[TGS2024] Did you know? You may have played it, but you might have completely missed out on “Korean” indie games.

2024/10/11

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

Last week, I also visited Tokyo Game Show 2024, where our company participated as a publisher. It was my first time at TGS, so I even got lost a few times, but I am genuinely grateful that I managed to come back in one piece.

On the business days, the 26th and 27th, I had the chance to play numerous booths and indulge in international indie games that I usually wouldn’t get to experience. Unfortunately, as someone who is not very good at either Japanese or English, I didn’t want to think too much while playing the games, so I invited my friend, Futomo Usagi, and mainly focused on the most comprehensible Korean indie booths. Consequently, even while playing, I found myself worrying, “I wonder if this will resonate with foreign users?” and when I realized I wasn’t understanding Japanese completely either, I wholeheartedly decided to write this article.

Honestly, there are some basic bits of information that are easily searchable and don’t have much to do with language, but I think that’s just fine. This report, filled with the vivid voices from the scene and impressions of the gameplay, is brought to you by the SKOOTA editorial department.

A Cute Game with This Level of Meme? — 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 of BBB, next to the adjacent booth, where MONOWAVE was located. (It was listed under the game name.) The booth number was 10-W03.

This was a booth that I was always curious about during its operation, and it seemed to constantly have a crowd of visitors.

The first impression of the game was simply adorable. The characters are cute, and the atmosphere is charming.

Life forms with relatively simple shapes move around in a world reminiscent of sketches drawn in childhood. The dark background makes it feel like you’re gazing at a deep-sea aquarium after looking at it for a while. Although the trial session was probably only about 12 minutes long, I felt that I could gaze at this fluffy aquarium for 30 minutes.

The game format is extremely simple. The protagonist can use different abilities based on their emotions as they navigate over barricades to the next stage. There are puzzle elements as well, with items placed on the map to earn scores, adding a sense of challenge. Surprisingly, it was quite difficult.

After finishing the gameplay, I received some goods to check out.

The stickers depicting “Happiness,” “Sadness,” “Anger,” and “Anxiety” were certainly eye-catching, but the ones I focused on were these. The stickers on top say “Tanoshii,” “Kanashii,” “Bikkuri,” and “Mukatsuku.”

This may seem completely meaningless if you are not familiar with the original reference. This is related to the meme known as “Pre-Cracked egg,” which gained some popularity overseas. Translated into Japanese, it means “事前に皮をむいたたまご”.

This image, which originated in America around 2018, also became a topic of discussion in Korea. The unique character of each element in this meme makes it memorable, especially after the text at the bottom right “I enjoy” was translated to “たのしい.” Thus, the combination of the red speech bubble and the word “たのしい” led to various references.

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

This is for an indie game we are developing called ‘Negolove,’ and we prepared a “copy book” to give to those who tried the game. I wanted to give it a casually surreal feel, so I prepared 100 copies with a rainbow image… but in the end, we could only distribute 5 before TGS concluded.

Compared to that, the “Tanoshii” stickers from MONOWAVE seemed to be very popular, which I envied.

Why the Harsh Language in a 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 wandering around the indie booths, I was drawn to a certain poster. A beautifully glowing neon sign. Next to a vending machine, which looked abandoned on the street, a girl holding coffee and a cigarette gazes at the sky.

I encountered Black Guardian’s 「Vending Machine Hero」 at booth 09-W20 and smoothly joined the trial game line.

After trying it out, my impression was… the controls were extremely difficult.

All the sticks of the gamepad were utilized, one for controlling the character and the other for aiming. This setup is quite challenging for beginners. (I thought it might be easier with mouse and keyboard…) Especially in later stages, a multitude of enemies would chase after me, forcing me to continuously evade while timing my skills.

Despite the challenging difficulty, the world-building and character design left a great impression on me.

The absurd premise of living in a vending machine despite working for the government brings a solid subcultural flavor, which I personally appreciated. Furthermore, the fact that different skills can be used based on which drink you choose was also intriguing.

Personally, I was a fan of the bear that appeared when I chose cola, using a bat as a skill.

One more thing I noticed is that the protagonist, Navi, has a foul mouth.

When watching Korean dramas on Netflix, I often come across scenes where bad language flows freely, and I felt that déjà vu this time. What I always wonder when witnessing such scenes is whether the nuances of insults don’t translate well in subtitles… I hope one day AI can advance enough to translate even these subtle nuances.

Is This Bug Intentional? — 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 booth that left the most impression from TGS, it would definitely be this one.

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

I heard it resembles Blizzard’s Hearthstone, which I played in high school, so I casually gave it a try. Right from the start, there’s a fascinating aspect.

Despite being a Korean indie booth, it could only be played in English. Hearing that it couldn’t be played in Japanese or Korean confused me for a moment, seeing if I should back out of trying it, but since they promised a thorough explanation, I decided to play.

As indicated by the comparison to Hearthstone, this game is a one-on-one TCG. Moreover, since it was one-on-one with the booth staff, I could have a deep conversation while playing for about 10 minutes.

However, here’s another interesting point. Due to the poor internet connection at TGS, strange bugs appeared frequently.

Ally cards suddenly turned into enemy cards, and when skills were used, cards would hide on the ground and become unusable…

It was quite chaotic, but the developer’s explanation was entertaining, allowing for enjoyable gameplay. Instead, they turned the bugs into entertainment, and the onlookers seemed to be getting into it as well. Typically, if bugs are found at events, it is common to rush to fix them, but this was rather innovative.

Of course, it must be tough to get all users to accept the bugs, especially for overseas users where the explanations might be linguistically challenging.

I could see the Korean streamer introducing this booth struggling with Japanese support.

“Everyone, did you all enjoy the bugs properly…?”

This is a game I still occasionally think back to.

Straight on Challenge! Bomb Disposal Squad

This is one of the booths that garnered substantial attention at TGS. In a war-era setting, the protagonist navigates a minefield while attempting to disarm mines. The team behind PIA was at booth A08 under the category of Select Indie.

Based on the description from STOVE, it seems one team managed to create this in three weeks. Despite that short timeframe, it surprisingly boasts a high quality. They plan to release both a free and paid version on Steam in December, so presumably some upgrades might be added.

Interestingly, I was quite shocked to read the message saying, “The mines in this game are fictional, and actual mines explode upon pressure.”

After playing it, I felt that there is a fascinating sense of “inconvenience” in a good way embedded within the game.

You must dismantle while stepping on mines, creating a tension of not knowing when they might explode while crouching in the dark, desperately pressing buttons and the mouse.

As the number of buttons to press increases, the moment you forget which button you were initially pressing… GAME OVER.

Unlike other games that try to devise ways to make controls easier, this game reflects the effort of showing players how to experience something that is usually impossible – disarming mines as a gameplay mechanic, which was really enjoyable.

Especially intriguing was their use of the Hangul logo. I initially thought it might have been difficult to change the logo design, but I felt they were strongly emphasizing their identity as a Korean game, especially referencing actual historical materials from the Korean War era.

※ The opening of the game quotes from “Korean War Handbook – The Diary of a Student Soldier’s Participation” (2012).

Even though this is a Korean booth, there were many aspects that were not discernible from the visuals and logo alone, making the case of PIA rather unique.

It might have seemed novel to overseas users in that sense. This leads me to think it could represent a “Korean indie game essence” that I, as a Korean, do not fully grasp… Regardless, amidst the forceful localization of overseas booths, PIA stood out distinctly.