg and gamecity:Hamburg
In cooperation with the FUNDUS THEATER
Sponsored by siebold/hamburg messebau GmbH