Voting has closed for the first round of the XYZZY Awards. The final round will remain open through the 21st of July. You can login here, then vote here. (Once again, voting uses your IF Comp login, which you can register or recover here.)
A polite reminder: you’re not allowed to vote for your own game, and canvassing for votes – for purposes here defined as ‘any action which results in a large number of people showing up specifically to vote for a particular game or slate of games’ – is strongly discouraged, and may result in votes being discarded.
Without further ado – congratulations to our 2016 finalists!
Best Game
- Cactus Blue Motel (Astrid Dalmady)
- Detectiveland (Robin Johnson)
- Foo Foo (Buster Hudson)
- Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman)
- Superluminal Vagrant Twin (C.E.J. Pacian)
Best Writing
- 500 Apocalypses (Phantom Williams)
- Cactus Blue Motel (Astrid Dalmady)
- Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman)
- The Queen’s Menagerie (Chandler Groover)
- Stone Harbor (Liza Daly)
- Take (Katherine Morayati (as Amelia Pinnolla))
Best Story
- Cactus Blue Motel (Astrid Dalmady)
- Foo Foo (Buster Hudson)
- Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman)
- Stone Harbor (Liza Daly)
- Tangaroa Deep (Astrid Dalmady)
- Three-Card Trick (Chandler Groover)
Best Setting
- Ariadne in Aeaea (Victor Ojuel)
- Cactus Blue Motel (Astrid Dalmady)
- Foo Foo (Buster Hudson)
- Tangaroa Deep (Astrid Dalmady)
- Three-Card Trick (Chandler Groover)
- Worldsmith (Interactive Fables)
Best Puzzles
- 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds (Abigail Corfman)
- Detectiveland (Robin Johnson)
- Fair (Hanon Ondricek)
- Inside the Facility (Arthur DiBianca)
- The Mary Jane of Tomorrow (Emily Short)
Best NPCs
- Cactus Blue Motel (Astrid Dalmady)
- Color the Truth (mathbrush)
- Fair (Hanon Ondricek)
- Foo Foo (Buster Hudson)
Best Individual Puzzle
- Killing the vampire in 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds (Abigail Corfman)
- Sneaking quietly though the house in Detectiveland (Robin Johnson)
- Delivering the metallophilic ice to the Robotics Lab in Inside the Facility (Arthur DiBianca)
- Customizing the robot in The Mary Jane of Tomorrow (Emily Short)
- Performing the Three Card Trick in Three-Card Trick (Chandler Groover)
- Raise a world to the Galactic Accord (worldbuilding) in Worldsmith (Interactive Fables)
Best Individual NPC
- Dr. Sourpuss in Dr. Sourpuss Is Not A Choice-Based Game (P.B. Parjeter)
- Holly in Foo Foo (Buster Hudson)
- The robot (variously-named) in The Mary Jane of Tomorrow (Emily Short)
- The mirror in Mirror and Queen (Chandler Groover)
Best Individual PC
- Good Fairy, Senior Detective in Foo Foo (Buster Hudson)
- BEL/S in Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman)
- Frankie Petrio in Stone Harbor (Liza Daly)
- Morgan the Magnificent in Three-Card Trick (Chandler Groover)
Best Implementation
- Fair (Hanon Ondricek)
- Detectiveland (Robin Johnson)
- The Mary Jane of Tomorrow (Emily Short)
- Superluminal Vagrant Twin (C.E.J. Pacian)
Best Use of Innovation
- Detectiveland (Robin Johnson)
- The Ice-Bound Concordance (Aaron A. Reed, Jacob Garbe)
- Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman)
- The Mary Jane of Tomorrow (Emily Short)
- Superluminal Vagrant Twin (C.E.J. Pacian)
- Take (Katherine Morayati (as Amelia Pinnolla))
Best Technological Development
Best Use of Multimedia
- Detectiveland (Robin Johnson)
- The Ice-Bound Concordance (Aaron A. Reed, Jacob Garbe)
- Ladykiller in a Bind (Christine Love)
- Open Sorcery (Abigail Corfman)
- Worldsmith (Interactive Fables)