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BEST FREE GAME, 2008
There are so many quality Free RPGs on the Internet that, even though Free games are considered for the Indie Game of the Year Award, they really deserve their own category. This category honors the game designers who make their works of passion and then offer them for free. Note: If a Free game wins the main award and this Sub-Award, the runner up for this Sub-Award is chosen instead.
THE BEST FREE GAME FOR 2008 IS A TIE!
Sea Dracula by Jake Richmond, Nick Smith / with 55 points
Madness folded up into a page of A4.
Free legal hilarity with a dancing Giraffe lawyer. What's not to like?
Out of left field and totally awesome.
DANCE!
Sufficiently Advanced by Colin Fredericks / with 55 points
Has found a second life and a wider audience now that it's free. Solid and under-appreciated SF game.
That this game has gone from being for sale to being for free, is the clearest sign I've seen that the indie business model needs to be revised - and that there are too many good games out there. It's worth every penny it used to cost.
Excellent premise!
The best testimonial I can give this game is that for several weeks one of my friends didn't know it was a free game. He assumed that its quality and production meant it must have been a game we'd paid for.
THE RUNNERS UP:
Mutant Future by Daniel Proctor and Ryan Denison / with 31 points
The old school revival picks up the pace with this sequel to Labyrinth Lord. While gonzo old school isn't for everyone, this is a game that does it best.
Gates & Gorgons by kobayashi / with 12 points
An intriguing twist on the old school revival -- a traditional setting and situation with a new-school indie game feel.
Shell Shock by Kobayashi / with 12 points
A game that digs into the war movie genre, with fast and gritty combat and freeform flow of the best war movies.