As the year winds down around us, the 2018 Independent Games Festival is entering its jurying phase -- the period in which discipline-specific experts play, evaluate and discuss the highlights of the nearly 600 games entered in the 2018 Festival Competition, which together continue to push the boundaries of video game development and design.

Of course, an excellent group of game development notables are evaluating IGF 2018's most promising entries. After first-round IGF judging from hundreds of evaluators, these expert juries will ultimately determine the finalists and winners of the various IGF 2018 awards at the 2018 Game Developers Conference.

In recognition of their service, today we'd like to celebrate those who have volunteered their time and talent to take part in judging the Excellence in Design Award, the Excellence in Audio Award, and the Excellence in Narrative Award.
Also, we should point out that every IGF award juror will have a say in who wins the festival's top honor, the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

The Excellence in Design Award

The Excellence in Design award is a category which seeks to highlight the innovation and quality of the underlying blueprint of each entered game -- including component parts like its level design, mechanic design and difficulty balancing. It will be awarded by the following jury:

Liz England - Liz England is a game designer at Ubisoft Toronto and specializes in systems design and narrative. She's worked on games such...