Develop:Star Awards
Bringing together the game dev community to celebrate the very best games and talent within the industry.
Awards Schedule
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1st March, 2019 Entry Opening Date
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24th April, 2019 Entry Closing Date
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16th May, 2019 Shortlist Announced
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10th July, 2019 Awards Ceremony
ABOUT THE STAR AWARDS
These awards are all about the game dev community, celebrating the creative excellence of the game devs behind the best games of the last 12 months.
DEVELOP: STAR AWARDS PARTY
The Develop:Star Awards party will take place during Develop:Brighton.
We think awards presentations should seek to inspire an industry and to bring communities together to network, celebrate achievements and share ideas. They should also be about having fun - so not drag on too long!
Timings
19.00 – Drinks and Canapés
20.00 – Awards Presentations
20.45 - Dinner
21.30 - Awards Presentations continue
From 22.15 - After Party - late bar upstairs with dj's, game play and a few surprises!
Venue Information
Address:
Hilton Brighton Metropole
Kings Road
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 2FU
Map and directions to venue
Online booking is now closed. If you wish to attend the award ceremony, you will need to purchase your seats at the Organiser’s Office at Develop:Brighton, which is located opposite the Expo Hall in the Brighton Hilton Metropole.
SHORTLIST
Recognising a game which demonstrates exceptional achievement in visual art and/or animation, across any genre.
The nominees are:
- 11-11: Memories Retold - DigixArt Studio & Aardman Animations / Bandai Namco
- Forgotton Anne - ThroughLine Games / Square Enix Collective
- Forza Horizon 4 - Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios
- Metro Exodus - 4A Games / Deep Silver
- Yoku’s Island Express - Villa Gorilla / Team17
Rewarding a team who have far exceeded expectation in their storytelling to create an outstanding player experience – through innovative or ground-breaking writing.
The nominees are:
- Cultist Simulator - Weather Factory
- Detroit: Become Human - Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Forgotton Anne - ThroughLine Games / Square Enix Collective
- Quarantine Circular - Bithell Games
- Sunless Skies - Failbetter Games
This award recognises a team responsible for exceptional and creative game design via the use of controls, level design, pacing and mechanics.
The nominees are:
- Cultist Simulator - Weather Factory
- Forza Horizon 4 - Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios
- Jurassic World Evolution - Frontier Developments
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 - Ubisoft Reflections / Ubisoft
- Yoku’s Island Express - Villa Gorilla / Team17
Rewarding a game that demonstrates distinction in the use of sound or music to improve player experience.
The nominees are:
- DiRT Rally 2.0 - Codemasters
- Forza Horizon 4 - Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios
- Jurassic World Evolution - Frontier Developments
- Tetris Effect - Monstars Inc. & Resonair / Enhance Inc
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 - Ubisoft Reflections / Ubisoft
This award will recognise the creation of the best new intellectual property in a game.
The nominees are:
- Detroit: Become Human - Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Forgotton Anne - ThroughLine Games / Square Enix Collective
- Sunless Skies - Failbetter Games
- Two Point Hospital - Two Point Studios / Sega
- Yoku’s Island Express - Villa Gorilla / Team17
This award celebrates an individual who has shown a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity within the games industry.
The nominees are:
- Christina Myers - The Omnis Institute
- Ian Hamilton - Consultant
- Kitty Powers - Magic Notion
- Kish Hirani - BAME in Games
- Liz Prince - G Into Gaming
The award which recognises any game, studio or organisation that has created something ground-breaking within the games industry. This could be a technical advance, a pioneering gameplay experience or anything showing true innovation.
The nominees are:
- ClientBots: Automated Testing for The Division 1 and 2 - Ubisoft Reflections
- Cultist Simulator - Weather Factory
- Detroit: Become Human - Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Old School RuneScape mobile - Jagex
- Track Lab - Little Chicken Game Company / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Recognising the organisation that has provided the highest quality of service and contributed most to success within the game developer community – across any and all disciplines.
The nominees are:
- Amazon Game Tech
- Player Research
- Super Rare Games
- Testronic
- Universally Speaking
Recognising an organisation that has shown outstanding support helping development studios successfully recruit and retain new team members.
The nominees are:
- Aardvark Swift
- Amiqus
- Avatar Games Recruitment
- OPM
- Skillsearch
For this award a panel of game engine professionals will shortlist the games that they feel maximise the full potential of their engines.
The nominees are:
- Detroit: Become Human - Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- F1® 2018 - Codemasters
- Forza Horizon 4 - Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios
- Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - The Bearded Ladies / Funcom
- The Occupation - White Paper Games / Sold Out
Recognising an organisation that has shown outstanding support helping developers get their game published. This can include via funding, discoverability, research or anything else that helped secure a successful route to market for new games.
The nominees are:
- Curve Digital
- No More Robots
- Sega Europe Ltd
- Square Enix Collective
- Wales Interactive
This award will be given to the game that offers best overall player experience on a mobile phone or tablet.
The nominees are:
- F1® Mobile Racing - Codemasters
- Old School RuneScape Mobile - Jagex
- Photographs - EightyEight Games
- Rolando: Royal Edition - HandCircus
- Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War - Pixel Toys
Rewarding the game that stands out above all others in terms of gameplay, storytelling, art style, character development, creativity and overall player experience - across all genres and platforms.
The nominees are:
- Forza Horizon 4 - Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios
- Metro Exodus - 4A Games / Deep Silver
- Overcooked! 2 - Ghost Town Games / Team17
- Sunless Skies - Failbetter Games
- Two Point Hospital - Two Point Studios / Sega
This award will go to a studio with four or fewer employees who’ve achieved exceptional critical and commercial success during the qualifying period.
The nominees are:
- Ground Shatter
- Playniac
- Radical Forge
- Villa Gorilla
- Weather Factory
This award celebrates any studio with five or more employees who’ve achieved exceptional critical and commercial success during the qualifying period.
The nominees are:
- Failbetter Games
- Frontier Developments
- Playground Games
- Sumo Digital
- Sports Interactive
- Two Point Studios
This special award will be selected by the Develop:Brighton team to honour an extraordinary game developer for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry.
The Develop Star Award 2019 winner is Sean Murray.
Develop Star Award 2019
Develop Star Award 2019 – Sean Murray
The Develop Star Award, selected by the Develop:Brighton team, honours an extraordinary game developer for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry. We are delighted to present the Develop Star Award 2019 to Sean Murray.
Sean Murray is a co-founder of Hello Games, a company he helped to build from a tiny indie studio of four friends, into an ambitious and uniquely successful independent development studio in a few short years. Coming from considerably larger companies, including Criterion and EA, Murray is a young industry veteran now focused on creating innovative artistic titles with a small creative studio.
Hello Games is best known as the creator of award-winning science fiction game No Man’s Sky, an exploration game set in an infinitely procedural universe, bursting with life, opportunity and adventure. The game is one of the biggest new IPs of the current console generation, and was praised as a technical marvel, especially considering Hello Games’ size.
Keynote – ‘To Infinity & Beyond’
Sean will be delivering his Develop:Brighton keynote ‘To Infinity & Beyond’ on Tuesday 9 July. Hosted by Edge editor Nathan Brown, Sean will offer a candid behind-the-scenes look at how No Man’s Sky was made, released and transformed – and what this modestly sized studio intends to do in future, once it has finished building a game the size of a universe.
OUR PARTNERS
CONTACT US
The Develop:Star Awards team is here to help, so if you've got any questions or queries about anything please get in touch.
You can reach us by phone or email:
Tandem Events
Unit 4.07 The Tea Building
56 Shoreditch High Street
London
E1 6JJ
E: stars@developconference.com
T: +44 (0) 20 7405 4500
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