The 2023 Playdate Community Awards

Community Awards 2023

Date:	March 8th 2024
Time:	11am PST
Hosts:	Guv_Bubbs & GantProdux
Video:	YouTube

The 2023 Playdate Community Awards is an awards show run by the Playdate Squad Discord server.

The Awards

This year we have 20 awards to hand out to developers.

All games first released between November 1 2022 & November 30 2023 are eligible.

Badges

Winner
Nominee
Cranky
Game of the Year
Community Hero

Winners and nominees can display the relevant badges proudly alongside their games.

Community Heroes

Each year the community awards also celebrate heroes from across the Playdate community - people who make cool content and tools or who are helpful and encouraging to others.

We recognized 6 sets of community heroes this year.

Gant is a shining star in our community. He sets the tone for the love and energy that the Playdate Squad aim's for. Gant has created a platform with the Community Directs for game devs of all sizes to have a voice. Although he's gone into hibernation, the :TYM: spirit lives on in all of us.
Matt Sephton is the quiet dad in the wider Playdate community. He's active in the forums, fediverse and other odd corners. His love and knowledge of forgotten game designs pair well with his detailed approach to programming results in some impressive output
Toadley is a constant delight in the community. I first got to know him when we started the Squad Mincraft server. From the get go he's been a pun a-fish-ionado :fishpd:. He's always uplifting others and their work in a way that is contagious. It's no sea-cret why they are one of this year's community heroes.
Rae Why Google something Playdate related when you could just ask @rae? Rae is seemingly always online, always watching! From their encyclopedic knowledge of all things regarding the little yellow handheld, to collaborating on many cool games, apps, doodads, and art pieces, they've truly earned the title of GOAT🐐.
XaniaLasagna is a stalwart constant in the community. From the community driven Uncrank'd magazine, to the artistry rich Playdate Calendar, she has ensured that the community is kept engaged, represented, and entertained!
RPDev is not only an accomplished developer, but a passionate advocate for shared growth. Having released multiple tools including the ⁠Playdate Mode7 library, RP provides endless support and assistance. PR doesn't just raise the bar for what can be done on the Playdate, they're helping us lift it.

And finally I want to shout out everyone who has helped to keep the wiki up to date this year. 8_bit_BEAR, Scenic Route Software, orkn, Crabaret, rae and many more.

On top of these 6, I also want to share all of the comments from the community.

The Process

Filtering Process

The community nominates games for awards via the Community Nomination Form.
The judging groups can optionally choose to add extra games into the judging conversation. This is for games that may be missed or not be represented in a community popular vote.
We then take the the top 6 community games for each awards + all judge games to land at internal nominee list to be voted on by the judges.
At this time judges are free to squabble, debate, and pull each others hair to make a case for who they think should win. Then they vote.
In the case of tiebreaks the judges will need to hash it out until they can decide on one winner and three unranked nominees. The results are handed over to Paul.

The Judges

This year we will have 3 judging groups so we can have specialists for presentation & technical categories.

Category	Awards	Judges (Discord)
General Genre	Best Puzzle Game Best Action Game Best Adventure Game Best Arcade Game Best Sim/Strategy Game Best Narrative Game Best App or Nicknack Accomplishment in Accessibility The CRANKY Award Outstanding Pulp Game of the Year 2023 Playdate Game of the Year	Negatron524 Callmesteam 8_bit_bear Iarumas Kiwi_04 RobC Sphodromantis NickSr Arisa
Presentation	Best Soundtrack Best Sound Design Artistic Visual Achievement Award in a Pulp Game Artistic Visual Achievement Award in an SDK Game Best Launch Experience	FoundSoundLofi Budpikmin Bibikigarcia Majeed0010 Choosh Sphodromantis Neven
Technical	Outstanding Technical Achievement in a Pulp Game Outstanding Technical Achievement in an SDK Game	Strupf RobC The3dprintist NickSr Gregmaletic
Special	Most Anticipated Game* Best Playdate Game Trailer**	* chosen by the community (100% popular vote) ** chosen by GantProdux

FAQ

Which games are eligible?

All games first released between November 1 2022 & November 30 2023 are eligible. All Season One games and any Catalog games that previously released elsewhere before November 30th 2023 are not eligible. If you're unsure whether a game is eligible, check whether it was previously nominated in last year's awards.

Why doesn't the community vote on everything?

At first, we asked ourselves “Why can’t the community just vote on all the awards?” Well, after we thought about this, we realized that this would put some games and creators at a severe disadvantage and turn the awards show into more of a popularity/visibility contest if the community was able to decide everything. The community will still have a huge part in deciding the nominees, but we’ve created a diverse set of judges that will also offset any chance of games or creators winning due to their ability to market their game or obtain more visibility. Some developers simply do not have the resources other companies and games have, so it is possible that their game may not receive a popular vote. With our judging committee active, they will be able to bring these games and creators to the forefront that may be more deserving of the award than a game that could win due to high visibility or a popular vote.

Why didn't you do the process another way?

We feel the process above was the best way forward based on the time we and the judges have.
We are open to feedback next year.

How did you decide on the award categories?

The awards were iterated on over a two week period with input from members in the Playdate Squad Discord server in 2022. Then updated this year.
For the most part, our Genre Categories have been modeled off of The Game Awards, but were tweaked to fit the current Playdate catalog.