SEA GAME DEV COLLECTIVE DIGEST - November 2024 Edition
Editor’s Note
Welcome to the fourth edition of the SEA Game Dev Collective Digest! Four years ago was when I started covering the Southeast Asian games and writing this intro made me wonder: where was the Southeast Asian games industry four years ago?
Four years ago Coffee Talk had just been released to the world, Mojiken launched their latest title When The Past Was Around, Passion Republic Games had just released a teaser trailer for Gigabash, FairPlay Studios had launched their first game called Fallen Knight and the Kopiforge team was still in high school looking at their lunches and probably thinking “what if we made a game about this?”
Fast forward to today, the third instalment of Toge Productions’ Coffee Talk franchise - Coffee Talk Tokyo - is actively brewing, you can’t turn a corner and not hear someone talk about Mojiken’s nomination at The Game Awards last year for A Space for the Unbound, Gigabash has DLC featuring some of the biggest IPs like Godzilla and Ultraman, FairPlay Studios has since launched three more games and are actively working on Nightmare Circus, and Kopiforge has just launched the latest demo of their Southeast Asian cooking adventure game SEDAP!
This Newsletter is one of many ways to celebrate and spotlight stories akin to those above but also for all of you to look out for the amazing stories from Southeast Asia that have yet to be told ~
Arief Johan - Co-Host of the 20m Podcast.
Game Releases, Launches, Updates
We’re excited by all the recent and upcoming releases from Southeast Asia in October and November:
Oct 25 - Larut by Senja Games (Indonesia)
Oct 30 - Game of Thrallan by CGArt Games (Vietnam)
Nov 1 - Hacky by Napas Torteeka (Thailand)
Nov 4 - METAMATHEMA by Quit (Thailand)
Nov 5 - Ruins of Dawnseeker by Platomenti, Team Luminous (Indonesia)
Nov 7 - Abyssal Blood by Xilosopher (Thailand)
Nov 8 - Stagdraft by Steaksoft (Indonesia)
Nov 14 - Petit Island by Xelo Games (Indonesia)
Nov 20 - Circle of Sparks by WizDream Games (Indonesia)
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 of 800+ games.
In other gaming news…
In an upcoming issue of Gamewave Magazine, the team goes behind the scenes with Xelo Games to explore the making of Petit Island.
Acts of Blood, an Indonesian action beat-em-up by Eksil Team just released its demo on Steam.
IGN writes of Acts of Blood as combining “the brutal action of The Raid with combat mechanics inspired by Sifu, Batman: Arkham, and Sleeping Dogs”.
VirtualSEA writes a preview of upcoming Indonesia-made third-person horror adventure Detained Souls by Trimatra Studio.
SEDAP! by kopiforge and Potion Punch Rivals by Monstronauts are part of Steam Cooking Fest!
Gamecom Team, the crew behind Troublemaker just released a Dev Play stream celebrating one year of development on sequel Troublemaker 2 - sharing a look at the initial concept, to the various challenges faced in developing the game.
Kakuchopurei writes a preview of upcoming Indonesia-made action RPG with its distinct sumi-e-inspired art style by 13th Game Studio.
Algorocks just created their Steam page for upcoming game Mini Tank Mayhem. Check it out here.
Calcatz just released the demo to their strikingly unique looking 3D narrative adventure game Undying Flower about exploring traumatic memories.
Arsanesia released the first devlog for their upcoming game Garden of Wandering Souls, sharing about the gameplay trailer reveal, public playtest at IGX, and upcoming closed beta.
Brian Kwek, founder of Ysbryd Games was recently featured on Digicult, sharing a look into the life of a games publisher, and spoke about some of the hits in his publishing label including VA-11 Hall-A and World of Horror.
Diner at the End of the Galaxy, by General Interactive just announced it was picked up by publisher Astra Logical, and will be released in Q2 2025.
PumpkinUnicorn produced a series of stamp art as a love letter to SEA indie games over on her X account (see below).
We need your help - Fundraiser for a Game Dev in need
We recently learnt that Nana Hanifah, the writer of the visual novel The Sun Shines Over Us, was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and needs help with her medical bills.
Sarah Johana, representing the SEA Game Dev Collective has gotten Nana's okay for us to help her out by selling digital wallpapers of the SEA Game Dev Bestie artwork (see above image), designed by Qiqiyaww.
You can contribute whatever amount you like, with 100% of the profits going to help with Nana's medical bills. This is entirely voluntary but we hope you're excited to show off your BESTIE status on desktop or mobile phone, and also help out a good cause. There are 8 wallpapers in total, in 2 color options and in 4 different resolutions.
Feel free to reach out to Sarah Johana (@sarahhana on most socials) if you want to find out more about this fundraising drive.
We designed the SEA Game Dev Bestie pin (see below) with the intention of celebrating the togetherness and kampung spirit of the SEA Game Dev community. We handed a few of these out to game dev friends and folks at Gamescom Asia - and hope to share more at upcoming shows. But what better way to exemplify the spirit of the SEA Game Dev Bestie than to support a fellow dev in need. Thank you for your support!
News, Programs and Initiatives Roundup
IGDX - took place from October 10 - 13 and was a great showing from local Indonesia homegrown games, as well as some international indies. Check VirtualSEA’s coverage of IGDX here.
Gamescom Asia - took place in Singapore from October 17 - 20 and was the biggest one yet, with over 40 thousand visitors, and 55 indie games featured in this year’s Indie Wavemakers section.
Check VirtualSEA’s coverage of Gamescom Asia here (Business Zone recap), here (Indie Wavemakers recap), here (Entertanment Zone recap) and here (full retrospective).
Channel News Asia recently covered Gamescom Asia and spoke to some local game industry folks including our very own Jun Shen Chia (SGGA), Brian Kwek (Ysbryd Games) and James Barnard (Springloaded) about the state of the Singapore games scene.
The Southeast Asia Games Onward (SEAGO) Showcase - is back, and SEAGamethetic is looking for submissions here. The showcase is slated to be released before year-end.
Indie Games Exchange - OutCrowd Malaysia partnered with Gumbo Collective, a indie game dev non-profit from New York, to host the second edition of their indie games exchange featuring 10 games from both Malaysia and the United States. The Magic Rain covered the event and featured games here.
Gamers to Gamers Festival - Lazy Monday is calling for devs who are interested in joining their Gamers to Gamers Festival event, and is providing booths free of charge to Indonesian devs. Register interest here.
102 Game Development Exhibition - The Brunei Innovation Lab recently ran a 102 Game Development Exhibition on November 2, after their students spent a week in a game development workshop.
SEARM (Southeast Asia RPG Maker Showcase) 2025 Showcase by Daybloom Project - submissions to participate in the showcase is now open. Deadline for submission is March 1, 2025 and the show will premiere sometime in June 2025.
GameDev Summit (GDS) - is back for its second year of business and game dev connections in Boracay, Philippines held on February 5 - 7, 2025. Find out more and register here.
The GamingonPhone Awards 2024 - voting is open to the public for shortlisted mobile games. Potion Permit, by MassHive Media (Indonesia) is in the running for Premium Game of the Year. Vote for your favorites here.
Xbox sizzle reel - To celebrate almost 3 years of Global Expansion in the region, Xbox released a Games from East, South and Southeast Asia sizzle reel over on their Xbox SEA social channels (X link here).
Game Dev Learnings
Our very own Samantha Low writes via Neon Noroshi’s blog about working closely with Springloaded, the devs behind the upcoming Let’s Build a Dungeon on developing an Asia-first approach to PR and marketing for the game.
As BlueSky gains in popularity, the game dev community globally and in Southeast Asia have begun to take shape on the platform. Here are some vital links:
Here’s a full comprehensive list of all the Game Dev related starter packs, lists and feeds to follow by @linseyray.bsky.social
Here’s a Game Makers Southeast Asia Starter Pack by @mauscino.bsky.social
Here’s a SEA Game Dev list by @junchgaming.bsky.social
Here’s the SEA Game Dev Collective (+ honorary members) Starter Pack by @junchgaming.bsky.social
Here’s another SEA Game Dev Starter Pack by @seagamethetic.bsky.social
Upcoming Events
A two-month look-ahead at what’s coming up in the region:
Nov
9 - Indie Jam 2024 Student Game Jam, powered by Xsolla Curine Academy, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
16 - 17 - Indie Jam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Over 25+ indie games on show, 10+ industry speakers, and prizes to be won, this free event promises to be a great way to see what’s on in the Malaysia and wider Southeast Asia games scene. More info here.
22 - 24 - DevFest Brunei 2024 (Brunei) - DevFest is back! Google Developer Groups (GDG) and WTM Brunei will be hosting their annual Developer Festival. Join them for talks and workshops by international and local speakers and local showcases from startups, entrepreneurs, hobbyists, and companies. It will be a hybrid (online and physical in-person) event.
23 - 24 - Gamers2Gamers Festival (Indonesia) - Annual gaming fest in Jakarta organized by The Lazy Monday.
Dec
7 - 8 - Singapore Comic Con (Singapore) - Whether you're a fan of comics, toys, games, or cosplay, they’ve got something for everyone!
14 - 16 - Brunei Indie Game Jam (Brunei) - In partnership with Brunei Innovation Lab and Google Developer Group Brunei, BruGameDev is thrilled to announce the Brunei Indie Game Jam 2024—a weekend packed with creativity, innovation, and non-stop game development. Registration opens from October 28 - November 30, 11:59 pm GMT+8 (Brunei Time).
17 - Women in Games Asia Meet-up (Brunei)
21 - 22 - Comic Fiesta (Malaysia) - One of Southeast Asia's largest, and longest-running convention event that focuses on animation, comics and games (ACG).
Job openings and opportunities
Arsanesia, who is currently making Garden of Wandering Souls, is hiring a remote game design intern. Find out more here.
Share your stories: If you’ve got ideas, news, updates, event info to share with us, please DM anyone from the Collective below. We’ll endeavour to get it added to the next edition of the digest. Thanks so much for your interest.
Please help share the newsletter: If you found the content in this issue valuable, please help share the newsletter to more folks in the SEA game dev community (and beyond).
The SEA Game Dev Collective (and Digest Editorial team) are: