Indie game developers come together

By Jon Dunbar

Just as there are indie musicians, indie filmmakers and indie designers, there are indie game developers. In Seoul, the developers or “devs” meet up monthly at Seoul Indies. This month's event is Thursday at Cafe Willy in Mapo-gu, western Seoul.

“So basically Seoul Indies is divided into two parts: presentation and hang out,” said Sun Park. “We encourage people to discuss each other's games and general issues related to gaming culture. People come to Seoul Indies to get feedback, find inspiration in others' works and make new dev friends.”

Park co-founded his own independent studio, Turtle Cream, straight out of school, for which he developed his masterpiece, the platform game “6180 the moon.” He also runs Project.99, an experimental dev crew.

He founded Seoul Indies with Jeon Jae-woo and Mark Flury in 2015. The meetups are bilingual, helping Korean and foreign devs to mix.

“Sun, Jae-woo, and I felt the existing meetups and events in Seoul weren't quite what we wanted,” said Flury, a U.S. expat who co-developed “Thumper,” a “rhythm violence game” with his musician partner Brian Gibson through their studio, Drool.

“Our meetup focuses on the art and craft of making cool, unique, weird games. There are plenty of events geared towards technology, business and networking, so we intentionally avoid that sort of thing.”

Attendees include devs running their own independent studios, hobbyist devs, students, professionals and those looking to get started, but all are welcome. They bring all sorts of games to the table, from small experimental games to large “AAA indie” games.

“Hopefully our meetup gives them some motivation to keep on trucking, share their work, and get supportive feedback,” Flury said. “I know our meetup has inspired at least a few interested people to take the plunge and make their own game. It was special when they showed off their game at our meetup for the first time!”

The event starts at 8 p.m. and entry costs 10,000 won. Devs must apply in advance to give a five-minute demo of their games. Visit fb.com/seoulindies for more information.