USC's Tracy Fullerton honored at IndieCade

The independent games festival IndieCade officially kicked off this evening with its Red Carpet Awards, honoring its top submissions as well as awarding games educator Tracy Fullerton its annual Trailblazer Award. Out of over 800 submissions, over 100 games are on exhibition at this year's event, with 36 of those up for awards. Eight games were ultimately awarded over nine categories. Here is the complete list: Interaction Award: Spaceteam (Henry Smith) Audio Award: Gone Home (The Fullbright Company) Visual Award: Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer) Technology Award: Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party (KnapNok Games & Redgrim) Impact Award: Dog Eat Dog (Liwanag Press) Story and World Award: Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer) Game Design Award: Nidhogg (Messhof) Special Recognition Award: Porpentine's Twine Collection (Porpentine) Grand Jury Award: Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games) The only developers to come away with two awards from the evening, Cardboard Computer's Jake Elliott and Tamas Kemenczy accepted their awards by thanking their visual and literary influences, adding, "We are building on the shoulders of giants." In addition to the game awards, University of Southern California professor Tracy Fullerton was awarded the festival's annual Trailblazer Award, given to individuals in game development who have profoundly shaped the field. The chair of USC's games program and a founding figure behind Journey developer thatgamecompany, Fullerton received her Trailblazer Award from colleague and former Naughty Dog designer Richard Lemarchand, who said of Fullerton: "Tracy has been not only been dreaming big dreams, but has been doing the hard work to turn those dreams into realities, for herself and for everyone around her -- for the entire duration of her game design practice." Fullerton thanked her colleagues and mentors, saying: "We can change the kind of games that there are in the world if we change the context in which they are made." Previous Trailblazer recipients include Megan Gaiser, Doublefine's Tim Schafer and Microsoft's Elan Lee.