The Dutch Game Awards 2025

So here we are again. Another year, another parliament of 13 gilded owls to be awarded to the very best creatives in the Dutch games industry.
I had the distinct honor to provide the eponymous awards once again, and I dare say that the event was even bigger and better than in 2024. We have the entire DGA team to thank for that, without whom this would simply not be possible. Martine Spaans, the General Manager of the DGA, had this to say about the awards, and my contribution to them:

"The Dutch Games Awards are a celebration of the exceptional and unique games created by developers from the Netherlands. We want to honour these games properly, and a high-quality handcrafted award is an essential part of this celebration. The awards created by Thomas are pieces of art the winners can proudly display in their office for many years." ~Martine Spaans

(Source: Arno Landsbergen)

I was honoured by Martine's words, as I always try to further hone my craft in some form or fashion. Listening to feedback is an essential part of that. While last year's winners were happy with their awards, there were several 'lessons learned' which I tried to incorporate into my workflow as best as possible. And the word 'best' is key to those efforts. Because this year's winners represent the best in the business, and so they deserve the very best that I can muster.

It comes down to this:

• New versatile airbrush, a 20kg compressor, and 42 differently colored primers. At this point I knew my way around an airbrush, and I needed something reliable which will last me a long time.
• Augmented paintjob and finishing touches, so people can't differentiate between the awards and a metal statue.
• New high-end custom built desktop PC to get the most out of sculpting and slicing the 3D designs.
• Fortified the design of the award and base. Made to last, resist Murphy's Law as best it can.
• The Athena II, a new modular resin 3D printer. The first of its kind, and exactly the cutting edge tech required to further improve the quality of my resin 3D prints.

Now here comes the fun part: if you look closely at the pictures of last year's awards, you will see that one owl is not like the others.


(Source: Arno Landsbergen)

That's because the first owl was an early example to show to the jury, so I used the contents from a small bottle of paint. When it came time to paint the other 12, though, I opted to use the bigger bottle I had in my repertoire. Same brand. Both copper metallics, model air. But the result was noticeably different.

So this year I bought a healthy supply of the smaller copper paint bottles in order to obtain a consistent result. I also wasn't particularly impressed with the shade of gold I used last year. It was a little too desaturated for an award that's supposed to celebrate a crowning achievement. I switched to AK Dual Exo's Auryn gold paint, which gave the owls a richer, more alluring color.

After the metallic primers were applied, I used an iridescent rich bronze ink and let it settle in the recesses to accentuate the contrast. Really added a touch of warmth to it, further augmenting what was already there.

Lastly, Whether you want to properly finish a piece or protect your progress, you want to add a varnish. In this case I used 2K lacquer. You know, the stuff you normally spray on cars. Outside. One can't argue with the results, though. Very much worth experimenting with.

The award was slightly redesigned as well, in order to make it more robust.
Last year, someone managed to break off the owl from it's base during the afterparty.
Whenever there's 3D printing involved, I carry superglue with me, just in case.
I'd rather have it with me and not need it, than vice versa.
Clearly, the awards weren't as robust as I thought they were.

The solution was simple, really. Instead of the bottom of the owl being hollow, I added a surface to it with a 6mm hole. I drilled the exact same hole into the bases,
and combined the two using superglue and a dowel.

Another new feature this year was the addition of the winner's names on the plaques themselves. Martine made the right call, as I vividly remember last year's battle with the envelopes. I swear those things were frozen in Carbonite. This necessitated a larger surface area for the name plaques, and so I raised the entire base. Despite the extra room, some of the names needed to be abbreviated and/or scaled down. You know who you are.

So the 2-stage platform became 1 platform, making the whole base more robust in the process. I also allowed for the base to have a bit more vertical breathing room with the plaques, based on Andreas Tabak's feedback.

Due to Murphy's Law being in full effect, Andreas was unable to print the bases for me this time around. But thanks to his timely heads up, I was able to arrange a backup strategy. 
Enter Jochem Smale, who came to my rescue. So kudos to him for stepping up to the challenge!

(Source: Tom de Boer)

All of this is to say that I put a good bit of thought and effort into making this year's awards more resilient to breakage.
So if any of the winners manage to separate the owl from its base? Well, by now it should be apparent that I possess a very particular set of skills.
If you break one of the Dutch Game Awards, I will email you. I will acquire it. And I will repair it for you.

And now we have finally arrived at the pièce de résistance of this production pipeline: 
The Athena II mSLA resin printer.

The company behind the A2, Concepts 3D, is a company which I have been following for a few years now. They focus on pushing the envelope with resin 3D printing. And it just so happens that that's exactly what I'm looking for.(Source: www.concepts3d.ca)

Despite several issues early on, the A2 became fully operational roughly 1 month before the awards were due. Concepts3D itself has been transparent in its process, displaying exemplary communication and customer service. They consist of a very small team with a lot of knowledge and experience in this field, punching well above its weight. They are the first company to produce a 16K resin printer which can support anti-aliasing. If you care about getting the sharpest, most detailed prints possible, it constitutes a considerable difference.

This is why I waited for the A2 to live up to its reputation. The fact of the matter is that we're starting to reach the limits of what the technology can do. Meaning that QOL improvements are going to become more important than ever before. And the A2 is second to none when it comes to quality. To reiterate: This year's winners represent the best in the business, and so they deserve the very best that I can muster.

While a single picture may make it hard to truly appreciate the differences between the two, it may at least give you an indication of the differences (Left: 2024 Right: 2025).

(Source: Tom de Boer)

Before wrapping up, I would be remiss not to take a moment and mention something that happened a few short days before the Dutch Game Awards themselves.
Jop Stellaard was one of the DGA team's volunteers. On November 29th,
he tragically passed away at the age of 20 after a car accident. He worked on the beautiful visuals during the award ceremony, especially the video fragments.
I was told that his father proudly showed off his son's work during his funeral.
If it was anything like what we got to see during the awards ceremony,
then it was a feast for the eyes and ears. Jop absolutely knocked it out of the park.
While I didn't know him personally, he was part of the team. 
Jop should have been in this picture.

(Source: Silvijn de Vries)

Congratulations to all the winners, and kudos to the entire DGA team for making this event possible. Aaaaand that's enough of my gobbledygook for now.

Cheers,

Thomas Mazurel
Gobbledygook Games