Voting in the nominee round is complete, and we have our finalists. Congratulations!

Voting is open for the final round, and will remain open through Thursday, December 28th. The XYZZYs use your IF Comp login; if you need to register an account with the Comp, or you’ve forgotten your account details, go here. You can log in here (you’ll get kicked back to the front page, but you are in fact logged in) and then vote here.

Best Game

The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
The Archivist and the Revolution (Autumn Chen)
Computerfriend (Kit Riemer)
The Spectators (Amanda Walker)

Best Writing

The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
Computerfriend (Kit Riemer)
Of Their Shadows Deep (Amanda Walker)

Best Story

The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
Fairest (Amanda Walker)

Best Setting

The Archivist and the Revolution (Autumn Chen)
Prism (Eliot M.B. Howard)
The Spectators (Amanda Walker)

Best Puzzles

According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
The Impossible Stairs (Mathbrush)
A Long Way to the Nearest Star (SV Linwood)
Trouble in Sector 471 (Arthur DiBianca)

Best NPCs

The Archivist and the Revolution (Autumn Chen)
The Impossible Stairs (Mathbrush)
Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi (E. Joyce, N. Cormier)
The Legend of Horse Girl (Bitter Karella)
The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens (Ryan Veeder)

Best Individual Puzzle

Crystal puzzle in Trouble in Sector 471 (Arthur DiBianca)
Escape room in The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens (Ryan Veeder)
Getting the bezoar in The Legend of Horse Girl (Bitter Karella)
Making the goulash in The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)

Best Individual NPC

Computerfriend in Computerfriend (Kit Riemer)
The duchess in The Spectators (Amanda Walker)
Piecrust the Mouse in The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
SOLIS in A Long Way to the Nearest Star (SV Linwood)

Best Individual PC

Bell Park in The Grown-Up Detective Agency (Brendan Patrick Hennessy)
Ebenezabeth (the little match girl) in The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens (Ryan Veeder)
Em in The Archivist and the Revolution (Autumn Chen)
Horse Girl in The Legend of Horse Girl (Bitter Karella)
Karen Zhao in New Year’s Eve, 2019 (Autumn Chen)
Rosalinda in The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
Thalia in Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi (E. Joyce, N. Cormier)

Best Implementation

The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
The Archivist and the Revolution (Autumn Chen)
The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
The Impossible Stairs (Mathbrush)
Of Their Shadows Deep (Amanda Walker)
Trouble in Sector 471 (Arthur DiBianca)

Best Use of Innovation

The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
Cannelé & Nomnom – Defective Agency (Younès R. & Yazaleea)

Best Technological Development

Frankendrift
The IF Archive Unboxing Service
Inform 7 build 10.1.0

Best Use of Multimedia

The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
Cannelé & Nomnom – Defective Agency (Younès R. & Yazaleea)
Computerfriend (Kit Riemer)
Gent Stickman vs Evil Meat Hand (AZ / ParserCommander)
The Grown-Up Detective Agency (Brendan Patrick Hennessy)

The 2021 XYZZY Awards are complete! Here are the winners; congratulations to all, and thanks to everyone who participated.

Best Game: What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best Writing: Sting (Mike Russo)

Best Story: What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best Setting: The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)

Best Puzzles: Grooverland (Mathbrush)

Best NPCs: Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires (E. Joyce, N. Cormier)

Best Individual Puzzle: The hair swap, in The Libonotus Cup (Nils Fagerburg)

Best Individual NPC: Liz, in Sting (Mike Russo)

Best Individual PC: Marid, in The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)

Best Implementation (tie): The Libonotus Cup (Nils Fagerburg); The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)

Best Use of Innovation (tie): 4×4 Archipelago (Agnieszka Trzaska); Excalibur (J.J. Guest, G.C. Baccaris, Duncan Bowsman); The Last Night of Alexisgrad (Milo van Mesdag)

Best Technological Development: Gruescript (Robin Johnson)

Best Use of Multimedia: Fish & Dagger (grave snail games)

Congratulations again to the winners and nominees. See you next year!

Voting is complete in the first round of the 2021 XYZZY Awards. Congratulations to our finalists!

Voting is open for the final round, and will remain open through December 17th. The XYZZYs use your IF Comp login; if you need to register an account with the Comp, or you’ve forgotten your account details, go here. You can log in here (you’ll get kicked back to the front page, but you are in fact logged in) and then vote here. 

(Anyone may vote, but you are asked not to vote for your own work, or to organise voters to support a particular game or slate thereof.)

Best Game

• And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)
• The Best Man (Stephen Bond)
• Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone (Ryan Veeder)
• The Faeries Of Haelstowne (Christopher Merriner)
• The Libonotus Cup (Nils Fagerburg)
• The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)
• What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best Writing

• The Best Man (Stephen Bond)
• Dr Horror’s House of Terror (Ade McT)
• Sting (Mike Russo)
• What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best Story

• And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)
• The Best Man (Stephen Bond)
• Excalibur (J. J. Guest, G. C. Baccaris, Duncan Bowsman)
• Off-Season at the Dream Factory (B.J. Best (as “Carroll Lewis”))
• What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best Setting

• Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone (Ryan Veeder)
• The Faeries Of Haelstowne (Christopher Merriner)
• The Golden Heist (George Lockett, Rob Thorman)
• The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)

Best Puzzles

• Dr Horror’s House of Terror (Ade McT)
• Grooverland (Mathbrush)
• Gruesome (Robin Johnson)
• The Song of the Mockingbird (Mike Carletta)
• What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best NPCs

• And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)
• Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires (E. Joyce, N. Cormier)
• Mean Mother Trucker (Bitter Karella)

Best Individual Puzzle

• Dead Armadillo in Mean Mother Trucker (Bitter Karella)
• Hair Swap in The Libonotus Cup (Nils Fagerburg)
• The movable stage with the laserfight in Grooverland (Mathbrush)
• The statuette puzzle in The Golden Heist (George Lockett, Rob Thorman)

Best Individual NPC

• Cécile in The Libonotus Cup (Nils Fagerburg)
• The Green Knight in At King Arthur’s Christmas Feast (Travis Moy)
• Liz in Sting (Mike Russo)
• Melpomene in Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires (E. Joyce, N. Cormier)
• Ottoline in The Faeries Of Haelstowne (Christopher Merriner)
• Riley in And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)
• Skeleton in Gruesome (Robin Johnson)
• The Witch in And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)

Best Individual PC

• Aiden Tunney in The Best Man (Stephen Bond)
• Big Ester in Mean Mother Trucker (Bitter Karella)
• Emerson in And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)
• Marid in The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)

Best Implementation

• And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One (B.J. Best)
• Dr Horror’s House of Terror (Ade McT)
• Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone (Ryan Veeder)
• The Libonotus Cup (Nils Fagerburg)
• Open Sorcery: Sea++ (Abigail Corfman)
• The Weight of a Soul (Chin Kee Yong)

Best Use of Innovation

• 4×4 Archipelago (Agnieszka Trzaska)
• Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone (Ryan Veeder)
• Excalibur (J. J. Guest, G. C. Baccaris, Duncan Bowsman)
• Fish & Dagger (grave snail games)
• The Last Night of Alexisgrad (Milo van Mesdag)
• What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (Amanda Walker)

Best Technological Development

• FrankenDrift release
• Gruescript release

Best Use of Multimedia

• Cygnet Committee (P.B. Parjeter)
• Fish & Dagger (grave snail games)
• Off-Season at the Dream Factory (B.J. Best (as “Carroll Lewis”))
• [PYG]MALION* (C.J.)

The XYZZY Awards, celebrating the interactive fiction of 2020, are open for first-round voting.

The XYZZYs are open-voting, and use your IF Comp login; if you need to register an account with the Comp, or you’ve forgotten your account details, go here. You can log in here (you’ll get kicked back to the front page, but do not adjust your set: you are in fact logged in) and then vote here. 

In the first round, anyone can nominate up to two eligible games in each category. (You are asked not to vote for your own work, or to organise voters to support a particular game or slate.)

First-round voting will remain open through the 21st of September (US-Pacific time).

It’s the New Year, so we’re ramping up to Awards season.

If there’s a 2020 game you would like to see eligible for the Awards, make sure it’s listed on IFDB by January 15.

Looking forwards to 2021, we’re planning on a fairly radical experiment in how nomination for the XYZZYs work. An ongoing issue with the Awards is that the list of games listed on IFDB for any one year is pretty large. This is a bottleneck in getting the XYZZYs running, since we have to check them all for basic eligibility requirements (such as ‘this is a real game that exists’), and it makes first-round voting more difficult.

Roughly speaking: the goal is that for 2021 games, anyone will be able to nominate any game for consideration, with submissions open throughout the year. You’ll be able to self-nominate in round 0, but will also be able to nominate other works. (The details aren’t fully ironed out on this yet; I’d like to avoid the case, for instance, where someone writes a script to automatically nominate every single game in IFDB, or some other extensive listing; but it’s also not ideal if people feel like they have to save their nominations). We’ll probably want to periodically update a list of existing nominees. )

(The last time we considered this change, we had fairly mixed reports about the ‘zeroth round’. We welcome your feedback. Either way, the plan is to have the system set up to go by the end of the 2020 Awards.)