SEA GAME DEV COLLECTIVE DIGEST - February 2025 Edition
Editor’s Note
Hello digital wayfarers and the heartiest welcome to the seventh edition of the SEA Game Dev Collective Digest. I hope 2025 has been kind to you so far. It’s been a wild journey with the Collective to be pushing this out to you, our beloved readers and supporters, for seven consecutive months. On behalf of the Collective, we appreciate your unwavering support thus far!
As we journey midway into Q1 of 2025, many great games have made monumental launches since our last digest. Congratulations to all! Launching a game is perhaps one of the hardest things to do in life, especially when you’re an indie developer and the odds are stacked against you. Trust me, I know. :’)
I chanced upon this profound quote sent by a very good friend that resonated very strongly with me. Part of it reads, “Because the world needs the kind of magic that comes only from those who have walked through the fire and lived to tell the story. And if nothing else, you keep going because you’re the thing you’ve been building all along”. No matter what happens or how hard life may be, remember that everything happens for a reason and it is always okay to retreat to recollect yourself. So long as it’s not a full stop, there is always a winning chance. Pain is just you going through your character development arc.
So remember to hydrate, don’t wait. See you in the next digest and beyond!
William Chong - Studio Director of Twilight Foundry Games, honorary CEO of Hydration
Game Releases, Launches, Updates
We’re excited by all the recent and upcoming releases from Southeast Asia in January and February:
Jan 17 - Cats and Seek: Toge Land - Noobzilla, Toge Productions (Indonesia)
Jan 17 - Saber Survivors - Reima Project, Toge Productions (Indonesia)
Jan 17 - Slime Knight - GasMask Game (Thailand)
Feb 1 - The Ghost of Nichishima - Sakura Studios (Vietnam)
Feb 2 - Deskquarium - Gimdeka (Indonesia)
Feb 14 - Afterlove EP - Pikselnesia, Fellow Traveler (Indonesia)
Feb 18 - Thin Threads - Solitary Studios (Philippines)
Feb 25 - Re:Fragment ~Absolute Ambition~ - AstralSeal (Thailand)
Also check out all the games that have launched from the region on VirtualSEA’s amazing resource here. Also, Southeast Asia Game Wiki has just updated their game database, which now features 800+ games.
In other gaming news…
13Z: The Zodiac Trials by Mixed Realms (Singapore) will be running another playtest for their upcoming roguelike co-op action game on March 4th. Learn more here.
Steam NextFest is live!!! And plenty of SE Asian games are participating including:
Northwind by Barking Kitten Interactive (Thailand)
Teller’s Duty by Hiscory (Indonesia)
Scarred by KOEX Studio, Iterative Collective (Singapore)
Unyielder by TrueWorld Studios, Shueisha Games (Singapore)
White Room: Mind’s Prison by Manja Studio (Indonesia)
The Butterfly Dreams by Ave Q Productions (Indonesia)
Undying Flower by Calcatz, indie.io (Indonesia)
Kill the Music by Nikko Nikko (Philippines)
Steel Judgement by Gid is Dead (Singapore)
Am I Nima by HO! Games (Malaysia)
HR Simulator by ANIMESME, Sangnila (Indonesia)
Urban Jungle by Kylyk Games, Assemble Entertainment (Thailand)
Sedap! By kopiforge, Isolated Games Publishing (Singapore)
Ex Carrot Bur!! By RoundTable Games Studio (Malaysia)
The Storyteller’s Festival on Steam celebrates the visual novels and narrative games all over the world. You can play demos and get great deals on SE Asian games like Until Then by Polychroma Games (Philippines).
The CHAM Drinkers is running an art giveaway in partnership with Izumi Games for their upcoming visual novel Talents.
Daybloom Project announced In a Bit of Tales, a horror anthology featuring seven spine-chilling stories presented in an omakase-style experience. Check out the trailer and learn more here.
Werydlets (Malaysia) recently launched their first ever DLC - the WDC Whale Warrior Accessory Set, with proceeds to be donated to Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), a charity dedicated to protecting whales and dolphins worldwide. Support the cause here.
DrearyWeary (Singapore) is opening sign-ups for phase 2 of beta testing for their upcoming bullet heaven coop game Yellow Trouble.
Havendock by YYZ (Singapore) recently put out an update for Kewi Traits! Find out more here.
GoldenGratus’s game Memoirium (Philippines) is part of the Outersloth Indie Game Fund program, supported by Casey Yano (Megacrit) and a mystery partner. Read an interview with the dev on VirtualSEA.
Cuisineer is part of this month’s Xbox Indie Selects of recommended titles, and AfterLove EP launched with an Xbox Write write-up by none other than the game’s writer Sasha Ariana herself.
Features of the month
We’re debuting a new section for the newsletter to encourage more contributions from across the SE Asian game dev community. For this month, we’re proud to feature South East Asia Game Aesthetic and MT Akbar from Pendopo MC:
Days of Ramadan Steam Festival by South East Asia Game Aesthetic
The Ramadan Steam event is live now! Featuring tons of games from across the world including from publishers like CRITICAL REFLEX, Team17, Shueisha Games, Toge Productions and Ysbryd Games. There will also be a section exclusive to SE Asian game devs.
MT Akbar on Pendopo MC at Taipei Game Show 2025
Hi, I’m MT Akbar from Pendopo Creations, an indie game studio from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We showcased our game, The Fractured Shimmer, with our publisher, SoftSource at Taipei Game Show 2025, which was the first time our studio attended.
For a first-timer to the expo, it was awesome and fun! The event was packed with people, especially on the B2C days of the show. The Indie House section was filled with curious gamers, from onlookers to players that were deeply invested in the exhibiting games. They took pictures, wishlisted games, and looked for demos to play.
The Fractured Shimmer received a lot of feedback and positive comments! It also gained a quite number of wishlists on Steam. My co-founder, Puspa attended some B2B meetings and found a lot of potential business partners and deals. You can find Publishers, Media Partners, Outsourcing studios, Localization services, etc. from places like Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America.
I definitely recommend Taipei Game Show for indie studios. I also recommend localizing the game to Traditional Chinese when you bring your demo as it will be helpful for local players.
Check out the Fractured Shimmer on Steam here.
News, Programs and Initiatives Roundup
Gamescom Asia recently announced that they are joining forces with Thailand Game Show, and permanently moving to Bangkok, starting with this year’s GC Asia happening on Oct 16 - 19. Read more here.
VNProject Indonesia just announced the winners and honorable mentions of their annual game jam Novejam 2024. Learn more at the Southeast Asia Game Compendium link here.
Check out all-new SE Asian podcast Hyperfixtation hosted by Nathalie Tay and Darren Barker. The latest episode talks about … men??!? Find out more here.
Indie Games Group Philippines is hosting the IGG Indie Community Awards on Mar 15, 2025. It's a night where Filipino indie game developers come together to celebrate Filipino indie games and the devs behind them! Check their FB or X page for more info.
Singapore Republic Poly School of Technology for Arts, Media and Design lecturer Shaun Tay was recently featured in a Channel News Asia feature speaking about how games and toys from the 60s and beyond influenced our childhood, creativity, careers and social connections. Watch the video here.
Job openings and opportunities
Gamecom Team (Indonesia) is hiring several positions on their team including a 3D Animator, Character Artist and Environment Artist. Find out more and apply here.
Algorhythm Project (Thailand) is hiring remote work interns, with applications open till March 31 for the following positions: Digital Artist, Graphic Designer, Video Editor, Music Composer, 2D Artist. Find out more here.
Expanding the newsletter
Hey readers, Jun Shen here! As you may have seen, we’ve added a new section to the newsletter above. We’re always on the lookout for contributions from the SEA game dev community as we want the newsletter to represent everyone’s interests and inputs. To that end, we’ve got an ALL-NEW Google Form link here to hopefully make it easier for people to submit their news, thought pieces, information about upcoming games, launches, and more.
Since the launch of the newsletter, we’ve received nearly 4,000 views which we’re incredibly thankful for. We would love for more contributors to have their writing and updates be seen by all the readers.
Note that as this newsletter is entirely volunteer-led, our lean Editorial team will take time to review all contributions, and any writing included in upcoming newsletter issues will still be at our discretion. We aim to be as inclusive and diverse with content as possible.
We’re looking forward to seeing what you bring :)
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The SEA Game Dev Collective (and Digest Editorial team) are: