- Completed after 6 months of solo development, simultaneously advanced to BIC 2026 Rookie and GIGDC 2026 Finals
- Dark fantasy management: Rebuilding a fortress by day and leading residents as soldiers by night.
- YouTube Devlog documenting the development process records 4,530 subscribers and 1.77 million views
‘Dawnkeep,’ a dark fantasy defense game being developed solo by Jang Won-hyeok, a third-year student at Daejeon Yuseong High School, has proudly made it into the Rookie category of the Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) 2026.
Following its selection in the Rookie category, ‘Dunkip’ will participate in the ‘BIC 2026’ offline exhibition, which will be held for three days from August 14 to 16 at Hall 2, Exhibition Center 1, BEXCO, Busan. The developer, student Jang Won-hyuk, plans to personally showcase his debut work to general visitors and indie game fans from around the world through the on-site booth and interact with them.
‘Dunkip’ is a dark fantasy territory management defense game where you rebuild collapsed fortresses and settlements during the day and protect residents from swarming enemies at night.
The residents living in the settlement appear as individual beings, each with their own name, occupation, and unique characteristics. During the day, the player must develop the settlement by managing the residents’ fatigue, happiness, and morale, and at night, recruit them as soldiers to fight against enemy raids.
The game unfolds by forming formations with various troop types, such as spearmen, swordsmen, and archers, and directly commanding battles. The core of the game lies in a cyclical structure where territory management during the day and strategic defense at night repeat.
‘Dunkip’ is being developed based on the open-source game engine Godot 4.2.1 and has advanced to the finals of the Global Indie Game Development Contest (GIGDC) 2026 along with BIC 2026.
Rebuild the fortress during the day and defend the settlement at night.
A day in ‘Dunkip’ is divided into two phases: day and night.
During the day, you must rebuild the collapsed fortress, manage the settlement’s various facilities, and monitor the residents’ well-being. The residents are not merely production resources, but consist of individual characters, each with a name, occupation, and unique characteristics.
In particular, the fatigue, happiness, and morale of the residents affect not only labor efficiency during the day but also combat at night. This means that the course of subsequent battles can change depending on how efficiently work is distributed and the condition of the residents is managed.
When the sun sets, the atmosphere of the game changes. You must recruit the residents who helped rebuild the fortress during the day as soldiers, and form a unit of spearmen, swordsmen, and archers to defend against enemies raiding the settlement.
Ultimately, establishing a solid foundation during the day is crucial, while utilizing that foundation to effectively fend off enemy offensives at night is key. The structure of growing a settlement through repeated rebuilding and defense forms the central gameplay experience.
Dark fantasy territory management implemented with the Godot engine
‘Dunkip’ depicts a dark fantasy world set against the backdrop of a collapsed fortress and a new settlement forming on top of it.
The open-source game engine Godot 4.2.1 was used for game development. As the day and night gameplay styles are distinctly different, it is expected to showcase a structure that contrasts the daytime scene of rebuilding ruins with the nighttime atmosphere where enemy attacks begin.
Developed alone for 6 months… A high school developer’s challenge
Jang Won-hyeok, the student developing ‘Dunkip’, is currently a third-year student at Daejeon Yuseong High School.
Jang Won-hyeok has been developing the game alone for about six months since the end of January this year, and it is known that he is recently discussing the addition of a new team member.
The development process is consistently shared through YouTube Devlogs. As of the time of writing, the developer’s YouTube channel has approximately 4,530 subscribers and about 1.77 million cumulative views.
It is noteworthy that, despite being a project in the early stages ahead of its official release, it has attracted users who are watching the game’s growth by consistently sharing its development process.
Selected as BIC 2026 Rookie… Advances to GIGDC Finals
Dunkeep was selected for the BIC 2026 Rookie category and will participate in the offline exhibition held at BEXCO in Busan from August 14 to 16.
BIC is a leading indie game event where domestic and international indie game developers showcase their work and meet with users and industry professionals. Through his selection in the Rookie category, student Jang Won-hyuk will be able to personally present ‘Dunkip,’ currently under development, to visitors and gauge the on-site reaction to the game.
That is not all. By advancing to the finals of the Global Indie Game Development Contest GIGDC 2026, the work will be showcased simultaneously at two major domestic indie game events.
Currently, ‘Dunkip’ is accepting wishlist registrations through its Steam store page, and the official release is targeted for between the fourth quarter of 2027 and the second quarter of 2028.
‘Dunkip’ is a dark fantasy territory management defense game that has been developed alone by a high school student developer for about six months. It is garnering great expectations as a promising talent that will brighten the future of K-indie thanks to its unique gameplay, which involves rebuilding a fortress and managing residents during the day, and leading soldiers to defend a settlement at night.
It has already proven its undeniable presence even before its official release by achieving significant results, such as being selected for the BIC 2026 Rookie category and advancing to the GIGDC 2026 finals. The emergence of this youth developer, armed with an unceasing spirit of challenge and brilliant ideas, is being evaluated as providing a fresh stimulus to the stagnant domestic game ecosystem and driving the bright future of K-Indie.
With the attention of the industry and users focused on it, all eyes are on what kind of enthusiastic response ‘Dunkip’ will elicit at its first offline live demonstration to be held at BEXCO in Busan this coming August.
Information regarding ‘Dawnkeep’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Development and distribution | Zang (Jang Won-hyeok, 3rd year student at Daejeon Yuseong High School) |
| Genre | Dark Fantasy Territory Management Defense |
| platform | PC (Steam) / Windows |
| engine | Godot 4.2.1 |
| Supported languages | korean |
| Development period | Late January 2026 onwards (Approx. 6 months in progress, discussions regarding team member joining are underway) |
| Release Date | Q4 2027 – Q2 2028 target |
| Exhibition Schedule | August 14–16, 2026, BEXCO, Busan (BIC 2026 Rookie Division) |
| Awards and Selection History | Selected for BIC 2026 Rookie Category, Advances to GIGDC 2026 Finals |
| Community Reaction | YouTube Devlog: 4,530 subscribers, 1.77 million cumulative views (no professional media reviews yet) |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
| Development YouTube | Shortcut |
| Discord | Shortcut |
