During his keynote address for Game Changer Honoree, Warren Spector reminded all the developers in attendance to persist in their pursuit of new and original games. His words perfectly matched the tone of the ceremony as The Bit Awards aimed to go bigger than ever in its third year. Throughout the night, eleven awards were presented to talented developers and the evening was packed with world premiere indie debuts, live performances and special guests. In case you missed The Bit Awards, don’t worry! Watch the full stream online (that we actually streamed on Twitch with the help of Bifuteki) and we’ve got a recap of all that happened at the event for you.
Winners of The 2017 Bit Awards:
- Best Student Game – Sumer by Studio Wumpus
- Best XR Game – Panoptic by Team Panoptes
- Best Style – Yi and the Thousand Moons by David Su
- Player’s Choice Award – The Ultimate Clapback by Mot & Dot
- Tabletop Game of the Year – University of Dope by Vance Hall
- Mobile Game of the Year – Calculator: The Game by Simple Machine
- PC/Console Game of the Year – Perception by The Deep End Games
- Rising Pixel Boston – Ryan Canuel
- Rising Pixel San Francisco – Sorob Raissi
- Rising Pixel New York – MaryMartha Ford-Dieng
- Game Changer Honoree – Warren Spector
The Premieres
- Next Up Hero by Digital Continue revealed its Early Access release date as January 11th, 2018.
- SpiritSphere DX by Eendhoorn Studios (developer) and Fabraz (publisher), made its playable debut at The Bit Awards pre-show arcade.
- Set sail in Treasure Adventure World by Robit Games in Q1 2018.
- Burgal’s Bounty to be released on Android and iOS February 15th, 2018.
- Lamplight City by Grundislav Games premiered its trailer. Track your partner’s killer in this new detective adventure game.
- Simple Machine debuted a mysterious new mobile puzzle game based on assembling live-sourced tweets from our favorite social platform.
- A new trailer for rhythm game Sound Sky by HIGHKEY Games featured designing drumbeats and creating songs to share with the world.
- LIONPLEX debuted their trailer for 16-bit styled arcade brawler, Neon Krieger Yamato.
- Charming 2.5D side-scrolling platformer, Ayo the Clown, by Cloud M1 has announced its 2018 release.
- Mystery shrouded this space survival game in the teaser for Never Go Home by Goodnight Games.
- Cubism announced it’s coming out in 2018. A minimalistic yet challenging VR puzzle game.
- Flint Games revealed their new trailer for the successor of Blitz Keep, Blitz Keep Unleashed.
- Josh Craig and Benjamin Poynter of Looking Glass unveiled a new trailer for their experimental, planetary skating game, Doors to the City.
- Eos Interactive shared a release date for Q1 2018 for their local competitive hotseat VR game, The Take.
- The Magic Masks trailer debuted a world in which players master mask abilities to solve dozens of challenging puzzles
The Performances
- Hosted by Ruffin Prentiss, voice of Watch Dogs 2’s Marcus Holloway, awards were presented by industry elites including President and CEO of Insomniac Games Ted Price and Voice of Mercy from Overwatch, Lucie Pohl.
- Zac Zinger, a composer on Street Fighter V, kicked off the night with Jazz-infused themes of Mario Kart and Street Fighter V. He and his band scored the night with video game themes all night long, including a musical tribute to Game Changer Warren Spector.
- Colleen Macklin, Pete Vigeant, and Dalton Gray got the audience, both in-person & online, on their feet and interacting with live-facilitated games.
- Boston developer David Su brought his video game musical: Yi and the Thousand Moons to life on the main stage with a one-of- a-kind performance featuring vocalists Dominique Star and Laila Smith.
Each year, The Bit Awards celebrates the year in games and the people behind them. Custom trophies are handed out to games on the rise and one Game Changer Honoree known worldwide for his or her commitment to games as an art and industry. It’s a playable awards production like no other featuring segments that transform the theater into an interactive game for all attendees and includes live performances and surprises. This year, the stage production be bigger than ever and will feature exclusive game debuts.
Playcrafting provides developers – from novice to veteran – with the tools required to get their games off the ground. This is done through approachable hands-on classes that lower the barrier to entry for anyone to get started making games and to empower pros to level up their skills. The organization hosts everything from local gatherings like Expos and Demo & Plays to industry-recognized annual events like Play NYC and the largest Global Game Jam site in the United States. A commitment to community and in-person support has helped elevate Playcrafting to now serve communities across 5 U.S. cities. The organization offers over 200 courses and events annually.
