🏆 AGS Awards 2023 - Awards are over!

[cat]

🏆 AGS Awards 2023

Welcome to the AGS Awards, the event where you, the player, choose the best games of the year!

Step # 1 - nomination time!
Play the games released in 2023. Then select the games you deem worthy in each category!
Step # 2 - vote, folks!
Pick from the nominees and we get a winner!
Step # 3 - party!
Big party to celebrate the winners!


Results!


Best Game of the Year
Abscission


Best Freeware Game
Shards of God


Best Short Game
Trapped On The Balcony


Best Non-Adventure Game
Super Star Trek (1978) meets 25th Anniversary


Best Demo
An English Haunting DEMO


Best Audio
Abscission


Best Visuals
Shards of God


Best Writing
Stranger in Utopia


Best Programming
Dreams in the Witch House


Best Character
"Dr Noriko" from Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5


Best Gameplay
Abscission


Lifetime Achievement
heltenjon
for keeping tirelessly playing all or nearly all games made by the AGS community, giving motivational, thoughtful, detailed, insightful comments, rating and reviewing games in the database, and being a prolific and thorough tester for many developers.


Best Innovation
Fernewelten
for being the main force behind the new script compiler for AGS 4.0, which does an extraordinary job of pushing AGS beyond past limitations.


MAGGIES
The Distant Door


Congratulations!



Nomination results

Votes have been counted and recounted. Here are the nominated games of the Awards 2023.

Congratulations!

Best Game Created with AGS

Abscission
Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Freeware Game Created with AGS

D-List Diva
METRO CITY: Night Shift
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia
Tunnel Vision


Best Writing

Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
D-List Diva
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Character

"Dr Noriko" from Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
"Mother Tiabata" from Shards of God
"Sister Ava" from Shards of God
"Walter Gilman" from Dreams in the Witch House



Best Gameplay

Abscission
D-List Diva
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Visuals

D-List Diva
Dreams in the Witch House
METRO CITY: Night Shift
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Audio

Abscission
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia
Tunnel Vision


Best Demo

An English Haunting DEMO
Captain Disaster and The Two Worlds of Riskara DEMO
Magret and Facedebouc
Stormwater (Early Access)



Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS

How to: Witchcraft Cuisine
Lost & Found
Mad Jack: Breakdown Shakedown
Super Author Simulator 2023
Super Star Trek (1978) meets 25th Anniversary


Best Short Game

D-List Diva
Stranger in Utopia
The Distant Door
Trapped On The Balcony
Yip Quest


Best Programming

Abscission
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia
Tunnel Vision



This year, we have made a few changes to how the awards work, so please read carefully!

The main changes to last year are:

Schedule
There is going to be a tighter schedule this year. Nominations start already NOW and last till the end of January. The voting will start a few days after closing the nominations. In the next few days I will create a poll to find a date for the ceremony that suits as many people as possible.

Categories
We unified the art categories (background art, character art, animation) into Best Visuals.
Best music and voice acting now form the category Best Audio.
Best gameplay and puzzle were merged into Best Gameplay.

Game lists
Only games that are eligible for specific categories are included in the drop-downs for nominations based on their database entries. This should make the nominations easier, as the lists for some categories will contain fewer games.


The rest stays the same:

Every year, the AGS community embarks on a quest to find the best games made in the last year. All games are eligible, that were added to the AGS Database in the year 2023. There is a For Your Consideration thread where authors can promote their games and players get a good overview what might be worth playing.

The awards are a two-step process: First there is a nomination phase where all community members can nominate the eligible games in several categories. The top five games of each category make it to the voting (as long as they've received at least five nominations). During voting, all members of the community can vote for their favourite games.
The final result is then announced in a live ceremony that can be joined either with a special client or any regular irc client.

Party like it's 1990 in this thread!

[CaptainD]

Thanks Cat and the Awards Team! 

[Danvzare]

Wow, you really are being speedy this year. Thank you everyone on the Awards Team for all of your hard work so far. 

[The Last To Know]

Thanks cat & Co., it was a pleasure to nominate. There were some great games in 2023!

[cat]

First nominations are in already 

Remember, you don't have to do it all at once - you can do your nominations in several chunks, saving in between. You can also change them until the deadline.

[Kastchey]

A quick heads up for the game authors: if your game ends up nominated in any category, I will reach out to you at the beginning of the voting phase, asking if you would like to provide additional screenshots or an avatar for the ceremony.

This will be entirely optional (we can always use the database screenshots for the slideshow, and you can use one of the default avatars), but IF you feel you want your game to shine more during the ceremony, consider preparing some screenshots or an avatar in advance.

Again, this is optional. If you are happy with the database screenshots and default avatars, that will be perfectly fine.

[cat]

How are you getting along with nominations? Do you like the changes we did this year? Are they helpful?

[Rik_Vargard]

I'm new to this part of AGS, so it's a little overwhelming to see all those games in the list. And the possible up to ten nominations per category.
I'll do my best to play some more games for this time and do my best, I guess?
I'll have to keep this in mind for 2024. 

[Kastchey]

Please remember you really don't have to play all games, or even many games to nominate. Any nomination for a game that you think deserves to be recognized is valid. You can always change your votes later if you get to play more games.

Really appreciate everyone's votes!

[Rik_Vargard]

Please remember you really don't have to play all games, or even many games to nominate. Any nomination for a game that you think deserves to be recognized is valid. You can always change your votes later if you get to play more games.

Really appreciate everyone's votes!

Alright then! Thank you for your reply 

[Kini Games]

Has it been a year already?! Time for me to get nominating!

[CaptainD]

Is the nomination stage still open? I've nominated already but was hoping to play another couple of games that seem like they might be worth a nom and add them, but I can't see a link to the nomination page anymore.

[cat]

Yes, nominations are still open. The link is in the first post, but here it is again: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/awards/nominate/

[CaptainD]

Thanks, feeling stupid now   

[cat]

Nor worries, I'm glad this is sorted and you can continue with nominations.

[Rik_Vargard]

Aaaand here goes nothing. 

[cat]

Only one week to go! It's very close in some categories, so your votes do make a difference.

We also need many more votes for the best character category. I noticed that one person typed two characters in the same field. We cannot count this, please make a single nomination entry for each character (nominating different characters from the same game is possible if you make an entry for each.)

[heltenjon]

Only one week to go! It's very close in some categories, so your votes do make a difference.

We also need many more votes for the best character category. I noticed that one person typed two characters in the same field. We cannot count this, please make a single nomination entry for each character (nominating different characters from the same game is possible if you make an entry for each.)

@cat - This is not possible. I tried to nominate more than one character from the same game, but when I refresh, only one character is counted, and the second one is removed. There is no error message, though.

Idiotic workaround - If you cannot fix this, as possible workaround would be to pick another game, but specify in the name field that you are voting for Ms X from game Y. (If this is a stupid idea that won't work, forget I mentioned it or answer this post with an appropriate insult.)

Edit: And idiotic it was.

[cat]

Please don't do this workaround. If there is a problem with nominations, we should see if it can be fixed. @AGA can you have a look at it, please?

[AGA]

Submitting multiple nominations for the same game in Best Character should work now.  There is an issue where it will show the first character's name multiple times if you reload the form to nominate again, but please rest assure the correct nominations are being stored in the database.

[Kastchey]

Thanks AGA, as always!

[cat]

Awesome, thanks @AGA !

@heltenjon Is it working now?

[AGA]

At least one person has managed to nominate the same game for multiple Best Characters now, although it wasn't heltenjon.

[cat]

Last few days!

We need more nominations especially in the "Best Character" category. If we don't get enough votes there, we will drop the category next year.

[Ponch]

Nominated! 

[cat]

Last day!

[cat]

Nomination results!

Votes have been counted and recounted. Here are the nominated games of the Awards 2023.

Congratulations!

Best Game Created with AGS

Abscission
Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Freeware Game Created with AGS

D-List Diva
METRO CITY: Night Shift
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia
Tunnel Vision


Best Writing

Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
D-List Diva
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Character

"Dr Noriko" from Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
"Mother Tiabata" from Shards of God
"Sister Ava" from Shards of God
"Walter Gilman" from Dreams in the Witch House



Best Gameplay

Abscission
D-List Diva
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Visuals

D-List Diva
Dreams in the Witch House
METRO CITY: Night Shift
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia


Best Audio

Abscission
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia
Tunnel Vision


Best Demo

An English Haunting DEMO
Captain Disaster and The Two Worlds of Riskara DEMO
Magret and Facedebouc
Stormwater (Early Access)



Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS

How to: Witchcraft Cuisine
Lost & Found
Mad Jack: Breakdown Shakedown
Super Author Simulator 2023
Super Star Trek (1978) meets 25th Anniversary


Best Short Game

D-List Diva
Stranger in Utopia
The Distant Door
Trapped On The Balcony
Yip Quest


Best Programming

Abscission
Dreams in the Witch House
Shards of God
Stranger in Utopia
Tunnel Vision

[RootBound]

Huge congrats to all the nominees!! You all made some amazing games this year!

And thank you SO MUCH to everyone who voted for Tunnel Vision--I am so incredibly happy and grateful that so many of you enjoyed it, and this makes all the time and effort beyond worth it. So many thanks. Seriously.

And also, WOW is "best short game" going to be a difficult vote!    Those are probably my top 5 games of the year all together in one category!

[Ponch]

Congrats to all the nominees and thanks to everyone who got my game on the list. 

Some tough choices to make when it comes time to vote, especially in non-adventure game. 

[Kini Games]

Wow! Thanks so much to those who nominated D-List Diva. We weren't expecting any nominations, let alone five! Some stiff competition in all categories, though. Best of luck to all the other nominees 

[Kastchey]

BIG congratulations to all the nominees! Stay tuned for the voting page and the ceremony date doodle, both are coming soon

[CaptainD]

Congrats to everyone! Especially my pal Lorenzo for about a million nominations there 

Some of these are going to be VERY tough to choose between when it comes to voting 

[heltenjon]

Congratulations to all nominated! And if you weren't, don't worry, you may have gotten some votes in after all. Here's what I nominated, in spoiler to not clutter the thread.

Spoiler

Best Game of the Year
•   Abscission
•   Dreams in the Witch House
•   Shards of God
•   The Devil's Teeth
•   Trapped On The Balcony
•   Tunnel Vision
________________________________________
Best Freeware Game
•   Broken Windows - Chapter 4
•   Shards of God
•   The Devil's Teeth
•   Trapped On The Balcony
•   Tunnel Vision
•   METRO CITY: Night Shift
________________________________________
Best Short Game
•   D-List Diva
•   Painted Hills
•   Stranger in Utopia
•   The Devil's Teeth
•   The Distant Door
•   Trapped On The Balcony
•   Yip Quest
________________________________________
Best Non-Adventure Game
•   Glorious Wolf - a Star Trek / Aliens musical comics
•   Glorious Wolf 2 - The Queens Gambit
•   Lost & Found
•   Mad Jack: Breakdown Shakedown
•   Super Star Trek (1978) meets 25th Anniversary
________________________________________
Best Demo
•   An English Haunting DEMO
•   Captain Disaster and The Two Worlds of Riskara DEMO
•   Magret and Facedebouc
•   Murder Cases(Demo)
•   Stormwater (Early Access)
________________________________________
Best Audio
•   Pirate Theme Park - A Short Adventure
•   Shards of God
•   Stranger in Utopia
•   The Sleeping Castle
•   Tunnel Vision
________________________________________
Best Visuals
•   D-List Diva
•   Dreams in the Witch House
•   METRO CITY: Night Shift
•   Outlaw's Gold
•   Painted Hills
•   Pirate Theme Park - A Short Adventure
•   Shards of God
•   Stranger in Utopia
•   The Sleeping Castle
•   Tunnel Vision
________________________________________
Best Writing
•   Abscission
•   Broken Windows - Chapter 4
•   Dreams in the Witch House
•   Glorious Wolf - a Star Trek / Aliens musical comics
•   Shards of God
•   Stranger in Utopia
•   The Devil's Teeth
•   The Distant Door
•   Trapped On The Balcony
________________________________________
Best Programming
•   Abscission
•   Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
•   Chaluul's Curse (Remake)
•   Dreams in the Witch House
•   Shards of God
•   The Sleeping Castle
•   Tunnel Vision
•   Why the Wrong Face?
•   Yip Quest
________________________________________
Best Character
•   "Will Stanhope" from Abscission
•   "Dr. Noriko" from Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5
•   "Bill" from D-List Diva
•   "Walter Gilman" from Dreams in the Witch House
•   "Granddad" from Grandad and The Quest for The Holey Vest
•   "Guy dressed as a cup" from Pirate Theme Park - A Short Adventure
•   "Shai-La" from SHAI-LA OF THE SITH
•   "Mother Tiabata" from Shards of God
•   "Sister Ava" from Shards of God
•   "The Girl" from Trapped On The Balcony
________________________________________
Best Gameplay
•   Abscission
•   Broken Windows - Chapter 4
•   Dreams in the Witch House
•   Lost & Found
•   Shards of God
•   The Devil's Teeth
•   Trapped On The Balcony
•   Tunnel Vision
•   Yip Quest

[close]

[Durinde]

Wow, I feel like I'm up against some juggernauts in the Short Game category. Congratulations to everyone nominated and thank you to anyone who considered any of my games for this. 

[RootBound]

And if you weren't, don't worry, you may have gotten some votes in after all.

Very true! I voted for The Devil's Teeth in a lot of categories just as you did, so I suspect there were some very popular runners-up.

[Danvzare]

Congratulations to everyone who was nominated. 

[rongel]

Wow, amazing to see Dreams in the Witch House in so many categories! Huge thanks to everyone who voted for it, and congrats to everyone who got nominated! 

[Kastchey]

Voting page is now up, thanks @AGA !

Here's the link:
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/awards/vote/

[cat]

Thanks, @Kastchey !

Voting is up until end of February. This should be plenty of time to play the games you haven't played yet and vote.

[Rik_Vargard]

Congratulations to everyone who got nominated! All well deserved!

And wow! Did I ever expect to see my game on the list?! 
I am so  honoured, so humbled and also so grateful to all those who voted.

Thank you so much. 

And good luck to everyone! 

Cheers!

[adipson]

Thank you and good luck to everyone!   

[Creamy]

Seeing Lost & Found on the list was unexpected. Thanks for making my day 

[Postmodern Adventures]

Congratulations to all nominees and good luck to everyone! 

[Ramorama]

Thanks so much for nominating Yip Quest as Best Short Game!   

Wishing everyone good luck!

[AbsurdumCodice]

Today has been a great day for my game, and therefore also for me
I have seen that Trapped On The Balcony is in the pick of the month (I don't know if I believe it) it has been nominated for best short game of 2023 (I really don't believe this) and just a few minutes ago I was able to solve a bug that could ruin the entire experience my poor little game offered! Thank you very much to the entire AGS community and congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!!!

[Honza]

Many thanks to everyone who nominated! Especially excited to see both Mother Tiabata *and* Sister Ava in the Best Character category... unless it's a devious plan by Dr Noriko/Walter Gilman to divide & conquer . Congrats to all the other nominees, will be looking forward to the ceremony!

[Kastchey]

Dear nominees, I will soon send each of you a message summarizing everything that might be useful to know about the voting phase and the ceremony.

Keep an eye out for PMs!

[Stupot]

Well done to all the nominees. Good luck, everyone.

[TheFrighter]

Voted! 

_

[cat]

The results will be a revealed in a ceremony using our famous client.

Please tell us, when you are available to join, using this poll:

Ceremony date poll

[Kastchey]

Thanks, cat!

Everyone, in case you miss that in the doodle description: the ceremony will happen at 20:00 GMT.
The date will be decided through the poll cat linked above.

[cat]

44 people have voted already, but in most categories it's pretty close.

Also last few days for the Ceremony date poll

[CaptainD]

44? Not sure if it's my bad memory but that seems better than the last couple of years already?

[cat]

Yes, we have really good participation this year, now at wonderful 48 voters. Keep it coming, folks, it is still very close!

[Yanek_Crispbread]

Really awesome to have Abscission nominated, thank you so much it means a lot!

[Ponch]

Voted, and it wasn't easy to choose just one in each category.* 

Spoiler

Okay, it was easy in three categories   

[close]

[cat]

The ceremony poll has been open for quite some time, so it's time to close this down.

The ceremony is going to happen on

Saturday, 23 March 2024 at 20:00 London time

Put this down in your calendars to make sure you don't forget it.


Voting is still open till the end of the month.

[Kastchey]

We are now looking for presenters, streamer(s) and someone to record the ceremony.

If you plan to attend the ceremony and feel like helping out, please send me a PM!

[cat]

We are also looking for people who would like to say a few words about Slasher and Philip J. Reed.
If you can't attend the ceremony, you can also prepare a few words beforehand that we will include.

[cat]

Last few days for voting!

[cat]

Last day!

[Rik_Vargard]

Hey I was wondering if you had some kind of intro logo movie or so for the ceremony?
I was starting working on one but then I thought that perhaps you already had something?

Just in case: I thought about doing a montage starting with "AGS AWARDS 2023" and then "THIS YEAR'S NOMINEES", with pictures showing up of all the nominated games.

Well, I can help with anything video if needed.

Cheers!

[cat]

Voting is over! Thanks everyone who played the games and voted!

The results will be revealed in a ceremony on

Saturday, 23 March 2024 at 20:00 London time

The ceremony is an online event, using a special AGS-made client. If you can't use this client for some reason, you will also be able to join via IRC.

If you feel like playing more games and voting for them, please head over to the MAGGIES thread in the meantime. There you can help to decide on the best MAGS game of 2023.

[Kastchey]

Hey I was wondering if you had some kind of intro logo movie or so for the ceremony?
I was starting working on one but then I thought that perhaps you already had something?

Just in case: I thought about doing a montage starting with "AGS AWARDS 2023" and then "THIS YEAR'S NOMINEES", with pictures showing up of all the nominated games.

Well, I can help with anything video if needed.

Cheers!

I'll send you a PM 

[cat]

We are still looking for volunteers to present a category. We would also appreciate if someone could stream and record the ceremony. If you can help, please contact either me or Kastchey.

[cat]

We are still looking for volunteers to present a category. We would also appreciate if someone could stream and record the ceremony. If you can help, please contact either me or Kastchey.

*bump*

[eri0o]

When is the awards ceremony?

[Kastchey]

The 23rd of March, 20:00 London time.

[cat]

The ceremony happens this Saturday!

We are still looking for people to present a category (or two).

[Honza]

I might not be able to attend the ceremony . I'll try to at least drop in from time to time, but apologies in advance if I miss it. I asked Max Grachev who made sound to represent us though, so maybe he'll be there instead.

[edmundito]

How do we participate in the ceremony?

[eri0o]

Also, is this a ceremony with client? I don't remember what was decided after the discussion that happened but on that. I didn't saw a call for testing it that usually happens at least a week before but not sure if it happened through discord due to the forums occasional slow downs.

[Kastchey]

@Honza , sorry about this. I know the date did not suit you, but it was overwhelmingly better for pretty much everyone else, so we had to make some tough decisions I hope you will be able to at least jump in once in a while.

@eri0o , yes, the ceremony will be client based.

@edmundito , the way it works is, on the ceremony day we will post a link to the client download here, in this thread. The client is a standalone application just like an AGS game (actually, it IS an AGS game!). Just run it to join. Alternatively, you can join the ceremony via AGS IRC, if you don't want to or cannot run the desktop client (you'll miss out on the visuals, though).

[Kastchey]

The client download link will be posted soon in this thread, please keep checking!

[Kastchey]

AGS Awards 2023 Client is now available for download!!


Download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/45pd2put386s4hecmatil/h?rlkey=5k1wc4s0z67pmy5o9sakttimq&dl=0

(Mac, Linux, Win)

Windows mirror: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10MN9f9LED3e_NVbt_MiqCJas0N1AaxEQ/view?usp=sharing
Windows mirror 2: https://we.tl/t-FvgTfgK19h

Mac mirror: https://easyupload.io/6nju4d

Linux mirror: https://easyupload.io/knaqsa

Streaming at: https://www.twitch.tv/khatoblepas

[Kastchey]

We still have a couple presenter spots left! Let me know if you'd like to give it a go, it's fun

I'll send you all the information you need via PM.

[eri0o]

Can you say what time is it and which is the reference? (UTC, Greenwich, ...) Or how many hours/minutes from NOW..?

[heltenjon]

Can you say what time is it and which is the reference? (UTC, Greenwich, ...) Or how many hours/minutes from NOW..?

4 hours from now.

EDIT: If you enter the room early, to test it, you'll see that there is a clock counting down, too.

[edmundito]

Hello, I tried the Mac build, but it tells me it cannot open the application. I'm unsure why, but I'm also on a Mac with the arm64 chips, so I wonder if the game was built to support that. If you want to test out a build, feel free to reach on Discord before the ceremony, and I'll be happy to test.

[Kastchey]

Thanks a lot for reporting, let me ping Duals!

[ThoSa]

Hello, I have the same problem as edmundito on an intel Core i5 MAC!

[RootBound]

Hey, is it still possible to adjust the names on the character files I sent? The Bargaining Demon is from Super Author Simulator 2023 (not Mad Jack as it says currently) and the one that just says Rootbound is The Muse, also from Super Author Simulator. If it's too late, no big deal. Thanks for all your hard work to everyone for putting the client together and making the ceremony happen.

[Kastchey]

It's too late now, but we will fix it for the next year Thanks!

(and sorry if I mixed them up!)

[cat]

@Kastchey @Dualnames The dropbox link isn't working for me:

Link temporarily disabled

This can happen when the link has been shared or downloaded too many times in a day.

Check again later and we'll open access to more people.

Can you provide a mirror?

[The Last To Know]

The same thing happened to me. I also reported it on the AGS discord.

[Kastchey]

Here's a mirror for the Windows client:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10MN9f9LED3e_NVbt_MiqCJas0N1AaxEQ/view?usp=sharing
Windows mirror 2:
https://we.tl/t-FvgTfgK19h

Mac mirror: https://easyupload.io/6nju4d

Linux mirror: https://easyupload.io/knaqsa

I will mirror the other versions as quickly as I can.

[AbsurdumCodice]

Hello everyone. Unfortunately I will not be able to arrive on time for the ceremony. I wish the best of luck to all the nominees!!

[Kastchey]

Hello everyone. Unfortunately I will not be able to arrive on time for the ceremony. I wish the best of luck to all the nominees!!

Sorry to hear that! If that helps anything, you can join anytime you like, even late in the ceremony. You can also join via IRC, or watch the live stream. And if nothing of this works for you today, there will be a recording later so you can catch up

[Kastchey]

Mac mirror is up: https://easyupload.io/6nju4d

[eri0o]

(The date of the README is 2023 but today is 2024, the ceremony is for the games of 2023.) 

[Kastchey]

Linux mirror here: https://easyupload.io/knaqsa

(The date of the README is 2023 but today is 2024, the ceremony is for the games of 2023.) 

Yeah well, admittedly, it may be confusing 

[cat]

If you can't join using the client, you can join with any IRC client (but you will miss out the graphics, of course). This should also work from your phone etc.

host: irc.adventuregamestudio.co.uk
channel: #awards

[cat]

The ceremony will start in 30 minutes!

[Rik_Vargard]

I crashed and now the exe file doesn't work anymore?

[cat]

Here are the winners of the AGS Awards 2023


Best Game of the Year
Abscission


Best Freeware Game
Shards of God


Best Short Game
Trapped On The Balcony


Best Non-Adventure Game
Super Star Trek (1978) meets 25th Anniversary


Best Demo
An English Haunting DEMO


Best Audio
Abscission


Best Visuals
Shards of God


Best Writing
Stranger in Utopia


Best Programming
Dreams in the Witch House


Best Character
"Dr Noriko" from Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5


Best Gameplay
Abscission


Lifetime Achievement
heltenjon
for keeping tirelessly playing all or nearly all games made by the AGS community, giving motivational, thoughtful, detailed, insightful comments, rating and reviewing games in the database, and being a prolific and thorough tester for many developers.


Best Innovation
Fernewelten
for being the main force behind the new script compiler for AGS 4.0, which does an extraordinary job of pushing AGS beyond past limitations.


MAGGIES
The Distant Door



Congratulations!

[LimpingFish]

Congrats to all the winners! 

And thanks, of course, to everybody who helped make the awards happen!

[Rik_Vargard]

A BIG congratulations to all the winners and nominees! It's absolutely well deserved, you brought us magic with your games, and also scenes, moments and characters I will never forget.

Just for me, your games (winners and nominated) gave me a lot of inspiration so thank you for that.

Also an EPIC thank you to all the people that put so much time and effort to make this ceremony an AMAZING experience and also a very funny one.
And also a very beautiful and emotional one, honoring those who, by just being who they were, made the AGS world such a more beautiful place to be.

What an evening.

Cheers!

[Stupot]

Congratulations to all the winners!

Sorry I couldn't attend, but I was able to catch the last few minutes on the Twitch stream. Looks like it was a decent turnout, which warms my heart.

[Yanek_Crispbread]

Congratulations to everyone, I still can't believe that Abscission won 3 categories, it's surreal. Thank you all for making the AGS community the great place that it is, if it hadn't been so welcoming and helpful then Abscission would never have been made. Special props to Atom Brain Games for Dreams in the Witch House, I was sure they were going to clean up and it would have been well deserved, it's a great game, so many good reviews of the game on Steam, I'm sure it will keep going.

I'll never forget last night (my back won't let me after I did a massive dance), thank you for everything xx

[Sinitrena]

Congratulations to all the winners and nominess. It always amazes me how many wonderful games we get to see each year.
Thank you to everyone involved in getting the ceremony going and the client working.
And a very special thank you for the two heartwarming speeches for our lost members.

[Kastchey]

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you everyone who attended the ceremony last night! It's amazing to see such a great turnout, and I'm glad that almost all the winners were there to accept the award in person.

Apologies to Manu who couldn't collect the award for Best Non-Adventure Game 2023 personally, due to the Mac client issue. I'm glad that you could at least join us via stream (a shout-out to Scavenger for hosting the live stream).

(Also, sorry Kini for accidentally summoning you to the stage. I try not to misclick, but it does happen!)

[Scavenger]

For those that missed the ceremony but still want to watch the awards, I recorded the stream I did and uploaded the footage to youtube:

[Ponch]

Congrats to the winners, the nominees, and the attendees. And a big high-five to the people who put the event together. As always, it was a very fun event. 

[RootBound]

Thanks again to everyone who voted for Tunnel Vision! It was incredible to see it appear in some of the same categories as games like Shards of God, D-list Diva, Abscission, Dreams in the Witch House, and Stranger in Utopia. I'm still so amazed and gratified it got nominated in three different categories.

Congratulations to all the winners and all the other nominees, and thanks again to the organizers for making the ceremony such a special and successful event. I'm very grateful for all the support of the AGS community as I learned, and as I keep learning, how to make good games. Onward!

[heltenjon]

Sorry, this will be a bit long.

Thanks to the organizers for a fun event. It's a lot of work behind it, and we all appreciate how well you are doing it. Personally, I love the banter between Duals and Kas, the jokes from the crowd and stuff like Creamy changing avatar every other minute. At the same time, we can be serious when we need to, and I feel the emojis really are the best ways to respond when we are doing eulogies for our lost ones. This is a great community to be a part of!

Secondly, thanks to the committee for honouring me with an award. While I may feel I could have waited a few years for that one, I hope it can be an encouragement to others to be active, make posts and try to support the game developers and others in our community in any way you can. My rolemodel here is @Shadow1000 , who has been doing what I do for far longer than me. And what do we do? I'll let another one of my heroes explain:

Re engagement, I will definitely leave some props/encouragement/respect if I like what I see, even if I don't end up downloading it or haven't played it yet. Everybody likes getting feedback, everybody likes knowing people have enjoyed their work in one way or another, so why not let them know. It doesn't take a lot of effort and you make someone a bit happier.

Thirdly, a big thank you to the same (?) committee for honouring @fernewelten with the Tech Achievement award. He deserves it, doubly so now that the best puzzle award is out in limbo.  I'd like the proper reasons given by the jury to be posted, too, as that one was lost during the ceremony. Congratulations, Fernewelten!

Finally, I'd like to congratulate the winners and the nominees. The quality of what you guys put out there is very high, so it's a badge of honour even to be nominated. I'm kind of happy that all the "big three" of this year shared the prizes. It's fun to see a game win a lot, but I feel that it may give a better impression of how close the race is when there are awards for more than one game.

For 2024: Make games! Play games! Comment and rate! Give feedback! It's a lot easier to vote when you find your own notes for the games in the game threads.  And buy Khris and the other helping angels a coffee. In a blue cup.

[Stupot]

I just caught up on the video of the ceremony. Great stuff everyone. You're all beautiful people.

Well done to the winners. And thanks to the team and all the presenters, to cat for presenting the MAGGIES with great aplomb, and to Dualy and Cap'n for their moving words about Les and Philip.

Also lovely to see heltenjon get credit for rating and commenting like a machine.

[Laura Hunt]

And what do we do? I'll let another one of my heroes explain:

Eek! * blushes *

Wow, that was a while back! Now that I'm more knowledgeable and I also have less time to check out and play games, you're more likely to find me on our Discord server helping new users out with scripting questions and testing new engine features than commenting here. It's interesting to see how people find their places and "roles" within the community, and this award is just the least we can do to acknowledge that, I think.

That is to say, well deserved, @heltenjon! And huge props to everybody else, organizers, developers, attendees, and the community as a whole for making this happen year after year. See you all again on the dancefloor in 2025!

[AbsurdumCodice]

Hello everyone!
I still can't believe that Trapped On The Balcony won the award for best short game. The level was very high, with very elaborate games both aesthetically and playable, so my greatest expectation was at most to be among the nominees. Thanks a lot!!
I am not a very social media person. I have never posted in a forum as much as in this one (and I am aware that I post little) and I think the last entry on my personal FB was from a trip I took about five years ago  , but this is an incredible community, and it was more than evident in the wonderful ceremony, and I am happy to be part of it. 

[Manu]

Hi everyone! Thanks to everyone who voted Super Star Trek as the best nonadventure game. When I started developing the game, I thought it was just a crazy idea to use AGS to create a turn-based strategy. Still, in the end, it became an incredibly interesting project for me, and its "success" was unexpected. Even the original author of Super Star Trek (Bob Leedom) contacted me to express his gratitude.
This was possible thanks to an amazing tool called AGS, but most importantly, to the fantastic community behind it. There are other game engines, but nothing has such a friendly community that is always ready to help, give feedback, or just chat. I must admit that without the Discord channel, I would never have completed the game or had so much fun while doing it. So thanks a lot, really! AGS is the best!
I am looking forward to winning an award for a proper adventure game next time

[Creamy]

Thank you for this nice ceremony.

Here are the winners of the AGS Awards 2023

Spoiler

Best Game of the Year
Abscission


Best Freeware Game
Shards of God


Best Short Game
Trapped On The Balcony


Best Non-Adventure Game
Super Star Trek (1978) meets 25th Anniversary


Best Demo
An English Haunting DEMO


Best Audio
Abscission


Best Visuals
Shards of God


Best Writing
Stranger in Utopia


Best Programming
Dreams in the Witch House


Best Character
"Dr Noriko" from Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 5


Best Gameplay
Abscission

[close]

@cat I see 3 missing categories in your list:

Innovation
Fernewelten

MAGGIES
The Distant Door

Lifetime Achievement
Heltonjon

[cat]

Thanks, @Creamy I've updated the posts (also with the reasons)

[Kastchey]

If any of the winners would like a signature banner with the awards they won this year, please send me a message.