These Are The Best Australian Games Of 2014*

*According to the Game Developers' Association of Australia (GDAA).

Towards the end of each year the GDAA runs the Australian Game Developer Awards, a celebration of the best games being made in Australia. The nominees have just been announced and there are some top notch Australian made games on the shortlist.

Game of the Year

Crawl, by Powerhoof Studios Crossy Road, by Hipster Whale Duet, by Kumobius Framed, by Loveshack Entertainment Hand of Fate, by Defiant Development

Studio of the Year

Defiant Development Firemonkeys Kumobius Tin Man Games

Accessibility Award

Appointment with FEAR, by Tin Man Games Bonza, by Minimega Framed, by Loveshack Entertainment

Excellence in Art

Alpha Muse, by Current Circus Crawl, by Powerhoof Crossy Road, by Hipster Whale Tail Drift, by Attract Mode Games

Excellence in Audio

Battle Group 2, by Bane Games Crawl, by Powerhoof Duet, by Kumobius Hand of Fate, by Defiant Development

Excellence in Design

Bonza, by Minimega Crawl, by Powerhoof Crossy Road, by Hipster Whale Duet, by Kumobius

Innovation Award

Crawl, by Powerhoof Fight the Dragon, by 3 Sprockets Framed, by Loveshack Entertainment Hacknet, by Team Fractal Alligator

Technical Excellence

Assault Android Cactus, by Witch Beam Don Bradman Cricket 14, by Big Ant Studios Fight the Dragon, by 3Sprockets Framed, by Loveshack Entertainment

According to Tony Reed, CEO of the GDAA, the entries have been growing exponentially.

"The submissions for the 2014 awards have stunned us again," he said. "We've had nearly double the number of entries and the quality bar has been raised significantly. The Australian game development industry is clearly revelling in the creative, innovative and commercial challenges that come with making games."

Some of my own personal favourites, like Duet, have been nominated, but I think I'm even more surprised by the amount of games I haven't played. As much as this is a celebration of Australia's best video games, it's also a cool list to work off if you're interested in checking out some cool new video games.

The awards ceremony takes place in Melbourne on Wednesday, 29 October 2014, after Game Connect Asia Pacific. Looking forward to seeing who takes out top honours.