First-round voting is complete; congratulations to all our finalists!

The XYZZYs use the same login system as the IF Comp, and the Comp site has changed around. Your IF Comp account will still work fine for voting, but if you want to make a new account you’ll have to register over at the IF Comp site.

You can also log in with an existing account, and then vote over here.

The finalists for the 2014 XYZZY Awards are:

Best Game

• 80 Days (inkle, Meg Jayanth)
• Choice of Robots (Kevin Gold)
• Hadean Lands (Andrew Plotkin)
• Hunger Daemon (Sean M. Shore)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Best Writing

• Eidolon (A.D. Jansen)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Best Story

• 80 Days (inkle, Meg Jayanth)
• Eidolon (A.D. Jansen)
• the uncle who works for nintendo (michael lutz)
• Venus Meets Venus (kaleidofish)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Best Setting

• 80 Days (inkle, Meg Jayanth)
• Hadean Lands (Andrew Plotkin)
• Invisible Parties (Sam Kabo Ashwell)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Best Puzzles

• Hadean Lands (Andrew Plotkin)
• Jacqueline, Jungle Queen! (Steph Cherrywell)

Best NPCs

• 80 Days (inkle, Meg Jayanth)
• Blood & Laurels (Emily Short)
• Choice of Robots (Kevin Gold)
• Creatures Such As We (Lynnea Glasser)
• Weird City Interloper (C.E.J. Pacian)

Best Individual Puzzle

• Finding the treasure in More (Jason Dyer)
• Sequence of time-travel in Fifteen Minutes (Ade McT)

Best Individual NPC

• The Empress in With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)
• Macy in Venus Meets Venus (kaleidofish)
• The monkey in Monkey and Bear (Carolyn VanEseltine)
• Your robot in Choice of Robots (Kevin Gold)

Best Individual PC

• Lynn in Venus Meets Venus (kaleidofish)
• Marcus in Blood & Laurels (Emily Short)
• the PC in the uncle who works for nintendo (michael lutz)
• Protagonist in Creatures Such As We (Lynnea Glasser)

Best Implementation

• Hadean Lands (Andrew Plotkin)
• Hunger Daemon (Sean M. Shore)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Best Use of Innovation

• AlethiCorp (Simon Christiansen)
• An Earth Turning Slowly (Mæja Stefánsson)
• Hadean Lands (Andrew Plotkin)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Best Technological Development

• Inform 7 6L02
• Texture
• Twine 2

Best Use of Multimedia

• 80 Days (inkle, Meg Jayanth)
• Coming Out Simulator 2014 (Nicky Case)
• Krypteia (Kateri)
• the uncle who works for nintendo (michael lutz)
• With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie)

Some guidelines for voters to keep in mind:

• Anyone may vote, and you can vote in both first and second rounds. One ballot per person.
• Authors may not vote for their own work.
• While we’re happy for you to talk up the XYZZYs, canvasing for votes is strongly discouraged, either for your own game or on behalf of others. It’s fine to talk about the XYZZYs – but if doing so results in a flood of voters all voting for the same game, those votes will be discounted.

Second-round voting will close on April 25th at 0:01 US-Pacific.