Indie game Consume Me, developed by Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P and Ken “coda” Snyder, won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the Nuovo Award at the 2025 Independent Games Festival on Wednesday.
Consume Me is a darkly humorous personal game about creator Jenny Jiao Hsia’s relationship with food, drawing from her past experiences with dieting and disordered eating. In addition to the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the Nuovo Award, the title took home this year’s Wings Award, which “ighlights outstanding games where women and other gender-marginalized developers hold key positions. Consume Me was also nominated in several categories, including Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative and Excellence in Visual Arts.
The full slate of 2025 IGF Award winners, as well as the nominees in each category, represents a diverse range of talented independent game developers across the global industry
Other IGF Awards honorees include Excellence in Visual Art winner Hauntii by Moonloop Games, an action-adventure about a ghost’s journey through the afterlife.
The Excellence in Audio winner, Despelote by Julián Cordero and Sebastián Valbuena is a slice-of-life adventure about childhood and the magical grip soccer held over the people of Quito, Ecuador, in 2001. Slot Waste by Vinny Roca was named Best Student Game. It’s an experimental video game installation that articulates a lengthy, absurdist Rube Goldberg-like production process.
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The Excellence in Design winner, Tactical Breach Wizards by Suspicious Developments, is a turn-based tactics game where players must control a team of wizards who fight against a theocracy. Caves of Qud by Freehold Games and Kitfox Games, a science fantasy roguelike epic steeped in retrofuturism, deep simulation and swathes of sentient plants, won the Excellence in Narrative Award. The WereCleaner by The WereCleaner Team won the community-driven Audience Award, which is chosen by fans through a public voting process.
Lastly, ChromaCorp by The ChromaCorp Team won the alt.ctrl.gdc Award, which honors the most engaging, intriguing, and well-executed game using unconventional, accessible or alternative physical controls. Like the IGF Awards nominees, the alt.ctrl.gdc titles are showcased in playable form at the GDC Expo.
The winners of the IGF Awards, along with the award amounts they’ve received, are:
Excellence in Visual Art ($2,000)
Hauntii (Moonloop Games / Firestoke)
Excellence in Audio ($2,000)
Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
Excellence in Design ($2,000)
Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)
Excellence in Narrative ($2,000)
Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
Nuovo Award ($2,000)
Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
Best Student Game ($2,000)
Slot Waste (Vinny Roca)
Audience Award ($2,000)
The WereCleaner (The WereCleaner Team / USC Games)
alt.ctrl.gdc Award ($2,000)
ChromaCorp (The ChromaCorp Team)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000)
Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
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The 2025 IGF Awards, which took place at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, is part of the longest-running festival, summit, and showcase celebrating independent games and their creators. The Independent Games Festival has served as a springboard for breakthrough independent titles. Previous IGF prize winners include Venba, Neon White, Inscryption, Return of the Obra Dinn, Her Story and many more critical and cultural hits.
All IGF titles, including both finalists and winners, are playable for any GDC pass holder at the IGF Pavilion, located on the GDC Expo Floor in San Francisco’s Moscone Center, through Friday, March 21.
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