Well, would you look at the time of the year. That’s right – it’s Impys season! We’re so excited to announce that the 3rd Annual Impy Awards, the third-ever instalment of our yearly Dreams awards show, will be taking place on February 27, 2022 and that nominations are open… right now!

Each year, the Impy Awards are our chance to celebrate another 12 months of Dreams, and all the dreamers who have made it so special. This year will be no different! We’ll be live on Twitch to hand out trophies to some of the most amazing, original and exciting creations and creators in the Dreamiverse – while also taking a look back at everything that 2021 in Dreams has given us.

One of the biggest changes we’re making this year is that we’re asking dreamers to nominate themselves, rather than nominating others. This should allow dreamers to showcase the work they are most proud of. All the details can be found on our nomination form as well as on indreams.me.

 Now, without further ado, here are this year’s categories:

• Creator(s)/Team of the Year
• Creation of the Year
• Excellence in Art Direction
• Excellence in Environment Art
• Excellence in Narrative
• Excellence in Sculpture
• Music Track of the Year
• Musician of the Year
• Excellence in Animation
• Excellence in Gameplay
• Most Original Gameplay
• Excellence in Curation
• Excellence in Character Design
• Excellence in Audio Design
• Excellence in Innovation
• Excellence in Voice Acting
• Contribution Beyond Dreams
• Excellence in VR
• Evolving Experience
• Community Star
• Most Helpful Dreamer
• Community Collaboration
• Breakthrough Dreamer

You’ll notice a fair few differences this year in the categories. We believe this is our most comprehensive list of Impy categories yet, and we’re really excited to see the nominations start rolling in. You’ll have until the end of the day on December 5, 2021 to get your nominations submitted. As usual, a handful of these categories will be opened up to the coMmunity for voting early in the new year, so stay tuned for details on those.

As we’ve mentioned up top, the Impy Awards are our way of celebrating the inspiring community found inside and outside of the Dreamiverse, and we hope you’ll join us in doing just that during this year’s festivities. We’ll have a new playable Impys hub space launching in Dreams in the run-up to the event, inviting dreamers all over the world to get into the Impys spirit, and we’ll also be celebrating the birthday of Dreams in the week leading up to February 27. It’s sure to be one big party!

Brawlhalla and Street Fighter collide today in one of the free-to-play platform-fighter’s biggest crossovers yet. Ryu, Chun-Li, and Akuma are joining Brawlhalla’s cast as Epic Crossovers during a special event, and they’re bringing their best moves – including Ryu’s Hadoken and Chun-Li’s Spinning Bird Kick – to the battle. The event also adds a new game mode: Street Brawl, which adds health bars for one-on-one Street Fighter-style fights. Players can fight in a new map based on Suzaku Castle (Ryu’s classic stage), or get their hands on a Podium patterned after Kapukon Yu (E. Honda’s stage), as well as snagging a new Street Fighter-style K.O. Effect, an Emote based on Akuma’s Satsui no Hado victory pose, and avatars featuring Zangief, the Shadaloo emblem, a Hadoken, and an animated quarter-circle punch. 

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Of course, crossovers like this don’t just happen – they’re the result of careful planning and collaboration between companies, as well as deep affection and respect for a franchise that Brawlhalla’s developers grew up with. To find out more about how it all came together, we spoke with Josh Kenneth, international product manager at Brawlhalla developer Blue Mammoth Games.

How did this crossover begin? Was it something fans were clamoring for?

Josh Kenneth: Like every Crossover we do, it started because we love the property and its characters. For this one, we thought, “we grew up with Street Fighter, and it’s awesome. Can we do a Crossover with them?” Fans also have a lot of Crossovers that they want in Brawlhalla. It’s usually that person’s favorite IP x Brawlhalla, and we started seeing a lot of Street Fighter suggestions. Brawlhalla’s a fighting game, so it makes sense that fans would want us to crossover with another fighting game. It’s a great fit.

While Brawlhalla and Street Fighter are both fighting games, they have very different gameplay styles – Brawlhalla lets you take on multiple opponents at once and is more focused on free-form combat, whereas Street Fighter focuses on 1v1 matches and features set combos. Why does it make sense to bring them together?

Kenneth: This Brawlhalla x Street Fighter Crossover is our first Crossover with another fighting game. We’ve made leaps to crossovers with TV franchises, like Adventure Time, TMNT, and WWE, and to other video game genres, like Rayman, Shovel Knight, and Tomb Raider. So, while it makes fighting-game sense to bring them together, all the differences in the styles are also what makes it so fun. We were able to bridge a gap between traditional 2D fighters and platform fighters with this Crossover, and it’s awesome.