NEWS: PIETRO RIGHI RIVA AND PAOLO TAJÉ ARE AMONG THE WINNERS OF THE 2021 ITALIAN VIDEO GAME AWARDS

Fron left to right: Paolo Tajé, Nicolò Tedeschi and Pietro Righi Riva (Photo: Courtesy of Santa Ragione)

On July 1 2021, the Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association hosted the annual Italian Video Games Awards (IVGA). The event - which took place at the Museum of Ancient Ships in Pisa - was presented by RaiNews 24’s Dario Marchetti - who appeared in-person in Tuscany - and British journalist Aoife Wilson, live from the United Kingdom. Milan-based independent studio Santa Ragione (Pietro Righi Riva, Paolo Tajé and Nicolò Tedeschi) received the Outstanding Italian Company award, while Julian Palacios, who gave an incredible GAME TALK on November 11 2020, won several awards, including Best Italian Game for his poetic Promesa. Lorenzo Redaelli’s Milky Way Prince - The Vampire Star - a visual novel entirely developed during the second edition of the Master of Art of Game Design at IULM University and later published by Santa Ragione to wide acclaim - was also nominated in the Best Debut Game category. Funded in 2010, Santa Ragione is currently developing the eagerly awaited horror game Saturnalia. The Italian Video Game Awards are part of First Playable, Italy’s leading B2B event about video games which took place on July 1-2 2021. Above all, the IVGA are a celebration of Italian game design: the nominations exemplify the ingenuity and creativity of Italian game designers. There were five categories overall (see below), and the shortlists were selected by an international panel of judges, who volunteered their time to take part in the selection process.

IVGA 2021 Winners:

Best Italian Game - Promesa - Eremo (watch Julian’s GAME TALK here)
Best Debut Game - Beyond Your Window - Team SolEtude
Best Innovation - Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Outstanding Italian Company - Santa Ragione
Outstanding Individual Contribution - Mauro Fanelli (Mixed Bag)
 
The judges recognized Santa Ragione as an Outstanding Italian Company for its groundbreaking visual and interactive design. They also celebrated the studio’s diverse portfolio which includes titles such as Fotonica, Wheel’s of Aurelia, and MirrorMoon EP, among others. The three person team - Pietro Righi Riva, Paolo Tajé and Nicolò Tedeschi - are internationally known for their unique, experimental approach to gaming. Righi Riva and Tajé teach GAME PRODUCTION and GAME STUDIO respectively in the M.A. in Game Design at IULM University.
 
Thalita Malago, Director General of IIDEA congratulated both nominees and winners: “We’re happy for all the creative talent who were nominated and won awards at the 2021 IVGAs. We know that the competition was extremely high and that the judges commented that it was hard to pick winners because there was so much variety, talent and ingenuity expressed by Italian game development this year. To stand out in such a competitive field, and against the additional challenges posed by the ongoing health emergency, is an incredible achievement.”
 
The organization of the IVGA ceremony and panel of jurors follows the recent publication of the fifth biennial Italian Census by IIDEA and IDG Consulting. The census data revealed an extremely young, buoyant, and upbeat sector, which kept growing in 2020 despite the global pandemic. The overwhelming majority of games nominated for the five categories this year were artistic, independent games developed by small studios.

Full list of nominees:

Best Italian Game
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 - Monkeys Tales Studios
Beyond Your Window - Team SolEtude
Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Promesa - Eremo
Redout: Space Assault - 34BigThings

Best Debut Game
Beyond Your Window - Team SolEtude
Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Milky Way Prince - The Vampire Star - Eyeguys
Promesa - Eremo
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town - Imaginary Labs

Best Innovation
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 - Monkeys Tales Studios
Change Game - Melazeta
Fly Punch Boom! - Jollypunch Games
Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Promesa - Eremo

The winners of the two additional categories - Outstanding Italian Company and Outstanding Individual Contribution were announced during the ceremony without lists of nominees.

Full list of jurors:

Chris Dring: Head of B2B at ReedPop, which covers GamesIndustry.biz, B2B events at PAX and EGX, plus other special projects.
Alex Hutchinson: Creative Director responsible for Journey to the Savage Planet, Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed 3, Spore, Sims 2 and more.
Rami Ismail: Dutch-Egyptian independent video game developer
Ryan Lambie: Editor, Wireframe Magazine
Eugene Maleev: Business Head at Xsolla
Liana Ruppert: Editor, Game Informer
Chris Schilling: Deputy Editor, Edge Magazine

Watch the full ceremony here

Errata corrige: originally the article erroneously stated that Promesa won the Debut Game of the Year. Although nominated, the prize went to Beyond Your Window by Team SolEtude. Promesa received three nominations overall.

EVENT: GAME TALK: JULIÁN PALACIOS (NOVEMBER 11 2020)

SIAMO FELICI DI PRESENTARE IL GAME TALK DI JULIÁN PALACIOS GECHTMAN, L’AUTORE DEL PLURIPREMIATO VIDEOGIOCO INDIPENDENTE PROMESA.

L’evento si svolgerà l’11 novembre 2020 dalle ore 16:00 alle 17:00 esclusivamente online, su Microsoft Teams. L’evento - previsto per gli studenti e la faculty del Master of Arts in Game Design dell’Università IULM nonché per tutti gli alumni - prevede un numero limitato di ospiti. Per partecipare all’evento, inviare una richiesta attraverso Eventbrite.

Nato da una conversazione tra lo sviluppatore Julián Palacios Gechtman e suo nonno, Promesa è un videogioco contemplativo che consente al giocatore di attraversare sogni e ricordi. Frutto di quattro anni di sviluppo, Promesa è un'opera affascinante e poliedrica, che sfrutta appieno il potenziale poetico del mezzo videoludico. In questo talk, Julian racconterà il processo di sviluppo, dalle ispirazioni e dai punti di riferimento iniziali fino alla conclusione del progetto, a cui hanno partecipato anche Domiziano Maselli, Andrea Cedraro e Martín Palacios. Allo sviluppo ha partecipato anche Stefano Sanitate, ex-studente del Master of Arts in Game Design dell’Università IULM di Milano. Promesa è stato presentato al Tokyo Game Show 2020 (Tokyo, Japan), Game On: El Arte En Juego (Bueno Aires, Argentina) e Game Happens (Genoa, Italy). Il gioco è disponibile su Itch.io.

Julián è nato a Milano nel 1993 da una famiglia di immigrati dal Sud America. Ha studiato all’Accademia di Brera di Milano dove ha conseguito una Laurea in New Media e un Master of Arts in Multimedia Education. Nella sua pratica, utilizza lo spazio 3D per esplorare le connessioni tra memoria e realtà, tra fantasia e identità. La sua massima ambizione è di creare narrazioni audiovisive capaci di evocare una sensazione di realtà. Dopo aver realizzato diversi videogiochi sperimentali, nel 2016 ha cominciato lo sviluppo di Promesa. Nel 2017, insieme a Domiziano Maselli, ha fondato Eremo, un collettivo artistico che opera nel settore delle arti multimediali e performative.

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We are delighted to announce Julián Palacios Gechtman’s upcoming GAME TALK on the making of Promesa.

The event will take place online on Microsoft Teams on November 11 2020, from 4 pm to 5 pm, in Italian. Access to the live talk will be limited to the students and faculty of the M.A. in Game Arts. A selected number of guests will be able to join us as well, please register through Eventbrite.

Born from a conversation between developer Julián Palacios Gechtman and his grandfather, Promesa is a contemplative video game that allows the player to wander through dreams and memories. In this talk, the author will discuss the four year development process that led to the final work, from its original references and inspirations to the design evolutions during development which saw the involvement of Domiziano Maselli, Andrea Cedraro and Martín Palacios took. Stefano Sanitate, an alumnus of the M.A. in Game Arts, contributed to the development as well. Promesa has been exhibited at the Tokyo Game Show 2020 (Tokyo, Japan), Game On: El Arte En Juego (Bueno Aires, Argentina), and Game Happens (Genoa, Italy). The game is now available on Itch.io.

Julián was born in Milan in 1993 from a South American family who emigrated to Italy. He studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, in Milan. He has a bachelor in New Media and a master in Multimedia Education. In his work, he uses 3D space to explore the connections between memory, fantasy and identity. His effort is aimed at creating audiovisual narratives that evoke a feeling of reality. After producing several short experimental video games, he began working on Promesa in 2016. In 2017, together with Domiziano Maselli, founded Eremo, an art collective that focuses on multimedia and performing arts.