Hello! I'm delighted to announce that Trans Theft Horso has been awarded the grand prize - that of Most Amazing Game - at A MAZE Games and Playful Media Festival in Berlin.
This is an honour beyond my wildest expectations! You can hear my bewaffled acceptance speech, and the majestic description given by the judges. I'm not a person with a high self-esteem, so seeing my labour of love recognised like this has been an astonishing vindication, and a boon in casting off years of impostor syndrome.
I'm especially glad to bring some additional gender gladness into the world with this game. May we all prosper in Gender Gladness!
I strongly recommend checking out the other winners and nominees from this year's A MAZE. There are a wide variety of games, all worthy of great praise. I would struggle to name all my favourites, but the first to come to mind as recommendations are Stealth Crossword (introducing stealth mechanics into a genre which never needed it, and doing so richly and wonderfully), Lucky Castaway (which I found highly addictive), Pigeon: A Love Story (which I've followed since its playtesting), Easy Delivery Co (which defies its title, and which I need to play a lot more of soon) and The Wide Open Sky is Running out of Catfish (which is such an experience).
I would have happily been gazumped to success by any of the four other games in my category: Sire, Peppered, Skate Story and Manifest Your Dream Job Sleep Marathon -- I quite expected this to be the case, and I recommend giving them ample attention. I also wish y'all could have been there in person to enjoy Unsettled (an astonishing work of plastic and light), InSync (a beautiful creature I loved with my whole heart) and the sheer theatre of LabRats.
As I say, I'd love to praise all 33 of the nominees, plus the Open Screens, the games from the village and the volunteers who made it all happen. I haven't played everything, so I've stuck to the ones I was able to give my attention and my heart to.
Also, a shout out to the as-yet-unreleased Kitiklop which won the audience award -- quite rightly so. Together with Trans Theft Horso, this truly is the Year of the Horse!
++ Gender Gladness to you all!