Indie Dev Argentina 2025 (Day 2) — Closure, Awards, and Emotions

July 22, 2025 Claribel M
The awards ceremony at the IDA. There are two developers thanking the audience for the recognition. One is dressed with a poncho and a white mask.
(The awards ceremony. Photo taken by me.)

IDA 2025 might be bigger than its first iteration, but it still has to come to an end.

As the second day started, the returning expositors were able to show their games to a new batch of people, as the celebration of independent endeavors continued to shine. The first day had a pretty big number of attendees, and Sunday, the 20th of July, had even more ready to try the games out.

Of course, it was a Sunday afternoon, right at the center of the busiest city in Argentina. Since the time and place coincided with a fantastic assortment of games, it’s easy to see how IDA’s closing day was as crowded, if not more, than the first.

With so many developers and press buzzing around the hall, it was a great time for networking, promotion, and collaboration. I had the chance to get contacts for some interviews that hopefully you’ll get to read in the coming days or weeks.

It was also a time for celebration. At around 5 PM, the hall stopped accepting people, and the developers were invited to the closing ceremony. As the event came to an end, IDA delivered its first-ever awards, recognizing various participants for their accomplishments.

Of course, since the 20 participants were chosen from a list of 103 submissions, we were all winners, in a way. Yes, as you might remember, I did participate as a developer, too!

Since I have the privilege of writing about the event, I wouldn’t want to rob you of getting to know the winners.

Let’s make a recap:

Best Gameplay

Not So Smart Delivery

Go Slimey Go

Kernel Hearts (Winner)

Best Game Design

Rising Fox

Quantum Echoes

Go Slimey Go! (Winner)

Best Visuals

Ruless

The poster for a girl called "Ruless" (with two s at the end), by a studio named "Sureksu". It depicts a cartoon child with bandages and a purple eye (all done in a very comic style), showing a thumbs up.
(Ruless by Sureksu. Imagen from the studio’s Linkedin.)

Shippin

Quantum Echoes (Winner)

Best Narrative

Malvinas: La Última Carta

The Lost Land of Bahía Blanca

Fábulas Porteñas (Winner)

Excellence in Audio

Kernel Hearts

The Last Librarian

A screencap from The Last Librarian, a pixel art 2D game where you fly around with a jetpack and shoot enemies.
(The Last Librarian, taken from its Steam store page.)

Go Slimey Go! (Winner)

Best UX / UI

Pungo

Letalis

A pixel art game in the style of the original Game Boy, with the main character moving across a map.
(Letalis. Taken from their Steam storepage.)

The Last Librarian (Winner)

A screencap from The Last Librarian, a pixel art 2D game where you fly around with a jetpack and shoot enemies.
(The Last Librarian, taken from its Steam store page.)

Best Pixel Art

Go Slimey Go!

Rising Fox

A 2D game about a fox moving around a platforming world.
(Rising Fox, taken from the Steam store page.)

Letalis (Winner)

A pixel art game in the style of the original Game Boy, with the main character moving across a map.
(Letalis. Taken from their Steam storepage.)

Best Horror Game

House of Horror: Outside is Better

A first-person view of a 3D game. You're driving a police car at night and arriving to a scene. The subtitles say: "Reports indicate a disturbing trend, no forced entries, no signs of struggle..."
(House of Horror: Outside is Better. Taken from the Steam page.)

Beikun

Beiken is a small horror game, that I got to play at IDA. I couldn’t find an image or social media presence, sadly.

Piso 6 (Winner)

Argentine Representation

Cazadora

A pixel art rendition of a woman wearing traditional argentine clothes. She holds a bloody knife close to her face.
(Cazadora. Image from the Itch.io page.)

Zupay Sombras de la Independencia

An image from Zupay, a 2D action game viewed from above.
(Zupay. Image taken from the itch.io page.)

Malvinas: La Última Carta (Winner)

Idea Original

Escape of the Hammer Princess

El 39

A 3D space of a street with graffiti, a pizzeria called "Ugi's", a monobloc chair and a TV showing static.
(El 39, image provided by the developer.)

Malvinas: La Última Carta (Winner)

Press Over Award

Every game participated for the Press Over Award. The members of Press Over, a local games outlet, voted for their favorite game. And the winner was…

Go Slimey Go!

Best Videogame at IDA 2025

We were all candidates for the best videogame at IDA 2025, but there was clearly a game that stole the hearts of the jury, and it’s hard to disagree:

Go Slimey Go!

Conclusion

A dev wearing a red poncho and a white mask hiding their face. By their side is a screen showing Kernel Hearts, their game.
(A very serious game director. Photo taken by me.)

The award ceremony might not have been as big as Gamescom’s or the Game Awards, but that didn’t matter in the moment. It was a great celebration, an emotional climax of enthusiasm.

The devs of Go Slimey Go!, in particular, ended up at a loss for words by the end. Seeing their efforts recognized in such a way is, undoubtedly, one of the best parts of these kinds of local events.

As the day came to a close, it was hard for me not to think about the care and dedication that many productions had. It made me proud, undoubtedly, but also excited. Here’s to bigger audiences and international stages! Let’s hope that the participants at IDA have a bright future ahead.

While the global game industry is going through turbulent and depressing times, it brings me hope to see that, here in Argentina, we get to celebrate the act of making games together.

Here’s to 2026!

Although you won’t need to wait that long for more coverage. There’s more to see in the coming months! And there’s also a bunch of interviews that I’m doing with IDA’s expositors. I hope you’ll enjoy those stories too!

For now, you can check the rest of our convention coverage here.

Author: Claribel M

Writer, narrative designer, journalist. Perpetually doing too much.


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