IGEA has announced that submissions for the Australian Game Developer Awards are now open and that this year’s award show will take place in a new venue.

Nominations for the AGDAS are open to Australian-developed games that will be released between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2025.

The categories you can nominate for are below:

GAMES AWARDS

• Excellence in Visual Art (Previously Excellence in Art)
• Excellence in Gameplay
• Excellence in Narrative
• Excellence in Sound Design
• Excellence in Music
• Excellence in Accessibility
• Excellence in Mobile
• Excellence in Extended Reality (Previously Excellence in Mixed Reality)
• Excellence in Impact
• Excellence in Ongoing (Previously Excellence in Live Service)
• Excellence in Debut (Previously Excellence in Emerging)
• Game of the Year

CAREER, CONTRIBUTION AND CULTURE AWARDS

• Studio of the Year
• The Adam Lancman Award
• The Rising Star Award

If you’re a developer and want to submit your game, do that at the link here.

The Australian Game Developer Awards will also be moving to a new venue in 2025. The presentation will now be taking place at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on Wednesday, 8 October. In previous years, the presentation took place at The Forum in Melbourne, Victoria.

In a press release, the IGEA team said that:

“The new space means every guest will have a seat during the ceremony, and every speech will be heard. We’re excited to give each finalist and winner the spotlight they deserve with a smoother, more accessible celebration of Australia’s best in games.”

This is a welcome change, especially for me, someone who has been somewhat vocal over the last couple of years, who thinks that the show is hard to enjoy in person over the loudness of those just enjoying the bar in the back. This often leads to developers’ acceptance speeches not getting the attention they deserve.

Check out all the winners from the 2024 Australian Game Awards over here.