Nestled among the industry giants at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday were a growing number of small and independent games developers from Asia and Europe, all hoping they are sitting on the next Minecraft.
Bookended by household names like Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp, many of them are taking a leaf out of Minecraft’s block-built book and going for simple graphics and games that are easy to grasp.
Among them is Lin Yule (林育樂), a 36-year-old Taiwanese developer for Uwan Co Ltd (由玩), which is run by just three people.
Their offering sees a stationary bike connected to a tablet screen, which the player has to peddle frantically to shoot targets on the screen.
“This is probably the first indie game that features excercise, and we developed this because we need physical exercise in a world dominated by applications,” Lin said.
Tokyo Game Show, Asia’s biggest digital exhibition, began its run yesterday, just days after Microsoft announced it was buying Mojang, the Swedish company behind the runaway success of Minecraft, for a cool US$2.5 billion.
The event is a highpoint in the regional tech industry calendar and has drawn more than 400 exhibitors.
Of them, about 70 are independent developers from Asia, North America and Europe, and another 70 are small companies from Southeast Asia, including from less developed Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The break-neck spread of tablets, phablets and phones means potential players are everywhere and all are easily accessible to developers.
“I hope we’ll see a success similar to Minecraft, because today everyone has a chance in open platforms such as iOS and Android,” Lin said.
Putu Sudiarta, the 39-year-old director of Bali-based Bamboomedia, said he was at the show because he wanted to tap the Japanese market.
“We feature educational games, and I came here with some Japanese language games. We hope to localize our titles to become a bigger player,” he said.
Unlike the multimillion dollar budgets needed for blockbusters like the Grand Theft Auto series, these kind of games can be done on a shoestring.
“We don’t need lots of resources, just one or two developers for one game... I think we’ll enjoy further success,” he said.
Malaysian studio Kree Ape is pioneering a mix of the online and the real life with its upcoming fantasy trading game, which will use collectable cards featuring sport stars.
“You can put what you like online, but physical cards spread the message in Malaysia,” said Alex Cheah, Kree Ape’s director.
Tokyo Game Show, at Makuhari Messe, opens to the public on Saturday and Sunday.
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