Overcooked wins Best Game at Brazil’s Independent Games Festival’s award show

Overcooked won the award for Best Game at Brazil’s Independent Games Festival (BIG) tonight. BIG is the largest indie games festival in Latin America, and it’s an energetic celebration of independent developers in Brazil as well as abroad.

Overcooked is a co-op cooking game developed by Ghost Town Games and published by Team17. It’s previously won Best British Game and Best Family Game at the British Academy Games Awards, and Best Debut Game at the TIGA Games Industry Awards in 2016. It was also among GamesBeat PC Gaming writer Jeff Grubb’s 10 favorite games of 2016.

Along with showcasing games to the public (the festival is free to attend), BIG features panels on topics relating to game development as well as the intersection of games and museums, urban development, education, and more. It also maintains a focus on connecting its developers with the wider industry ecosystem, such as publishers and investors. Latin America is a game market that’s expected to generate $4.4 billion this year, and Brazil is the largest segment within that region.

“This is almost an organic event, really, because it was conceived to make our industry understand itself and to go global,” said Eliana Russi, BIG’s executive director. “And it’s growing as we speak. It’s growing. Whoever comes to BIG from abroad or anywhere in Brazil, leaves full of energy. People always tell me that there’s a lot of passion here, that the way we develop, the way we tell stories is very unique, is very fresh, and they don’t find that easily anymore in North America or in Europe. So we are very, very proud of what we’re doing.”

The finalists this year were selected out of 768 submissions from 54 countries. In addition to the 10 main categories, BIG also handed out a People’s Choice award as well as awards to games that participated in BIG Starter, a competition within the festival where developers pitch to a panel of judges. The winners were announced tonight at an awards ceremony in the São Paulo Cultural Center (winners in bold):

Best Game

• Overcooked (Ghost Town Games, England)
• The Deadly Tower of Monsters (ACE Team, Chile)
• Death Squared (SMG Studio, Australia)
• Figment (Bedtime Digital Games, Denmark)
• Wuppo (Knuist & Perzik, Netherlands)

Best Brazilian Game

• Distortions (Among Giants: São Paulo, Brazil)
• Esquadrão 51 (Márcio Rosa: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
• Necrosphere (Cat Nigiri: Santa Catarina, Brazil)
• Starlit Archery Club (Rockhead Games: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
• NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics (Post Mortem Pixels: São Paulo, Brazil)
• Warlock’s Tower (Midipixel: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• In Extremis (LNDFRR: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Keen (Cat Nigiri: Santa Catarina, Brazil)
• Sword Legacy Omen (Fableware Narrative Design & Firecast Studio: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Legend of the Skyfish (Mgaia Studio: São Paulo, Brazil)

Best Latin American Game

• The Deadly Tower of Monsters (ACE Team, Chile) 
• 64.0 (Rebel Rabbit, Peru)
• Ethereal (Nonsense Arts, Argentina)
• Sweet Meat (OneEyeAnt, Argentina)
• UnderHero (Paper Castle Games, Venezuela)

Best Educational or Social Impact Game

• ​​Orwell (Osmotic Studios, Germany)
• Ishmael (Necessary Games, United States)
• Jump, Step, Step (Thang Phung Dinh & Dzung Phung Dinh, Vietnam)
• Leis para Todos (Supernova Games, Brazil)
• Lucro S/A (Universidade Feevale – Lab. de Objetos de Aprendizagem, Brazil)

Best VR Game

• Superhot VR (Superhot Team, Poland) 
• A Lost Room (Cruel Byte, Brazil)
• Redout (34BigThings, Italy)
• The Price of Freedom (Construct Studio, United States)

Best Art

• Old Man’s Journey (Broken Rules, Austria) 
• Figment (Bedtime Digital Games, Denmark)
• The Deadly Tower of Monsters (ACE Team, Chile)
• Esquadrão 51 (Márcio Rosa, Brazil)
• Beat the Game (Worm Animation, United States)
• Four Last Things (Joe Richardson, England)
• Vignettes (Skeleton Business, France)

Best Narrative

• Figment (Bedtime Digital Games, Denmark) 
• Detention (Red Candle Games, Taiwan)
• Beholder (Alawar Entertainment, Russia)
• A Place for the Unwilling (AlPixel Games, Spain)
• An Afternoon Rippling (Mars Lizard, United States)
• Milkmaid of the Milky Way (Machineboy, Norway)
• Wuppo (Knuist & Perzik, Netherlands)

Innovation Award

• Yankai’s Peak (Kenny Sun, United States) 
• ​​Orwell (Osmotic Studios, Germany)
• Old Man’s Journey (Broken Rules, Austria)
• Necrosphere (Cat Nigiri, Brazil)
• Vignettes (Skeleton Business, France)

Best Sound

• Ethereal (Nonsense Arts, Argentina) 
• Aaero (Mad Fellows, England)
• Beat the Game (Worm Animation, United States)
• The Deadly Tower of Monsters (ACE Team, Chile)
• Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play UG, Germany)
• Guns of Icarus Alliance (Muse Games, United States)
• She Remembered Caterpillars (Jumpsuit Entertainment, Germany)

Best Gameplay

• Overcooked (Ghost Town Games, England)
• Death Squared (SMG Studio, Australia)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games Inc., Brazil)
• Nidhogg 2 (Messhof, United States)
• Ultimate Chicken Horse (Clever Endeavor Games, Canada)
• Starlit Archery Club (Rockhead Games, Brazil)
• Necrosphere (Cat Nigiri, Brazil)

BIG Starter: Best Educational or Social Impact Game

• MedRoom (MedRoom: São Paulo, Brazil) 
• Árida (Aoca Game Lab: Salvador, Bahia)
• Senta a Pua (Comics World: São Paulo, Brazil)

BIG Starter: Best Entertainment Game

• King Boom (Digi Ten: São Paulo, Brazil) 
• Adventure Llama (Pedro Savino: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Darkness Revealed (Pixel Cows: São Paulo, Brazil)
• No Place for Bravery (Glitch Factory: Brasília, Brazil)
• The Last Princess (40 Giants Ent.: Porto Alegre, Brazil)

People’s Choice Award for Best Game

• Distortions (Among Giants: São Paulo, Brazil)

Disclaimer: The BIG Festival organizers covered the travel costs for GamesBeat. Our coverage remains objective.