Constance Wins 2026 Animated Games Award Germany at Stuttgart’s ITFS Festival

Stuttgart, Germany – The 33rd Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) has concluded with great success, drawing more than 30,000 festival visitors and an additional 40,000 attendees to its openair programme at Schlossplatz. Among this year’s highlighted competitions, Constance—a 2D Metroidvania developed by Berlinbased studio Blue Backpack—has been awarded the Animated Games Award Germany 2026.

The prize, accompanied by €5,000 in funding provided by MFG, honours outstanding artistic creativity and visual quality in animated games. Constance prevailed over a strong field of nominees including Spindle, Tiny Bookshop, and The Berlin Apartment. The jury also granted a Special Mention to The Darkest Files by Paintbucket Games.

Constance is described as a heartfelt tribute to the Metroidvania genre, featuring painterly visuals, fluid animations, intuitive mechanics, and atmospheric sound design. Players explore a vibrant, imaginative world using a magical paintbrush as both a tool and a weapon. The game is noted for its accessible, lowfrustration design that appeals to both genre veterans and new players.

Blue Backpack originated as a spinoff from bildundtonfabrik (btf). The game is copublished by Byte Rockers’ Games and is available to wishlist and purchase on Steam.

The ITFS’s popular GameZone exhibition, hosted at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, presented all five nominated titles for public handson testing from May 6 to 10, 2026. The showcase also featured student projects, interactive installations, and game talks in partnership with BadenWürttemberg media and games institutions.

Heike Mozer, Commercial Director of Film- und Medienfestival gGmbH, noted the festival’s strong focus on family and children’s activities, with educational programmes fully booked early. She praised the inspiring connections between creators and audiences as a defining highlight of this year’s edition.

The 34th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film is scheduled to take place April 27 – May 2, 2027.