Friday, October the 8th kicked off the first day of Indiecade without a hitch. The festival for independant games has already grown since last year and is quickly become a crucial element to the indie scene. To honor the games at Indiecade that stand out among their peers a red carpet awards ceremony was conducted at Sony Studios.

LeVar Burton (Star Trek: NG, Reading Rainbow) was the evenings master of ceremonies and many other entertainment icons like Bob Rafie(13 years at Naughty Dog, now Big Red Button), Amber Benson(Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Isaiah Mustafa(Old Spice, Guy on a Horse) presented awards to indie developers.

For the most part, mixing television personalities and video game award shows has proven to be a bad idea in the past. Surprisingly, all of the celebrity presenters did a really nice job and used game references in an appropriate manner.

In a highlight of the evening, Ron Gilbert(Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Death Spank) graciously bestowed former partner in crime Tim Schafer with a Trail Blazer Award for Life Time Achievements.

Upon receiving the award Schafer made jokes about feeling old(among other things) for receiving a lifetime achievement award,

“It’s a great honor. I was so happy to win this award...I was totally rooting for me...It means a lot to have Ron come down, I was worried that if Ron didn’t come down here I’d be the oldest person here...”

Check out Scahfer's acceptance speach in it's entirety here.

Overall, the ceremony was eloquently executed with no technical hiccups and leaves me wondering how much Indiecade will grow in just another short year.

If you are looking for a more first hand experience of the banquet G4 filmed the entire ceremony and conducted interviews with many of the award nominees.

Here is a summary of the Award Winners!

Gameplay Innovation Award
Continuity
Play it!

Amazing Game Award
Miegakiri.
Watch it!

Sound Award
Limbo
Watch it!

World and Story Award
Nonchalance.
Play it!

Documentary Award
Cat and the Coup
Watch it!

Ascetic Award
Spirits
Watch it!

Sublime Experience Award
Faraway
Developer!

Fun and Compelling
VVVVVV
Play it!

Wild Card Award
Button
Watch it!

Virtuoso Award
A Slow Year
Watch it!

Vanguard Award
A Slow Year
Watch it!

Jury Award
Groping In The Dark
Developer!