From 110 entries by games, studios, and individuals to be considered for a Scottish Games Award, 45 remain across 15 categories. These now stand a chance to land an award at the Scottish Games Award ceremony taking place this Thursday the 2nd of November 2023. 

This year marks the second annual awards ceremony, which saw notable Scottish video game developers and personnel land awards during the inaugural ceremony like Team Terrible, ION LANDS, and Dave Jones. 

The organisers say the awards have scaled up significantly this year, with more categories and entrants. Further, three new categories have been added: Rising Star, Spirit of Scotland, and Pure Quality. 

The final 45 were whittled down by a panel of judges consisting of industry veterans, mavens, journalists, and enthusiasts. The judges were chaired by Scottish games journalist and author Chris Scullion.

The winners will be announced at a live ceremony on Thursday night at Glasgow’s Platform venue, which will feature an introduction and presentation by first minister Humza Yousaf.

The final shortlist for the 2023 Scottish Games Awards is as follows:

Art and Animation

• Super Stretchy Chicken Legs – Ping Creates 
• Skye Tales – Puny Astronaut
• Tray Racers – Bitloom

Audio

• Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot – The London Case – Blazing Griffin/Calum Robb
• Skye Tales – Puny Astronaut/Ged Grimes/Chris D’Arcey
• Eschaton – Jabuga

Best Small-Budget Game

• Operation: Pinkeye – Stormplay
• Nugget Run – Ping Creates
• The Longest Walk – Alexander Tarvet

Best Large-Budget Game

• Skye Tales – Puny Astronaut
• Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot – The London Case – Blazing Griffin
• Scathe – Damage State

Creativity

• Voyage of a Lifetime (Sea of Thieves) – Disk Two/Production Attic
• Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot – The London Case – Blazing Griffin
• Marion’s Journey – Chimera Tales

Technical Achievement

• Venture’s Gauntlet – Bearhammer Games
• Takenoko (Tilt 5) – Blazing Griffin
• Viewfinder – Matt Stark

Spirit Of Scotland

• Red Rampant – Eclectic Synthesis
• Aonar – Glasgow School of Art
• Skye Tales – Puny Astronaut

Pure Quality

• The Longest Walk – Alexander Tarvet
• Beat Blocks – Playable Tech
• BLINNK and the Vacuum of Space – Changing Day

Best Educational Programme

• Online Diploma Programme (Game Design) – Robert Gordon College
• BSc (Hons) Games Development – Glasgow Caledonian University
• CodeCraft – NESCOL

Best Educator

• Dr Thomas Hainey – University of the West of Scotland
• Hamid Homatash – Glasgow Caledonian University
• Sarah Herzog – Fife College

Diversity Champion

• Jon Mortimer – Napier University
• Searra Leishman – Hyper Luminal Games
• Professor Ruth Falconer – Abertay University

Lifetime Achievement

• Paul Farley
• Chris Sawyer
• Mike Dailly

Community Spirit Award (Stewart Gilray)

• Neon Hive
• Luci Holland
• Dr Amanda Ford

Tools and Technology

• CaptionAssist3D – Arboreta Games
• PURE4D – DI4D
• Game Maker Studio 2 – Opera

Rising Star

• Rach Macpherson – Neon Hive
• Kayla Wallace – Puny Astronaut
• Phoebe Anderson – Hyper Luminal Games

Photos courtesy of Maxime Ragni.