This year, many Korean games stood out in the ‘Unity Awards’, a global contest that rewards excellent Unity-based content, which served as an opportunity to raise the status of the Korean game industry.
The Unity Awards, now in its 16th year, is a global event that selects and awards Unity works from around the world that demonstrate artistic and technical excellence through the Unity engine and various platforms. This year’s Unity Awards featured a total of 22 categories in five categories: ‘Games,’ ‘Industry,’ ‘Social Impact,’ ‘Asset Store,’ and ‘Community.’
Two Korean works won the top awards in each category at the Unity Awards 2024. First, in the game category, ‘Cat Garden’, developed by development studio MSG Square and serviced by Daerisoft, won the ‘Best 2D Visual Award’.
In addition, Hyundai Motor Company’s ‘H-Meta: Meta Factory Environment-based VWMS 3D Logistics Operation/Measurement Technology Automation’ project won the ‘Innovation Award’ in the Industry category. H-Meta is an editor that allows customers to freely customize the digital factory environment.
In addition to the grand prize winners, a whopping 14 Korean projects were selected in the game category alone. The genres range from interactive mystery to platformer action, VR, MMORPG, sports, and MOBA. Through this, it has been proven that the creativity and technical skills of Korean developers in content production using the Unity platform are more outstanding than any other country in the world.
Here, three Unity platform works, ‘Solo Level Up: Arise’ (Grand Prize), ‘Lord Nine’ (Excellence Award), and ‘Uncover the Smoking Gun’ (Good Game Award), won the ‘2024 Korea Game Awards’, the most prestigious game awards ceremony in Korea, recognizing the excellence of games utilizing the Unity platform.
Indiegame.com introduces the indie games that won the Unity Awards 2024 with unique ideas and plans.
◆ ‘Cat Omakase’: Awarded ‘Best 2D Visual’ for its cute and outstanding graphics
Winner of the Unity Awards 2024 Game of the Year award for Best 2D Visuals, Cat Garden offers a unique experience that will delight both cat lovers and the general public.
‘Cat Omakase’, developed by ‘MSG Square’ and serviced by Daerisoft, provides visitors with a comfortable and fun time through interactions with a variety of specially selected cats.
Each cat has a unique personality and appearance, so you can enjoy just observing their various behaviors. Time with the cats is by reservation, and a system is adopted where you can visit at a set time by making a reservation in advance. This is to manage each cat without stress and to create an environment where visitors can interact with the cats more easily.
The components of cat omakase are centered around interaction with cats rather than regular meals. The experience can include feeding the cats treats, playing with them, and learning about each cat’s characteristics. Through this, visitors can forget about the stress of everyday life and experience healing through the innocent appearance of cats.
◆ ‘Uncover the Smoking Gun’: Opening a new horizon for interactive mystery games with generative AI
Uncover the Smoking Gun, a game by Krafton-owned studio ReLU Games, has been nominated for the Unity Awards Game Category’s “Best Desktop/Console Game,” demonstrating new innovation in the Korean gaming industry. The game is an AI-based conversational mystery game that stands out through its deep storytelling and interactivity.
‘Uncover the Smoking Gun’ is centered around the player’s process of tracking the truth of the case and collecting evidence. It goes beyond the traditional detective game that simply proceeds through choices, and stands out in that the player can interact naturally through conversations with characters. This is because natural language conversation is possible based on OpenAI’s GPT-4o model. This provides an immersive feeling as if the player is having an actual conversation while feeling each character’s unique speech and personality.
◆ ‘Sannabi’: Cyberpunk 2D platformer action game
‘SANABI’, developed by Korean indie game developer ‘Wonder Potion’ and published by Neowiz, is a 2D platformer action game. It is a work based on a unique cyberpunk Joseon worldview.
It is a work that exquisitely combines traditional Korean culture and modern game design to provide players with a unique experience. Expectations are high as it has been nominated for the ‘Best Desktop/Console Game’ in the Unity Awards 2024 Game category.
‘Sannabi’ is set in a cyberpunk dystopia where the past of Joseon and an advanced super-scientific civilization are fused, and tells the story of a retired soldier who sets out to seek revenge on an organization called ‘Sannabi’ after losing his daughter.
The main character uses chain action using a mechanical arm, and as the story progresses, the mechanical arm is upgraded and various skills are acquired. The use of dot graphics creates a retro feel, and various devices increase the player’s immersion.
‘Sannabi’ offers a unique worldview, touching story, and interesting action gameplay, and has received “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on Steam. Born from four years of development by five student developers, including Seunghyun Yoo, CEO of ‘Wonder Potion’, ‘Sannabi’ is a work that highlights the passion and effort of the development team, and is considered an example of the potential of the Korean indie game market.
◆ ‘Lucky Defense!’: The emergence of an innovative casual strategy defense game
111%’s mobile defense game ‘Lucky Defense!’, released on May 23rd of this year, is not only fun, but also a combination of strategy and luck, and is receiving a hot response from users. It has quickly established itself in the mobile game market, successfully settling in the market in just four months since its release. It was nominated for ‘Best 2D Visuals’ in the game category of the Unity Awards 2024.
The game title ‘운빨존만게임’ is a combination of ‘운’ and ‘존망(存亡)’, and is a tower defense game in which you defend by effectively combining heroes that appear randomly. The user’s strategy is required to defeat the monster waves that unfold over a total of 80 stages. The basic structure of the game is very intuitive and designed so that various users can easily access it. In addition, the game’s fun and depth have been increased through continuous patches and meta changes, and choices such as character upgrades and changes in placement are possible.
◆ ‘Goodbye Seoul: Itaewon’: An anticipated indie game set in Itaewon, Seoul
Goodbye Seoul, developed by Gino Games and published by Neowiz, is a 2D side-scrolling adventure game with a post-apocalyptic setting in a pixel art style. It was nominated for the ‘Most Anticipated Game’ award in the Game category of the Unity Awards 2024. The game tells the story of a protagonist who is about to give up on life in Seoul, which is six months away from the end of the world due to a meteorite collision, but who acquires a secret space evacuation document.
The game’s main feature is the pixel art design, which expresses light and atmospheric effects in detail to bring out the impressionist style. In the game, everyday images such as shoes on the Han River bridge or ruined trains are transformed into strange images, creating a bizarre atmosphere. In particular, the landscapes set in Seoul are realistically recreated, providing players with a familiar yet unfamiliar experience. Another advantage is that the 63 Building and famous bridges in Seoul are well drawn in the game, making it easy and quick to recognize places.
This game, which combines story and puzzle elements, is designed to have players continue to solve puzzles and progress through the story. The story may have felt a bit short in the initial version, but it is composed of fun and immersive content that arouses strong interest. The game, which is planned to be a trilogy, is also raising expectations for the next part, and has recently been exhibited at various game shows and received positive responses.
