Gaming's stealthy creep towards recognition as aꦯ wo𝓰rthy art form owes a fair bit to award ceremonies.

We get BAFTAs for games now, while the Independent Games Festival has been slowly establishing itself as our own little Sundance: a celebration of the best independent work being done by small groups of passionate people. As it happens, this year Sundance's even-more-indie cousin festival Slamdance actually has a gaming category too, but IGF has a much more impressive crop of entrants, so it's to this year's IGF t👍hat we turn.

Those detailed here are the best we hadn't got r🍌ound to telling you about, or- OK- hadn't actually heard of. Anyone glum enough to think innovation is dead or dying would do well to play these, and cheer the hell up.

Spawns Of Deflebub
By: Ludocraft
Type: UT2004 mod
Link:

This is from the creative geniuses behind Air Buccaneers and Dragonfly Variations, and no less weird than either. It's a Lovecraft-themed light-hearted mul🐻tiplayer strategy action game in 🀅which you fire bouncy balls at other baby Elder Gods, and build walls to defend yourself from theirs. Tough to get to grips with but sublimely unusual.