The Taiwan Game Developers Forum said it expects at least 60 developers to attend its indie games convention on Friday next week.
That would be nearly triple the number of participants last year, Yang Chih-chieh (楊智傑), a member of the forum’s executive committee, said on Thursday, with Taiwanese developers being joined by their counterparts from China, the Philippines and Malaysia for the Indie Space event.
Wu attributed the success to the reputation Indie Space established last year, when local developer Red Candle Games presented the survival horror game Detention (返校), which became a best-seller on the online gaming platform Steam.
Photo: courtesy of the Taiwan Game Developers Forum
Yang said Taiwan has many talented developers with well-crafted games under their belt, but they are often unable to participate in conventions or publicity events abroad due to limited funding.
The forum provides a platform for developers to introduce their games to the world and several well-known gaming YouTubers have been invited to cover the event, he said.
Another challenge for indie developers is competition from mainstream commercial games that control a larger share of the gaming market, making a platform for showcasing indie games necessary for the industry, Yang added.
“We want to let people see good indie games and make our event a representative independent gaming exhibition,” he said.
The convention is to host industry matchmaking forums for developers and investors, as well as bring back the highly popular demonstration event for HTC Corp’s Vive virtual-reality (VR) headsets, Yang said.
More developers are becoming interested in VR games and Indie Space participants can live-test their games and find commercial sponsors at the convention, he said.
In related news, Red Candle Games on Wednesday announced that a feature film adaptation of Detention is in the works — a first for a Taiwanese game.
Producer Lee Lieh (李烈) of the Taiwanese blockbuster Monga (艋舺) will be at the helm of the project, which had moved pass copyrights negotiations, the developer said.
In addition, Taiwan’s Public Television Service and Red Candle Games have agreed to make a television series based on Detention, the developer said.
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