The awards ceremony for the Independent Games Festival (IGF) and the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) are held back to back on Wednesday nights at GDC, and I tend to think of them as “the Game Awards” (not to be confused with the other award ceremony of the same title).
The awards are always a mixture of the carefully scripted and the edgy and political, with plenty of participants calling out the industry layoffs, the war in Gaza, and discrimination in the industry and beyond. But one of those speakers said something very telling – and inspiring.
See that pillar on the right? Few people sit behind it willingly; you can’t see the main stage, and can only watch the monitors. But this year’s winner of the Ambassador award told the story of his first time in this hall, watching the awards from behind the pillar, wondering if he’d become a “real” game developer.
Well, he did. And won one of the highest awards in his industry.
Who knows, maybe you can too.
-the Centaur
Pictured: Top, the IGF awards. Bottom, the GDCA awards. I don’t have a picture of the Ambassador Award winner because I was, like, listening to his speech and stuff.
