The AGDAs team are thrilled to announce that submissions for the 2022 Australian Game Developer Awards are now open!

The Australian Game Developer Awards (AGDAs) are a national event celebrating outstanding games and individual achievements by Australian game developers. This year, the AGDAs enter their 20th year of uplifting and encouraging local talent.

Last year the AGDAs had some highly regarded and memorable winners, such as Unpacking, The Forgotten City and The Artful Escape who have since gone onto achieve multiple award nominations and wins at a global level. This year we are hoping to have just as many incredible, high-quality games to showcase and celebrate for 2022.

The 2022 AGDAs will take place on the evening of Wednesday 5th of October 2022 as an in-person, live event in Melbourne as part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Our intention is to also stream the awards presentation in order to showcase the incredible Australian talent to the largest audience possible and ensure an accessible night for all.

Spanning 13 game categories as well as 4 personal and studio awards, the AGDAs seek to elevate and celebrate across our diverse and talented local industry.

This year we have updated the publicly available judging assessment criteria to best reflect our community and the games they make. It also includes our new award, Excellence in Technical Design.

The AGDAs seeks to have a transparent process, so for a full understanding of the judging process, please refer to the judging page.

MAKE AN ENTRY:

Game Submissions.
Career, Contribution & Culture Awards Submissions.

(Get in quick! Submissions Close June 30^th!)

If you have questions about the AGDAs please contact agdas@igea.net

This email, the judging process and all correspondence will be led by the AGDAs Team.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

To be eligible:

1. Games must be in a digital format. The AGDAs cannot currently facilitate TTRPG, Boardgames or physical only products.
2. Applicants must include the games intended full release date (Early-Access release dates do not count) with their submission, this release date must fall between 1 October 2021 and within 60 days of the 2022 ceremony date. *
3. Applicants must make release versions of the game digitally available to the judge by submission close date, later builds and updates will not be accepted.
4. Games that were nominated in previous years are not eligible for re-nomination
5. More than 50% of the game must have been developed in Australia.
6. Applicants must provide valid contact information for each game submitted.
7. The game must be in a complete and working state and be clear what software and hardware is required to use the product.
8. Games with any required non-commercial bespoke equipment or any location specific requirements required to play are ineligible.
9. Judges reserve the right to consider a game ineligible for judging.

*Accurate release dates are provided in good faith by the applicant, the Judging Committee reserves the right to validate the legitimacy of these release dates as per their discretion.

BESPOKE AWARDS CRITERIA:

The Bespoke Awards are Ongoing Games and Emerging Games.
They are treated as a standalone submission; they are NOT in the running for any other awards in any other categories.

Ongoing Games:

1. Games must have had a major update between 1 October 2021 – 30 September 2022 and are exempt from Rules 2 & 4 of the Eligibility Criteria above.
2. Ongoing Games must include access to any relevant updates, DLCs or general content that game is to be judged upon.

Emerging Games:

1. Emerging Games must be developed by a Student Team or an Early Career Developer (defined as a developer who has been developing for less than 5 years or producing their first major game).

ENTRY FEE

Terms:

• A Submission Fee of $30 AUD (excl.GST) applies to each game submitted. Multiple submissions will incur multiple fees.
• Applicants must provide their invoice details upon submission.
• Invoices will be issued upon application.
• Invoices are expected to be paid by July 31^st
  (If you are experiencing financial hardship, please reach out to agdas@igea.net for assistance)
• Submissions that do not pay the Submission Fee will be considered ineligible for judging.
• There is no charge for submissions for the Career, Contribution & Culture awards.