[TGS2024] Did you know? You might have missed these “Korean” indie games despite playing them.

2024/10/11

Hello. I am Lee Hana from the SKOOTA editorial department.

Last week, I visited the Tokyo Game Show 2024, where our company participated as a publisher. It was my first time at the Tokyo Game Show, and I even got lost a little on my way, but I am truly grateful I managed to make it back alive.

During the business days on the 26th and 27th, I was able to play many overseas indie games that I usually wouldn’t get to experience. Unfortunately, as someone who struggles with both Japanese and English, I didn’t want to use my brain too much while gaming, so I invited my friend, Rabbit-chan, and focused on visiting the most straightforward Korean indie booth. As a result, while playing, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Does this even resonate with foreign users?” and once I realized I wasn’t fully grasping Japanese myself, I decided to write this article.

To be honest, some of the information is straightforward and could be found just by Googling, but I think that’s perfectly fine. This report, filled with the raw voices from the event and impressions of the gameplay, is presented to you from the SKOOTA editorial department.

Cute atmosphere, serious memes?― MONOWAVE

#TGS2024 でMONOWAVEさんのブースにお邪魔したもも！
キャラもかわいいし、感情によって色々な能力が使えるという設定が面白かったもも！
個人的にMONOが「不安」になった時が明らかにしょんぼりしてて大好き🎶 pic.twitter.com/xsg96KuS9C

— 太ももうさぎ (@futomomousagi) September 29, 2024

First, I visited the booth for MONOWAVE (featured under the game name) which was located next to the next booth. The booth number was 10-W03.

This was a booth that had piqued my curiosity throughout the event, and it always seemed crowded with visitors.

The first impression of the game was simply cute. The characters were adorable, and the atmosphere was lovely.

Moving around a world that looks like it was drawn in a sketchbook during childhood, simple-shaped creatures are scurrying about. The dark backgrounds give the feeling of gazing into a deep-sea aquarium if you stare at it for long enough. The playtest was probably limited to 12 minutes, but I thought I could watch this fluffy aquarium for 30 minutes.

The game format is extremely simple. The protagonist, who can use different abilities based on their emotions, overcomes a barricade in front of them to move to the next stage. There are also puzzle elements, and items that can earn scores are placed on the map, adding a sense of challenge. It was surprisingly difficult.

After playing, I received some merchandise to check out right away.

Of course, the stickers depicting “Happiness,” “Sadness,” “Anger,” and “Anxiety” caught my eye, but this time, I want to highlight this. The stacked stickers that say “Fun,” “Sad,” “Surprised,” and “Angry.”

This might seem nonsensical at first glance unless you know the original source. This refers to the “Pre-Cracked egg” meme that was popular overseas for a time. In Japanese, it translates to “事前に皮をむいたたまご“.

Around 2018, this image from America became popular in Korea as well. The elements in this meme are memorable and unique, and it gained attention especially when the phrase “I enjoy” found in the lower right corner was translated to “たのしい” (fun). As a result, the “Pre-Cracked egg” meme continued to be quoted through the combination of this red bubble speech and the word “たのしい.”

Now, why am I bringing this topic up? It’s because we also used it at our booth.

This is for Negolove, an indie game in development by our company, and we made “copy books” to hand out to those who played the game. I wanted to give it a surreal touch, so I prepared 100 copies with a rainbow image, but in the end, we could only distribute 5 before the Tokyo Game Show concluded.

In comparison, I was rather envious of MONOWAVE’s “Fun” stickers as they were quite popular.

For some reason, the bad-mouthed cyber world― Black Guardian

#TGS2024 でBlack Guardiansさんの『Bending Machine Hero』をプレイしたもも🎶
操作は難しかったけど、自販機の中にこもってお金を稼ぐという設定は面白かったもも…！
ブースにあったナビちゃんとオラクルちゃんの隣で写真も一枚パシャ！
これからも楽しみもも！ pic.twitter.com/ZWQS7YlJMT

— 太ももうさぎ (@futomomousagi) September 29, 2024

While exploring indie booths, I was drawn to a particular poster. A neon sign glows enticingly, next to a vending machine that seems abandoned on the street, while a girl holding coffee and cigarettes looks up at the sky.

At booth 09-W20, I encountered Black Guardian’s Vending Machine Hero and seamlessly joined the playtest line.

After trying it out, my feedback is… The controls are incredibly difficult.

All the sticks on the gamepad were being used, one for character control and the other for aiming. The controls are quite harsh for a novice. (I wondered if it would be easier with a mouse and keyboard…) Especially in the latter half of the stage, countless enemies closed in on me, so I was left with no choice but to run away while timing my skills.

Despite the harsh difficulty, the world-building and character designs were very much to my taste.

Even though the protagonist works under the government, the bizarre premise of living inside a vending machine felt like a true subculture addition that I personally enjoyed. The different skills available based on what drink you choose was also a fun aspect.

Personally, choosing cola results in a polar bear appearing and swinging a bat, which is my favorite skill.

Another thing I noticed was that the protagonist, Navi, has a foul mouth.

When watching Korean dramas on Netflix, I sometimes encounter scenes filled with casual insults, and during this experience, I felt that déjà vu. When I see things like this, I often think that the nuances of insults can be hard to convey through subtitles… I hope that AI someday advances to the point where it can capture these subtle nuances.

Are you aiming for this bug?― Izakaya Conversare

#TGS2024 でIzakaya Conversareさんの『イザコザ』もプレイしたもも！
関係者さんと1対1でカードゲームをしてギリギリに勝てたもも…
途中でバグが起きちゃって味方が敵になる不祥事があったけど楽しかったもも🎶 pic.twitter.com/hvOxTC20xE

— 太ももうさぎ (@futomomousagi) September 29, 2024

If I had to choose the most memorable booth from TGS this year, it would definitely be this one.

Introducing Izakaya Conversare’s イザコザ, which was located at booth 09-W76.

I heard it resembled Blizzard’s Hearthstone, which I played back in high school, so I casually joined the playtest. Here’s an interesting point from the start.

Despite being a Korean indie booth, it could only be played in English. Upon hearing that it wasn’t playable in Japanese or Korean, I briefly hesitated about quitting the playtest, but they assured me they would provide sufficient explanations, so I went ahead and started playing.

As mentioned, this game is a 1-vs-1 TCG (Trading Card Game). Plus, since it was 1-to-1 with the person at the booth, it was fun being able to engage in a detailed conversation while playing for about 10 minutes.

However, there’s another interesting point. Due to the poor network connection at TGS, there were all sorts of bizarre bugs occurring.

For instance, friendly cards suddenly turned into enemy cards, or using skills would result in cards getting hidden in the ground and becoming unusable…

It was quite chaotic, but the developer’s explanations were entertaining, which made playing enjoyable. In fact, they transformed the bug issues into a facet of entertainment, leaving those watching amused. Typically, when a bug is discovered at an event, there’s a rush to fix it, but this was a refreshingly unique approach.

Of course, getting every user to enjoy the bugs would be challenging. If it’s an overseas user struggling with the language, it would be even tougher.

From the stream of a Korean broadcaster introducing the booth, I could see they were also having trouble accommodating Japanese-language support.

“Everyone, I hope you were able to enjoy the bugs…”

This is a game that I still occasionally think about.

Straightforwardly challenging! Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team

This booth was arguably one of the most attention-grabbing at TGS. The game depicts a protagonist who steps on a landmine during wartime and has to defuse it. PIA, the explosive ordnance disposal team, was located at booth A08 in the Select Indie section.

According to STOVE’s description, it seems that one team developed this game in just three weeks. Despite that, the quality feels quite high. They’re planning to release both a free and paid version on Steam in December, so I expect they might have added some upgrades.

By the way, reading the message, “The landmines in this game are fictional; real landmines explode upon pressure” gave me quite a chill the first time.

Playing it, I felt that it had a remarkable good kind of “inconvenience” designed into it.

Since you have to defuse while stepping on landmines, there’s a palpable tension as you crouch in the darkness, not knowing when it will explode, and you end up nervously mashing the buttons and mouse.

As more buttons to press accumulate, the moment you forget the initial button you pressed… GAME OVER.

Unlike other games that focus on figuring out “how to make controls easier,” this one is rather about “how to let players experience something improbable, like defusing a landmine” , which was really interesting.

One particularly interesting point is the straightforward use of Hangul in the logo. I initially thought it might be a hassle to change the logo design, but including references from actual historical materials (※) from the Korean War era makes it seem like a strong assertion of the game’s Korean identity.

※ The text from the book “Korean War Diary – A Student Soldier’s Participation Journal” (2012) is quoted at the beginning of the game.

Even though it’s a Korean booth, there were many aspects that were not immediately visible from just the visuals and the logo, making PIA quite a unique case.

This aspect may come across as fresh and innovative to users overseas. In that case, it may represent what could be called a “Korean indie game’s nuance that I, as a Korean, may not fully understand.” Regardless, I once again think that PIA stood out significantly among the foreign booths that impose localization.