Top devs honoured at 10th Develop Awards

Games industry pioneers of all shapes and sizes won Develop Awards last night.

A gala ceremony in Brighton was attended by over 550 people from 150 companies, where they saw the likes of Moshi Monsters, Dear Esther and World of Tanks handed highly-coveted awards.

Now in its tenth year, the Develop Industry Excellence Awards recognise creative, commercial and technical smarts. Taking place at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Brighton, last night’s event was the most attended night in the Develop Awards’ decade rewarding developers for their hard work.

Moshi Monsters creator Mind Candy took home the top prize, the Grand Prix, which recognised a blistering period of growth for the children’s online game firm which has broken through as a true mainstream property in the last 18 months.

Seven key prizes went to new, nimble British companies: Mode 7 Games took home the New IP prize for Frozen Synapse, Facebook games pioneer Bossa was named best New Studio, while Thechineseroom (pictured) took two awards, winning Micro Studio and Use of Narrative for Dear Esther.

Other UK winners included in-game lighting tech Enlighten, apps powerhouse NaturalMotion Games, Rocksteady Studios, Cubic Motion and Amiqus.

But there were honours too for big, established games franchises including Rayman, Batman and Battlefield, and Total War creator The Creative Assembly.

As previously announced, games development visionary David Perry was awarded the Development Legend prize, honouring his forward-thinking when it comes to founding new businesses in the games industry.

Perry received a standing ovation for proud win – his parents had come along to the event to see him collect his prize.

A full list of winners can be found below.

More awards reports and videos will be posted on Develop Online throughout the day and the rest of the week.

THE WINNERS IN FULL

CATEGORY: CREATIVITY

NEW IP
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)

USE OF A LICENCE
Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)

USE OF NARRATIVE
Dear Esther (Thechineseroom)

VISUAL ARTS
Rayman Origins (Ubsioft Montpellier)

AUDIO ACCOMPLISHMENT
Battlefield 3 (EA Dice)

PUBLISHING HERO
Steam

CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES

TECHNICAL INNOVATION
Enlighten (Geomerics)

USE OF ONLINE
World of Tanks (Wargaming.net)

VISUAL OUTSOURCER
Cubic Motion

AUDIO OUTSOURCER
Side

SERVICES
VMC Game Labs

TOOLS PROVIDER
Epic Games

ENGINE
Unity 3.5 (Unity Technologies)

RECRUITER
Amiqus

CATEGORY: STUDIOS

NEW STUDIO
Bossa Studios

MICRO STUDIO
Thechineseroom

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
NaturalMotion Games

INDEPENDENT STUDIO
CCP

IN-HOUSE STUDIO
The Creative Assembly

SPECIAL AWARDS

DEVELOPMENT LEGEND
David Perry

GRAND PRIX
Mind Candy