After what seems like forever, we finally get a look at the finalists for the 14th annual Independent Games Festival. The juries have announced their picks for all the categories and they include some games that have already received several awards so far as well as some newcomers.

The familiar faces on the award circuit are Polytron’s highly anticipated dimension-bender Fez (all the awards make the waiting that much harder!), Mode7′s turn-based tactical shooter Frozen Synapse as well as Die Gute Fabrik’s frantic PS Move folk game Johann Sebastian Joust. They have all been nominated in several categories, and of course they are in the running for the greatest honor of the festival, The $30,000 Seamus McNally Grand Prize.

It’s a great list filled with many games we haven’t seen yet and it’s a great way to really kick off 2012′s indie year.
The full list of finalists for the main competition, as it is on the festival main site, is below:

Excellence In Visual Art

Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Lume (State Of Play Games)
Mirage (Mario von Rickenbach)
Wonderputt (Damp Gnat)

Honorable mentions: Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo); Dustforce (Hitbox Team); Fader(Chris Makris); Proun (Joost van Dongen); Toren (Swordtales)

Technical Excellence

Antichamber (Demruth)
Fez (Polytron)
Prom Week (Expressive Intelligence Studio, UC Santa Cruz)
Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios & Spry Fox)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)

Honorable mentions: Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games); Nitronic Rush (DigiPen Institute of Technology); Reflow (Xymatic); Super T.I.M.E Force (Capy); Tiny and Big – Grandpa’s Leftovers (Black Pants)

Excellence In Design

Atom Zombie Smasher (Blendo Games)
English Country Tune (Stephen Lavelle)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Gunpoint (Tom Francis, John Roberts and Fabian van Dommelen)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)

Honorable mentions: Faraway (Steph Thirion); FTL (Justin Ma & Matthew Davis);Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik); SpaceChem (Zachtronics Industries); Where Is My Heart (Die Gute Fabrik)

Excellence In Audio

Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Pugs Luv Beats (Lucky Frame)
To The Moon (Freebird Games)
Waking Mars (Tiger Style)

Honorable mentions: Beatbuddy (THREAKS); Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo); Fez(Polytron); Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga); Where Is My Heart (Die Gute Fabrik)

Best Mobile Game

ASYNC Corp (Powerhead Games)
Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo)
Faraway (Steph Thirion)
Ridiculous Fishing (Vlambeer)
Waking Mars (Tiger Style)

Honorable mentions: Fingle (Game Oven Studios); Hundreds (SemiSecret and aeiowu); iBlast Moki 2 (Godzilab); Temple Run (Imangi Studios); Tentacles (Press Play ApS)

Nuovo Award
[Designed 'to honor abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development'.]

At a Distance (Terry Cavanagh)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Fingle (Game Oven Studios)
GIRP (Bennett Foddy)
Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Storyteller (Daniel Benmergui)
Way (CoCo & Co.)

Honorable mentions: Deep Sea (WRAUGHK); Four Letter Word (Terry Cavanagh);GlitchHiker (Aardbever); Hundreds (SemiSecret and aeiowu); POP (Rob Lach)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Fez (Polytron)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)

Honorable mentions: Antichamber (Demruth); FTL (Justin Ma & Matthew Davis);Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga); SpaceChem (Zachtronics Industries); Where Is My Heart (Die Gute Fabrik)

More information on the finalists is available on the festival’s page

[IGF Finalists]

So who do you guys think has a chance this year? Any submissions that you were rooting for that didn’t quite make the cut? Let us know in the comments below!