Astro Bot, Balatro, and Metaphor Re:Fantazio dominated the Game Awards, but did you know another indie game awards event streamed soon after?
Aptly named The Game Awards for those who Can’t Afford the Game Awards (otherwise known as TGAGWCAGA), this small celebration showcased more than 70 Indie Games and their developers in a cost-friendly way for the developers themselves. The event livestream aired on Saturday (14 December, 12:00 AM SGT)
On their website they said, “We love The Game Awards but we're struggling to pay rent. Showcasing and celebrating the amazing indies that also have no money for events!”
According to a report by Game Developer, Geoff Keighley’s showcases like Summer Fest cost as much as US $250,000 to $500,000, depending on length. Keighley is also the producer of the Game Awards, although exact figures for the cost of a trailer at The Game Awards haven’t been shared.
With many indie developers either just starting out or are struggling to make ends meet, the price of marketing their games at bigger events are likely much too high, hurting their ability to advertise their game to a wider audience.
The show focused on indie games released this year, along with announcements of upcoming games. The showcase featured all kinds of games from cosy games, to slice-of-life storytellers, unique puzzle games, Metroidvanias, platformers, 2D RPGs, roguelikes, city builders, and more.
In a report by GamesRadar, Pengonaut’s Hansen Liu anticipated interest from about 15 games, but had nearly 600 submissions within days. "It was clear that the indie scene was looking for more opportunities to showcase their work."
TGAGWCAGA clearly spared no expense, going so far as using 1997 WordArt for the award announcements while featuring no ads or filler content. Even some of the ‘award’ categories shown were downright straightforward, from “Games That Actually Made It Out This Year, like Temtem: Swarm, Ereban: Shadow Legacy, Awaken Astral Blade, and Relic Hunters Legend.
A few were hyperspecific, like “The Best Game to Play While Avoiding Your Own Cleaning Chores Award," which went to cosy game Goblin Cleanup, and the ”Gooderest Boy Award” which went to Farewell North. Other interesting titles include strategy-deckbuilding hybrid As We Descend, Singaporean dev's hunger-inducing roguelike dungeon crawler Cuisineer, and of course, TGAGWCAGA creator’s own roguelike, StarVaders.
Some upcoming games were also featured, including a beautiful-looking cosy game, CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator, colourful 2D platformer LUCID, 2.5DHD puzzle game Alula, and more.
Many indie devs noted a dramatic uptick of wishlists and players (for games that were already released) on Steam, like Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery, which, according to the post of creator, Eric “Nobody Crown” on BlueSky, had an average wishlisting rate per day of less than 1, soar to 148 wishlists per day since being featured in TGAGWCAGA.
If you’re curious to see what other indie gems were featured at the show, you can check out The Game Awards for Games Who Can’t Afford the Game Awards page on Steam.
