The ‘IR Demo Day’ for providing investment opportunities to excellent developers of ‘2024 Indie Craft’, the festival of Korean indie games, has been successfully completed.
This event, which was prepared to conclude the approximately one-year-long ‘2024 Indie Craft’ hosted by Seongnam City and co-hosted by Seongnam Industrial Promotion Agency and Korea Mobile Game Association, was held on November 20th at the Seongnam Global Convergence Center Multipurpose Hall to strengthen the investment capacity of selected developers and lay the foundation for investment activation.
The Indiecraft Management Office stated that the event was a great success, with around 40 game developers and affiliates supporting Indiecraft in attendance, providing strength to developers moving forward into the future.
This event was not only about presenting IR decks, but also included lectures on how to write IR decks, ways to secure funds, and IR deck mentoring.
Among a total of 10 developers, 3 excellent developers were selected and provided with opportunities for future investment consultation along with products. The lineup of participating judges was also impressive. In the investment field, ▲Ensel Partners, ▲Scaleup Partners, ▲C2Square Partners, ▲WiseOcean, ▲Partners Investment, and ▲Hanyang University Technology Holdings participated, and in the development and publisher field, ▲Neowiz, ▲Libra Systems, ▲CFK, and ▲ZTQ Games, etc. 10 investment, publishing, and development experts participated as judges to ensure fairness in the selection and to closely check investment opportunities.
Neowiz Team Leader Kim Hyuk-jin, who gave his thoughts as a representative of the judges, said, “There are many game contents that I have been watching for a long time, and I am very happy to see that most of them have developed. Since this kind of IR presentation opportunity is very rare, I hope that you will prepare more thoroughly and use the evaluation to increase your development capabilities.” He also cheered on their future development.
A total of 10 developers were selected by Indiecraft to participate in Demo Day: ▲Idea Bombers, ▲Dungeon Front, ▲Remora, ▲Sandy Floor, ▲Ananas Bananas, ▲Oji, ▲Alien Kidnapping Operation, ▲Hypercent, ▲36 Liters, ▲Studio BBB. The developers presented their prepared IR decks for about 15 minutes and introduced the developers and their roadmaps for future game development and operation to the judges. They competed fiercely, and through strict and fair evaluation, one ‘Grand Prize’ team and two ‘Excellence Prize’ teams were selected.
Excellence Awards went to two developers, with ‘High Percent’ and ‘Alien Kidnapping Operation’ being selected respectively. ▲High Percent, the developer of the horror action multiplayer game , has continued game production since its incorporation in January 2024. Backroom Company, which was created based on the American horror story ‘Backroom’, has been well-received by users for its multiplayer elements.
In addition to being in the Indiecraft TOP50, it was recognized for its development prowess by winning the ‘Best Multiplayer Award’ at this year’s G-Star Indie Awards. ▲Alien Kidnapping Operation is a developer that has already been recognized for its development prowess on Steam through ‘Pig Romance’. ‘Pig Romance’, released last July, is a puzzle adventure game depicting the adventure of a pig that goes against fate, and it boasts the fun in irony that is cruel but does not seem cruel through fairy tale-style artwork using unique gimmicks and pantomime directing methods.
The grand prize goes to ‘Sandy Floor’. ‘GREAT TOY SHOWDOWN’, released on Steam Early Access in November 2024, is a strategic casual shooting team battle game where eight stuffed animals fight each other.
Based on cute graphics, it is a new team battle action game that mixes various genres, from PVE elements where you fight various monsters, farming where you travel around the field to complete missions, and PVP battle royale. Excellent developers will be provided with products such as the Galaxy Watch, as well as investment consulting opportunities with investment experts in the future, so they can receive advice on game development and operation.
Hwang Seong-ik, co-chairman of Indiecraft and co-organizer, said, “I am very grateful that so many people came to see excellent developers at a time when it is difficult to attract investment in the game industry due to the recent economic downturn. I believe that Indiecraft has spared no effort in providing various support to small and medium-sized indie game developers even in difficult circumstances, and we will work with Seongnam City and Seongnam Industrial Promotion Agency to find ways to provide more effective help next year.”
