German Developer Award 2024 Ceremony to Take Place Tonight

At the German Developer Award in 2023, the big winner was the then defunct studio Mimimi Games with Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. This year, Osmotic Studios with Closer the Distance, Keen Games with Enshrouded and Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann with Oddada have the best chances of receiving awards. An overview of the awards.

Tonight, the German-speaking games industry gathers in Cologne for the presentation of the German Developer Award 2024 (DEP). The pre-show begins at 7pm, with the awards ceremony starting at 8pm. The evening will be hosted by Daniel Budiman and Lynne Glaner. In addition to the nominees, numerous guests of honour and leading figures from the German games industry are expected to attend. There will be a livestream on Nerd Star TV on Twitch.

"Outstanding games, a new venue and a colourful stage show: this year's awards ceremony promises to be particularly exciting. We would like to thank our public sponsors and all the companies and experts who support the DEP as partners and sponsors or with their expert input in the jury," says Kristin Janulik, DEP Project Manager at games.nrw. The politically independent awards have been presented since 2004 for the development of outstanding video and computer games from German-speaking countries, making it the oldest award for the best games from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Since 2022, the award has been organised by games.nrw, the association representing the interests of the games industry in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The nominees for the main award (Best German Game) are Closer the Distance by Osmotic Studios from Hamburg, Enshrouded by Keen Games from Frankfurt am Main and Harold Halibut by Slow Bros from Cologne. Keen Games' Enshrouded received the most nominations, with six in total - five for the game and one for the studio. The survival action RPG, which launched in Early Access in January 2024, has attracted more than three million players and is this year's strong favourite. CipSoft from Regensburg and Rockfish Games from Hamburg are competing for the Best Studio award. The emotional slice-of-life sim Closer the Distance by Osmotic Studios from Hamburg has been nominated no less than five times. The tactile music maker Oddada, developed by Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann, is nominated four times.

Best German Game

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios, Hamburg)
• Enshrouded (Keen Games, Frankfurt am Main - Hesse)
• Harold Halibut (Slow Bros., Cologne - North Rhine-Westphalia)

Best Indie Game

• Dungeons of Hinterberg (Microbird, Vienna - Austria)
• Oddada (Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann, Berlin and Hamburg)
• shapez 2 (tobspr Games, Aachen - North Rhine-Westphalia)

Best Casual Game

• CubeQuest - A QB Game (Stephan Göbel, Kassel - Hesse)
• Footgun: Underground (Turtle Knight Games, Weiterstadt - Hesse)
• Oddada (Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann, Berlin and Hamburg)

Studio of the Year

• CipSoft (Regensburg - Bavaria)
• Keen Games (Frankfurt am Main - Hesse)
• Rockfish Games (Hamburg)

Best Game Beyond Entertainment

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios, Hamburg)
• Emyo (refutura, Cologne - North Rhine-Westphalia)
• Vampire Therapist (Little Bat Games, Berlin)

Best Game Design

• Dungeons 4 (Realmforge Studios, Munich - Bavaria)
• Enshrouded (Keen Games, Frankfurt am Main - Hesse)
• Songs of Silence (Chimera Entertainment, Munich - Bavaria)

Best Audio Design

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios, Hamburg)
• Enshrouded (Keen Games, Frankfurt am Main - Hesse)
• Reveil (Pixelsplit, Eschborn - Hesse)

Best Graphics

• Harold Halibut (Slow Bros., Cologne - North Rhine-Westphalia)
• Oddada (Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann, Berlin and Hamburg)
• Songs of Silence (Chimera Entertainment, Munich - Bavaria)

Best Story

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios, Hamburg)
• Harold Halibut (Slow Bros., Cologne - North Rhine-Westphalia)
• Suzerain: The Kingdom of Rizia (Torpor Games, Berlin)

Best Technical Achievement

• Enshrouded (Keen Games, Frankfurt am Main - Hesse)
• Harold Halibut (Slow Bros., Cologne - North Rhine-Westphalia)
• shapez 2 (tobspr Games, Aachen - North Rhine-Westphalia)

Innovation Award

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios, Hamburg)
• Enshrouded (Keen Games, Frankfurt am Main - Hesse)
• Oddada (Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann, Berlin and Hamburg)

Special Award for Social Commitment

• Aerosoft (Büren - North Rhine-Westphalia)
• Friendly Fire (Berlin)
• Sebastian Sterzik (Berlin)

Ubisoft Newcomer Award

• Dawn of Defense (6side Studio, Zülpich - North Rhine-Westphalia)
• Dung Slinger (Acorn Interactive, Berlin)
• Map Map - A Game About Maps (Pipapo Games, Hamburg)

The German Developer Award is sponsored by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, KölnBusiness and game - the German Games Industry Association.

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