Busan City (Mayor Hyung-Jun Park), Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency (President Moon-Seop Jeong), and Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee (Chairman Tae-Gun Seo, BIC Organizing Committee) are holding a total of 15,973 offline events for Busan Indie Connect Festival 2022 (BIC Festival 2022). It was announced on the 5th that it was successfully concluded by mobilizing visitors.
The BIC Festival 2022, held at the Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center from the 1st to the 4th, resumed the participation of general visitors to offline events after 3 years, which was limited due to the corona pandemic.
In the exhibition hall, 162 works from 23 countries were exhibited, the largest number of works ever, and among them, a total of 130 works were selected in a total of 4 fields: general and rookie divisions that showcase new indie games, and the newly established Connect Pick and Technology exhibition fields this year.
In the general and rookie categories, 101 new works such as a horror action adventure game in a cute animal village ▲Educated Game Studio’s ‘Before the Night’ and famous emoticon IP ▲Sinkhole Studio’s ‘Oguwa Secret Forest’ Indie games were exhibited.
In addition, 27 works, such as ▲Soeun Game’s ‘Commuting Rally’ and ▲Zombie Mate’s ‘CAT SPA’, which were popular at the previous BIC Festival exhibition, were selected in the ‘Connect Pick’ category and received a great response from the ‘BIC Festival’ fans. Lastly, in the ‘Technology Exhibition’ field, ▲TEAM RAOUD’s ‘EATER’ and ▲Team345’s ‘SEEDVAULT’, developed using its own engine and technology, were selected, suggesting the direction of a new indie game.
In addition to the exhibition, the conference held for two days on a business day included a ‘My Development Journal’ session where you can hear vivid game content development stories from indie game developers including Kim Sang-won, CEO of Pump Kim, the developer of ‘ALT F4’, as well as cultural arts such as technology, art, and philosophy. The session was held under the theme of collaboration of game contents.
In addition, in the ‘Biz’ session in which Yahaha, Megazone Cloud, Epic Games, and Nikali participated, each session was held on the topic of new game content technologies and trends to communicate with indie game developers.
The biz matching program, conducted during the same period, was attended by 14 sponsors, including the platinum sponsors Studio Kingdom, Nickalis, and Pearl Abyss.
After that, on Festival Day, various events such as ‘Sticker Big Go Event’ and ‘BIC OX Quiz’ were held in which general visitors directly participated, providing sights and entertainment at the same time. In particular, events using ‘Zone’, the representative character of ‘BIC Festival’, such as ‘Defeat the Zone’ and ‘Zone Indie Special LIVE’, received a great response.
At the closing ceremony held on the 4th, this year’s BIC Awards ceremony was held together. First of all, this year’s ‘Grand Prix’ in the general category was awarded to Nerial’s ‘Card Shark’, and for the rookie category, ‘Rising Star’ was named by Ixrix’s ‘Shambles’.
In addition, in the general category, ▲ ‘Wrestledunk Sports’ by e-Sports Team Fractal Alligator, ▲ ‘Lo-Fi Room’ by Audio Bearmask, ▲ ‘Oguwa Secret Forest’ by Casual Sinkhole Studio, ▲ ‘Coffee Talk Episode’ by TogeProductions 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly’, ▲ Experimental ALJO Games’ ‘Moss’, ▲ Game design Nerial’s ‘Card Shark’, ▲ Art Nerial’s ‘Card Shark’, ▲ Jury Prize Sinkhole Studio’s ‘Oguwa Secret Forest’ This won.
In the rookie category, ▲Social Impact HITECH’s ‘Fatherhood’, ▲Audio Pubul’s ‘MIRAY’, ▲Casual BIB’s ‘Pa!nt’ ▲Epic HITECH’s ‘Fatherhood’, ▲Game Design Team Bungie’s ‘Inari’, ▲Art Uneducated Game Studio’s ‘Before the Night’ took home this year’s award in each category.
For gamers who remain disappointed even after the offline event, the ‘BIC Festival’ will extend the online exhibition period until September 30 this year as well as last year. Visitors who want to enjoy each piece more relaxedly can play each exhibition by purchasing an online ticket through the official BIC website.
Tae-Gon Seo, chairman of the Busan Indie Connect Festival organizing committee, said, “I am very happy that this BIC Festival can reproduce the pre-Corona state and become a window of harmony between indie game developers, gamers and industry officials. It is very impressive to be able to check the current status of the indie game industry that is going out. The BIC Festival will also continue to grow and contribute to the spread of the global indie game culture.”
Jung Moon-seop, director of the Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency, said, “I would like to thank all the general visitors who visited again after 3 years, as well as the sponsors and developers who ran the exhibition for 4 days. He said, “Through this event, I was able to confirm the direction and potential of the latest indie game market, and I will do my best to make the BIC Festival a foothold for the indie game industry to grow in the future.”
Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency is operating the Busan Global Game Center with the support of Busan Metropolitan City, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korea Creative Content Agency to foster the game industry in Busan. Together with the organizing committee, the BIC Festival is held every year.
