The games submitted to the Swedish Game Awards 2009 competition will be judged by the jury according to the following criteria:
- Fun – How fun is the game to play?
- Innovation – Does the game break any new ground or have any original ideas?
- Execution – Does the game have coherent graphics, theme and presentation?
- Market potential – Does the game have the potential to find an audience?
All games, regardless of genre or platform, will be judged according to these criteria. After playing the games the jury assigns every game a value on each axis. The resulting area forms the basis for deciding how well the game fares in the competition. The final nomination of the game depends on which axis it gravitates towards the most, with fun being the ultimate deciding factor.
There are three main prize categories in which each game competes, which are presented below. If your game uses Microsoft XNA or Sun JavaFX technology it will also compete in the Best XNA Game or Best JavaFX Game categories.
Game of the Year
The jury’s favorite – A game that is well thought-out and a delivers solid and fun gameplay. Clever design and a good game concept should be intertwined, creating a unique whole. The game needs to be innovative, well executed, fun and possible to market.
Best Innovation
A game that is innovative in any way: an entirely new type of gameplay or a fresh take on an old one. But it still has to be fun, so just inventing new gameplay is not enough.
Best Execution
A well made product that is good looking, has tight gameplay and coherent graphics. The presentation is also important: there is a big difference between a demo and a proper game. The game also needs to be fun.
Best XNA Game
This prize will be awarded to a game that uses Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio technology.
Best JavaFX Game
This prize will be awarded to a game that uses Sun’s Java technology.
