The 2025 indiePlay China Independent Game Competition marks its 11th anniversary. Eleven years ago, “independent games” were still a very cutting-edge and niche concept among game developers. “Independence” represents a spirit—one of constant reflection and exploration in game development, a relentless pursuit of innovation in gameplay, narrative, and design, and a continuous exploration of artistic expression through visuals, sound, and other mediums.
In 2015, the first indiePlay China Independent Game Competition was launched to encourage and discover more outstanding creative ideas and developers. Over the past 11 years, indiePlay has witnessed and supported the growth of China’s independent game industry. The indiePlay China Independent Game Competition has become a highly representative event among independent game developers in China and around the world, enjoying significant global influence, a strong reputation, and a wide following.
By 2025, "indie game" developers in China were no longer isolated; the concept of indie games had become familiar not only to industry professionals but also to a wide audience of gamers.Every year, the indiePlay showcase at WePlay attracts massive crowds. The indiePlay platform not only connects developers with players but also serves as a bridge linking domestic and international developers. As indiePlay’s international reputation and influence continue to grow, the 2025 indiePlay event has already received submissions from developers in over 30 countries and regions.
In addition to the steady increase in the number of entries and overseas submissions, indiePlay has also witnessed and accompanied the year-on-year improvement in the quality of Chinese indie games. With more and more developers—whether those with professional game development backgrounds who have left major studios to devote themselves fully to indie game development, or those working on indie projects in their spare time—entering the field, competition in the indie game sector has become increasingly fierce.
In the coming decade, the concept of “indie games” may evolve with the times, but the spirit of exploration and dedication to creating high-quality games that it embodies will remain unchanged. Over the next decade, indiePlay will continue to discover outstanding ideas and developers through our events, encouraging innovation and exploration in game development. At the same time, we will leverage our established platform to better connect developers with the domestic and international gaming industries, as well as with players.
Before announcing this year’s award nominees, we would like to extend our gratitude to all the judges. The continued growth and success of indiePlay would not be possible without the careful and thoughtful evaluations provided by each judge every year. This year’s judging process involved two months of online deliberations, followed by in-person review sessions in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. After multiple rounds of thorough discussion, the shortlist for the 2025 indiePlay China Independent Game Awards has finally been determined!
The list of nominees for the 2025 indiePlay awards is as follows (in no particular order):
Nominees for Best Visual Effects
Whispering Town
Golden Star Vortex
A Thousand Days of Plum Blossoms
The Master's Eye
Soul Clinic: Reborn
A Nighttime Stroll in the Garden
Finalists for Best Design
I now have a family.
Good friends
Escape from Yakov
The Apocalypse of Decay
Frontline of Winter
Screws and Floating City
Finalists for Best Innovation
Super Sliding Blade Warrior
The World of Word Games
AI2U: With You Until the End of the World ~ My Yandere Cat Girl AI Girlfriend
CATO Butter Cat
Flying Over Ikaria
Ginger
Nominees for Best Narrative
Heavy rain all day
Avatar Zero
Love and Robot Repair Technology
Intertwined Dreams
The Confucian Temple Courtyard Is Covered in Snow
Detective of Strange Diseases
Nominees for Best Sound
The House Cleaner
The Rhythm Witch
Cohen 1939
Romantic Tales: Memories That Never Were
No such place found
Chongchong Badi
Finalists for Best Game Jam Entry
Who is the human-machine?
Where's My Body?!
Tales of Spirits
Out of Sight
AliveCHAPTCHA
It moved
Actually, all models are dynamic.
Daily Necessities Clinic
I need to recover a lost file from a small folder!
A box with character
The finalists for the Best Game Jam award were selected from entries submitted to the various in-person locations and online participants of the 2025 CiGA Game Jam.
Nominees for Best Newcomer
MadGoat Games Studio – Contract of the Underworld
Yahzj Games – Frontier Pioneers
The Pathfinder Game – Demon Cards
Prism Labyrinth – Harmony 01: A New Life
Lijing Studio – The Book of Smoke
Mountain Rain Studio – Female Hanging
The Best Newcomer Award is presented to teams that are participating in the indiePlay competition for the first time and have showcased outstanding work.
Games Shortlisted for Best Student Work
Cam Down
Free Will
The Harvest Game
Who is Jack?
Oumaga!
Minimalist Tower Defense
Multiple Windows
Guns, Princesses, and Heroes
Mi Xuanxing's Log
Write off
Connect with a Forensic Expert
Lead Rain 2
The Tower of Light in the Eternal Night
Avatar Zero
Window 8: The Millennium
The list of finalists for Best Student Project includes five titles selected through the CUSGA China University Student Game Development Competition that have advanced directly to the final round of the indiePlay Student Category.
Games Nominated for Best International Game
Fall: The Metal Maidens' Chronicle
MONOWAVE
Looking for a phony
Constance
Echoes of the Past
The Story of Ai
The Journey of Chess Battles
Nervous Goose
The Realm of Sleeplessness: The Witch and the Curse
The People of the Dawn
As indiePlay’s international influence continues to grow, the 2025 indiePlay Overseas Games category has received submissions from developers in over 30 countries and regions, including several titles that were released this year and have gained widespread global recognition.
Following discussions among the judges, and in an effort to discover more outstanding titles, the number of nominees for this year’s Best Overseas Game award will remain at 10. However, titles that were already live and had achieved viral sales success at the time of entry will not be included in the final judging. We thank these overseas developers for their participation in and support of indiePlay.
Nominees for the Best Game Award
The World of Word Games
Chongchong Badi
Escape from Yakov
Good friends
The Apocalypse of Decay
We would like to thank our game prototyping tool partner, Qingyou Dream Workshop, for their generous support of 2025indiePlay.
LightGame Studio is a no-code game editor developed in-house by Tencent Games. It features a rich library of free assets, a vast array of pre-built functions, and offers powerful multi-character physics synchronization and AI-generated content (AIGC) capabilities. It enables developers to bring their game ideas to life with low barriers to entry and high efficiency!
Scan the QR code to follow the Qingyou Meng Workshop service account and be the first to receive the latest updates and developer events.
This year, we have introduced a new award category: the "LightGame Dream Selection" Award. This award will focus on the core gameplay of the game and its alignment with the development philosophy of the LightGame Dream Workshop editor. The award will be judged exclusively by LightGame Dream Workshop, which will also provide a separate cash prize.
After review by the Qingyoumeng Workshop, three entries were ultimately selected to receive the Qingyoumeng Award.
Light Travel, Dream Picks
Guns, Princesses, and Heroes
Thank you for your submission
A Nighttime Stroll in the Garden
Congratulations to the above finalists and teams!
All of the above titles will be available for hands-on play at the indiePlay showcase area during the WePlay Culture Expo on November 22–23, 2025! On November 23, a grand awards ceremony will be held on the WePlay main stage to announce the winners of each category. We invite all players to come and witness this important annual moment for indie game developers!
The 2025 WePlay Culture Expo is just around the corner, and details about this year’s event will be released shortly. We invite you to follow the WePlay Culture Expo’s official WeChat account to receive the latest updates.
原创文章，作者：wisegames，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/194580
