Edwin McRae

The Unsung Hero award is about recognizing those who have not been formally recognized but deserve to be for the extra effort they put into the industry or community that goes beyond a normal job. This award honors the work of an individual who has positively influenced the game development community or industry in New Zealand from behind the scenes.

Ben Kenobi

This Industry Pillar award is about recognizing existing members of our community or industry who grow and support game development in NZ. They are central to our community and have been contributing to our industry for a significant amount of time.

Dread Hunger by Digital Confectioners & Slowdrive Studios

A game of survival and betrayal. Eight Explorers path their ship through the unforgiving Arctic. Among the crew, two traitors call on dark powers to undermine them.

PC | Social Deception / Survival

Kaupapa by Kura Rēhia

With 900 words spanning rākau to rangatira, KAUPAPA is your chance to have hysterical fun, use your reo and expand your Māori vocabulary at once! It is a word description game that can be played at any level - beginners can use it to learn new words, and fluent speakers can create a fast-paced, playful Māori language immersion environment.

Board Game, Bilingual Game, Language game, Word description game

Winning Love by Daylight by Cutlass Boardgames

Winning Love by Daylight is a Visual Novel that puts you directly amongst the action as a High School student who slowly uncovers the secret that several of their classmates are actually magical girl super heroes!

PC | Visual Novel

Sapiens by Majic Jungle

Evolve your primitive hunter gatherers through thousands of years of technological advancement. Feed, protect and grow your tribe, build towns and industry, and advance through the primitive ages in this first person civilization builder for PC.

PC | City Builder / Simulation

Wanderer by Wanderer

Built from the ground up for VR, Wanderer has a unique blend of escape room style puzzles, tactile hands on interactions and action arcade sequences to bring you the ultimate time travel adventure. Are you ready to walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before you?

HTC Vive (VR), Oculus Rift (VR), Playstation VR | Adventure, Mystery, Puzzle

Instruments of the Chrysanthemum Throne by Imaginary Empire Games

Explore a world of myth and magic where you must balance the terrible evil of the sentient object you carry, with the enormous power it grants.

Book, PDF | RPG, Dark Fantasy

Grimguard Tactics by Outerdawn

Grimguard Tactics: End of Legends is an epic, dark fantasy RPG with an expansive Hero summon gacha and turn-based tactics style gameplay. The Primorva, an ancient evil, has awoken from the shadows & to save the world of Terenos, recruit and band together its most powerful, legendary, and dangerous forces to drive back the oncoming darkness!

Android, iOS | Tactics RPG

Kaupapa by Kura Rēhia

With 900 words spanning rākau to rangatira, KAUPAPA is your chance to have hysterical fun, use your reo and expand your Māori vocabulary at once! It is a word description game that can be played at any level - beginners can use it to learn new words, and fluent speakers can create a fast-paced, playful Māori language immersion environment.

Board Game, Bilingual Game, Language game, Word description game

The Forgotten City by Modern Storyteller

The Forgotten City is a narrative-driven time loop adventure in ancient Rome. Discover the ruins of an ancient underground city, travel 2000 years into the past, and unravel the mystery of who destroyed it by cleverly exploiting the power to wind back time. The fate of the city is in your hands.

PC | Narrative-driven adventure

Zeitgeist by [SAMPLE TEXT] Studios ltd

Equipped with your pot plant companion, travel through the roots of time delving into the past and present depths of an ancient submerged city. Exploring grand halls, navigating between walls, and taking advantage of ancient mechanisms on your mission to steal the heart of the city.

PC | Adventure