Award Categories

Best Family Game presented by Nex

The Nex Playground was developed as an active play system with the core idea to bring families together by fostering the moments of movement, connection, growth, and joy. We want to celebrate that with the Best Family Game award, and so here’s our judging criterias:
Family-friendly - Delivers a new and valuable experience to families. Inclusive - Playable by people of different ages and abilities. Innovative - We’re looking to be surprised!

You’ll only have 1 minute to present, so focus on the big idea!

For the Best Boardgame award, we’re looking for bold and passionate ideas that can bring players a unique experience on the table top. During judging, we’ll be looking for projects with ingenious game mechanics, especially those that are closely tied to the theme. Otherwise there are no limitations this year and most importantly, we hope everyone has fun!

In this modern era, learning can be more than just reading from a textbook. By combining education and the interactivity of games, learning can become a more engaging and fulfilling experience. Thus for the Best Edutainment Game, we’ll be judging how well your project balances its educational elements with game mechanics. Bonus points for games tackling non-traditional STEM topics, but ultimately it’s how well you keep the game engaging and educational. Both digital and tabletop games are accepted!

Both Kepler Interactive and Kowloon Nights have always supported games that dare to be different, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Rematch, and many more. Games that can surprise players with fresh ideas is something always worth celebrating, which is why we’re presenting the** Most Unique Concept Game** award. It could be an unexpected mechanic, a creative twist on something familiar, or an innovative mix of certain genres but it’s all about originality. While judging I’ll give higher marks for concepts or approaches to ideas I have never seen before. Be sure to have a strong clarity on what makes your game unique!

For us at BenQ, a well designed game is one that carefully considers the screen or monitor it’s played on and so we’re presenting the Best Device-Friendly Design award. Good visual design should adapt naturally to different devices, screen sizes and style of use, all the while being a seamless and intuitive experience. Keep in mind this does not just mean visual quality, but also usability, clarity, and consistency. We’ll score projects based on the intuitiveness of the controls, readability and scalability of the UI, and the consistency in experience across different devices and screens. Please note that your game doesn’t need to support every device, but should show a consideration for it. Both pre-made or AI-generated assets are acceptable.

It’s no surprise for us to be presenting Best Competitive Multiplayer, but we want to challenge all teams to consider what makes a great competitive game. More than fast reaction times or advanced combat systems, the best competitive games always feature depth, whether it’s strategic depth or depth of skill. It’s what makes competitive play so endlessly varied and engaging. Furthermore
What makes a great competitive game? Well throughout history, they’ve always featured depth in some kind, whether it’s strategic depth, like in chess, or depth of skill, like in Street Fighter. But keep in mind that complex mechanics are not required to make a great competitive game. Take Divekick for example, only two buttons, jump and kick, but your timing of when to jump, kick, or divekick is where its competitive depth comes from. Something else not often discussed is how the best competitive games are also the best ones to watch. It’s a match, it’s supposed to be a spectacle, but as the developer you can add to it, such as how Tekken 8 has slows down and zooms in during key moments.