- Wrapping up a 7-month schedule in Pangyo, 6 developers awarded in domestic and Challenger categories
- 70% of the evaluation is based on general user FGT results, and the CEO of last year’s No. 1 ‘One & One’ personally presents the awards.
Seongnam City, the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency, and the Korea Mobile Game Association held the ‘2026 Indiecraft Awards’ at Hyatt Place Seoul Pangyo on the 15th and awarded six outstanding developers in the Domestic/Community and Challenger categories.
Indiecraft is an indie game festival hosted by Seongnam City and co-organized by the Seongnam Business Agency and the Korea Mobile Game Association. The Grand Prize in the Domestic & Community category was won by 1HP Studio’s ‘INARI,’ which received a prize of 40 million won. Seongnam City announced the award results on the 19th.
Indiecraft, which started in March and concluded after 7 months
This awards ceremony marks the conclusion of a schedule spanning approximately seven months, which began in March of this year and continued with the announcement of selected works, the operation of a promotional booth at Gamescom in Germany, an offline exhibition linked to GXG 2026, and export consultations at Connect Fair.
This year, Indiecraft closed its recruitment on May 11 with the highest number of entries in its history, and a total of 72 developers, including 52 in the domestic category and 20 in the Challenger category, were selected to participate in the program.
Fifty-one live booths from selected developers were operated at the GXG 2026 affiliated exhibition held at the special exhibition hall on the first floor of Pangyo Tech One Tower last September. Among them, six developers who ranked in the top three in their respective categories received awards on this day.
Grand Prize Winner ‘Inari’, Shuriken Action Unleashed with a Single Life
‘Inari’ is a high-speed shuriken action platformer game played with only one life. It received favorable reviews during the evaluation for its high level of polish and an Eastern-style worldview where mythology and steel collide.
The Grand Prize was awarded to Weiwei Co., Ltd. (prize money 10 million won) for ‘Ak-seon’, a hack-and-slash action roguelike based on Korean shamanism. The Excellence Award went to Circle From Dot (prize money 5 million won) for developing the hardcore top-down shooter ‘Kusan: City of Wolves’.
[Related Article: Extreme Speed, Shuriken Action Platformer ‘Inari’ Launches on Steam on the 13th]
University Student Challenger Category, Tactical FPS ‘Theseus’ Wins Grand Prize
In the Challenger category, which is centered on university student development teams, Plutarch of ‘Theseus,’ a tactical FPS that combines a commander’s operational decisions with a mercenary’s body cam view, won the top prize (scholarship of 2 million won).
The Excellence Award went to Seed Studio (scholarship of 1 million won) for ‘War in the Dark,’ a turn-based simulation that implements Morse code information warfare on a 1950s battlefield using 1-bit pixel art.
Trinut Studio, the developer of the balance action game ‘Pass the Bomb: Runner’ where players run while controlling the center of gravity of a bomb, received the Indie Level-Up Award (scholarship of 500,000 won).
Document Screening 30%, General User FGT 70%… Rankings to be revealed on-site
The final rankings for the domestic category were determined by combining 30% from the first round of document screening and 70% from the second round of Focus Group Test (FGT) evaluation, in which general users directly participated. The award rankings were revealed for the first time at the awards ceremony.
On this day, Yoon Jae-eun, co-CEO of One & One, which took first place in the domestic category last year, served as a presenter, sharing his experiences from the past year since winning and cheering on this year’s winning team. The operating secretariat plans to continue the tradition of Indiecraft where the previous year’s winning developer presents the award to the following year’s winning team.
“Winning is the beginning, not the end,” support for investment, publishing, and overseas expansion
In her welcoming remarks, Lee Joo-yeon, President of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency and co-chair of the organizing committee, stated, “Indie games are created with passion and new imagination rather than large capital.” President Lee announced that, as Pangyo is the center of the domestic game industry, she would work together with the Korea Mobile Game Association to support developers in continuing to create games and expand into overseas markets.
Hwang Sung-ik, Chairman of the Korea Mobile Game Association, pledged to continue providing practical growth support, such as attracting investment, publishing, and overseas expansion, to ensure that the awards do not remain a one-time honor. Detailed information on the winning works can be found on the official Indiecraft website.
Information regarding the ‘2026 Indiecraft Awards’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Event name | 2026 Indiecraft Awards |
| Date and Time/Location | October 15, 2026, Hyatt Place Seoul Pangyo |
| Host | Seongnam City |
| subjectivity | Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency, Korea Mobile Game Association |
| Participating developers | A total of 72 (52 in the domestic sector, 20 in the Challenger sector) |
| Domestic & Community Sector | Grand Prize ‘Inari’ (1HP Studio, 40 million won) Grand Prize ‘Ak-seon’ (Weiwei Co., Ltd., 10 million won) Excellence Award ‘Kusan: City of Wolves’ (Circle From Dot, 5 million won) |
| Challenger division | Grand Prize ‘Theseus’ (Plutarch, 2 million won scholarship) Excellence Award ‘War in the Dark’ (Saessak Studio, 1 million won scholarship) Indie Level-Up Award ‘Pass the Bomb: Runner’ (Trynut Studio, 500,000 KRW scholarship) |
| Evaluation method | 1st Round Document Screening 30% + 2nd Round General User FGT Screening 70% (Domestic Sector) |
