La entrega de premios más popular entre los desarrolladores independientes es, y de ahí su nombre, el Independent Games Festival (IGF) que se celebra cada año junto a la GDC, en marzo. Entre sus galardonados hay títulos con mucho prestigio y otros más tapados,
tales como Minecraft, Fez, {Papers, Please} o Her Story.
La organización ha presentado a los nominados de la edición IGF 2018, entre los que están Night in the Woods, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, Into the Breach y Baba is You. Hay varias categorías distintas, así que podemos encontrar otros juegos en algunas de ellas como West of Loathing, Heat Signature o Cuphead. El juego de StudioMDHR no ha recibido el mismo cariño que en otros sitios, pero al menos está presente.
Las categorías con los juegos nominados y los que se han quedado a las puertas son:
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
- West of Loathing (Asymmetric Publications)
- Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- Heat Signature (Suspicious Developments)
- Baba is You (Hempuli)
Honorable Mentions: Tacoma (Fullbright); Rain World (VIDEOCULT); Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (Game Grumps); Cosmic Top Secret (klassefilm); Hollow Knight (Team Cherry); Cuphead (StudioMDHR); Everything Is Going to Be OK (Nathalie Lawhead)
Excellence in Visual Art
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
- Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
- Echo (ULTRA ULTRA)
- Luna (Funomena)
- The Gardens Between (The Voxel Agents)
- Chuchel (Amanita Design)
Honorable Mentions: Jettomero: Hero of the Universe (Ghost Time Games); Dead Cells (Motion Twin); AER - Memories of Old (Forgotten Key); Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games); Rain World (VIDEOCULT); Shape of the World (Hollow Tree Games); Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)
Excellence in Audio
- Tormentor X Punisher (e-studio)
- Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
- Vignettes (Skeleton Business)
- Rain World (VIDEOCULT)
- Uurnog Uurnlimited (Nifflas Games)
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Honorable Mentions: Tumbleseed (Benedict Fritz, Greg Wohlwend, Joel Corelitz, David Laskey and Jenna Blazevich); Hollow Knight (Team Cherry); Tacoma (Fullbright); Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games); Million Onion Hotel (Onion Games); Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
Excellence in Design
- Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- Shenzhen I/O (Zachtronics)
- Wilmot's Warehouse (Richard Hogg, Ricky Haggett, Eli Rainsberry)
- Baba Is You (Hempuli)
- Uurnog Uurnlimited (Nifflas Games)
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
Honorable Mentions: Heat Signature (Suspicious Developments); Dead Cells (Motion Twin); Factorio (Wube Software); Space Pirate Trainer (I-Illusions); Battle Chef Brigade (Trinket Studios)
Excellence in Narrative
- Tacoma (Fullbright)
- Attentat 1942 (Charles University and Czech Academy of Sciences)
- Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (Dim Bulb Games)
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
- Butterfly Soup (Brianna Lei)
- Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games)
Honorable Mentions: A Mortician's Tale (Laundry Bear Games); Lost Memories Dot Net (Star Maid Games); Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (Game Grumps); {Bury me, my Love} (The Pixel Hunt, Figs and ARTE France); Cosmic Top Secret (klassefilm); West of Loathing (Asymmetric Publications); Rakuen (Laura Shigihara)
Nuovo Award
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
- Tarotica Voo Doo (TPM.CO SOFT WORKS)
- 10 Mississippi (Karina Popp)
- A Mortician's Tale (Laundry Bear Games)
- Cosmic Top Secret (klassefilm)
- Everything Is Going to Be OK (Nathalie Lawhead)
- Baba Is You (Hempuli)
- Kids (Playables)
Honorable Mentions: Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (Dim Bulb Games); IO Interloper (DANG!); The Norwood Suite (Cosmo D Studios); Cheap Golf (Pixeljam); Witchball (S.L.Clark); Million Onion Hotel (Onion Games)
Best Student Game
- IO Interloper (DANG!)
- Don't Make Love (Maggese)
- Penny Blue Finds a Clue (DigiPen Team Cactus Curse)
- We Were Here (Total Mayhem Games)
- Baba Is You (Hempuli)
- Guardian of the Gears (DigiPen Team Studio 76)
Honorable Mentions: Crewsaders (Titan Squad); A.L.F.R.E.D. (Hugo Lefevre, Joseph Reichenbach, Romain Jaohar-Gaillard, Garance Royere Lebigre, Nicolas Tham, Marion Speiser, Delphine Migeot de Baran, Song Huang); MOLOCH (Seemingly Pointless); Kyklo's Code (Cube Factory); Membrane (Perfect Hat / Seth S. Scott); That Blooming Feeling (The Tots Team); Tell Me What You See (Pesky Bees)