Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
NEOWIZ awards aim to inspire, support global indie games
NEOWIZ co-CEO Kim Seung-chul, right, poses with Giacomo Montagnoli, developer of FLAT28's Glasshouse, which won first place at the NEOWIZ Indie Quest awards, during a ceremony held at NEOWIZ's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of NEOWIZ
By Nam Hyun-woo
NEOWIZ said Thursday it awarded five indie game titles at a ceremony for its global game development contest NEOWIZ Indie Quest, held a day earlier.
NEOWIZ Indie Quest is a contest to discover promising indie games and provide developers with practical support. The contest focuses on encouraging developers working on high-quality intellectual property that combines creative world-building with immersive storytelling.
The contest, which ran for about nine months, saw participation by various indie game development teams from Korea, the United States, China and other countries. A total of 165 million won ($112,000) in prize money was awarded to the five winning teams, which will also receive mentoring and strategic consulting without needing to sign a publishing contract with Neowiz.
The first-place winner was Glasshouse, a narrative-driven, turn-based role-playing game developed by Italy-based company FLAT28. The game's psycho-political thriller storyline allows players to shape their in-game experiences through various choices and actions.
Second place was claimed by Inari, developed by Korea’s 1HP Studio, followed by Name of the Will, Hawthorn and Gretel & Hansel, which tied for third.
“Based on our publishing expertise, proven by high-quality indie titles such as SANABI, we seek to provide global creaters with new opportunities,” a NEOWIZ official said. “NEOWIZ will continue to support indie developers worldwide so they can make more creative games.”