A Maze

{{Short description|Annual independent games festival in Germany}}

{{Infobox recurring event

| name = A MAZE.

| image = A MAZE logo.png

| location = Berlin, Germany, Johannesburg, South Africa

| years_active = 12

| founded = 2008

| dates =

| genre = Independent games, digital art

| website = {{URL|amaze-berlin.de}}

}}

A Maze (stylized as A MAZE.) is an international series of events celebrating independent and arthouse games, immersive media and digital culture. Founded in 2008 by artistic director Thorsten Wiedemann, A MAZE hosts the International Games and Playful Media Festival, held annually in Berlin since 2012, which feature annual awards and prizes for games and digital works.

History

A MAZE was launched by founder and artistic director Thorsten Wiedemann in Berlin in 2008.{{cite web|website=VentureBeat|last=Chan|first=Stephanie|date=17 September 2017|title=How the A Maze Festival in Johannesburg showcased Africa's indie game scene|url=https://venturebeat.com/games/how-the-a-maze-festival-in-johannesburg-showcased-africas-indie-game-scene/}} Wiedemann stated the event began at a local bar to showcase games and digital art, with the event expanding in 2012 to the first festival, Indie Connect, coinciding with the International Games Week Berlin.{{cite web|website=GamesNow|title=Thorsten S. Wiedemann: The New Wave. From Indie to Arthouse Games.|date=23 January 2023|url=https://gamesnow.aalto.fi/thorsten-wiedemann-2023/}} The festivals are not primarily commercial and aim to celebrate games and digital culture as "not only a product" but a "medium of expression".{{cite web|website=The Guardian|last=Webber|first=Jordan Erica|date=21 October 2015|title=Sex, art and picnics: the rise of the alternative video game festival|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/21/sex-art-camping-alternative-video-game-festival}} In following years, the festival was also co-held in Johannesburg from 2012 to 2017. In 2019, A MAZE experienced financial difficulties following the decision by the German Senate Department of Culture to discontinue funding for the program.{{cite web|website=Rock Paper Shotgun|title=A Maze Berlin secures another year of indie games, Thin Lizzie sing-a-longs|last=Clayton|first=Natalie|date=25 November 2019|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-maze-berlin-secures-another-year-of-indie-games-thin-lizzie-sing-a-longs}} Following this decision, the festival organisers launched a successful campaign on Kickstarter to partially fund the event in November 2019.{{cite web |title=A MAZE Festival 2020: Kickstarter-Kampagne erfolgreich (Update) |url=https://www.gameswirtschaft.de/events/a-maze-festival-2020-berlin-kickstarter/ |website=GamesWirtschaft.de |language=de-DE |date=27 November 2019}} During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the event transitioned to a digital experience titled A MAZE ./ SPACE, hosting an online multiplayer showroom.{{cite web|website=Rock Paper Shotgun|last=Vega|first=Sin|title=The super-artsy A Maze festival has begun|date=22 July 2020|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-super-artsy-a-maze-festival-has-begun}}

Awards

A MAZE Festival events feature awards and prizes decided by an independent jury. The festival awards features an open-ended selection criteria beyond traditional video games, with eligibility extended to interactive fiction and digital art.{{cite web|website=Game Developer|title=The 2023 A MAZE. Award nominees are as weird and wonderful as you'd expect|date=14 March 2023|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/the-2023-a-maze-award-nominees-are-as-weird-and-wonderful-as-you-d-expect}} Nominees are judged by a selection committee, with submitted works reviewed and rated on "innovation, potential, interdisciplinarity, social, cultural and political impact, aesthetics and overall awesomeness". A shortlist of games is then reviewed by a final jury of five to select award winners, including the winner of the previous year. Winners of each category receive a €1000 prize, with the main 'Most Amazing Award' prize winner receiving €2000.{{cite web|website=A MAZE|title=Welcome to the A MAZE. Award System|date=2022|url=https://2022.award.amaze-berlin.de/}}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" | style="white-space: nowrap;"

|+Awards at the A MAZE Festival

! Year !! Date !! Work !! Author !! Award

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 2023{{cite web |last1=Wagner |first1=Pascal |title=A Maze. Awards 2023 küren Schweizer Entwicklerin |url=https://www.gamesmarkt.de/business/preisverleihung-a-maze-awards-2023-kueren-schweizer-entwicklerin-fc211e09f144e6a6e7fa0246c6b9c974 |website=GamesMarkt |language=de |date=15 May 2023}}

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 10–13 May 2023

| Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity

| Sam Atlas

| Digital Moment Award

| The MetaMovie Presents: Alien Rescue

| The MetaMovie

| Human Human Machine Award

| Season: A Letter to the Future

| Scavengers Studio

| Long Feature Award

| Lost on Mars

| Trey Ramm

| Explorer Award

| Viewfinder

| Sad Owl Studios

| Audience Award

| Player Non Player

| Jonathan Coryn

| Most Amazing Award

| Psychotic Bathtub – The Story of an Escalating Mind. And Ducks.

| natsha

| Wings Award

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 2022{{cite web|website=A MAZE.|title=A MAZE. / Berlin 2022|date=2022|url=https://2022.amaze-berlin.de/award-winners/}}

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 13-17 May 2022

| BORE DOME

| Goblin Rage

| Digital Moment Award

| Okthryssia and Saturnia's Bureaucratic Adventures

| Fantasia Malware

| Human Human Machine Award

| NORCO

| Raw Fury / Geography of Robots

| Long Feature Award

| We Are One

| Flat Head Studio

| Explorer Award

| Titanic II: Orchestra for Dying at Sea

| Flan Falacci

| Audience Award

| Tux and Fanny

| Albert Birney and Gabriel Koenig

| Most Amazing Award

| A Rejection Story!

| Faezeh Khomeyrani

| Wings Award

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 2021{{cite web|website=A MAZE.|title=A MAZE. / Berlin 2021|date=2021|url=https://2021.amaze-berlin.de/award-winners/}}

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 21–24 July 2021

| Adventures of Harriharri

| Harold Hejazi

| Digital Moment Award

| Map to Utopia

| Fringe ensemble / Platform theatre

| Human Human Machine Award

| I am dead

| Hollow Ponds

| Long Feature Award

| Before Your Eyes

| Goodbyeworld Games

| Explorer Award

| Time Bandit

| Joel Jordon

| Audience Award

| Stilstand

| Ida Hartmann & Niila Games

| Most Amazing Award

| Colestia

| David Cribb

| Humble New Talent Award

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 2020{{cite web|website=A MAZE.|title=A MAZE. / Berlin 2020|date=2020|url=https://2020.amaze-berlin.de/award-winners/}}

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7" | 21–24 July 2020

| Promesa

| Julian Palacios

| Digital Moment Award

| Brave Mouse Cartographer

| common opera

| Human Human Machine Award

| Knife Sisters

| Transcenders Media

| Long Feature Award

| Cook your way

| Enric Granzotto Llagostera