Busan Indie Connect T-Festival (BIC), the largest indie game festival in Korea, is being held successfully. BIC, which resumes offline exhibitions, has been on a new experience and meeting on weekdays.
Lee Deuk-woo, Chairman of BIC Judge (Professor of Convergence Content School, Cheonggang Culture and Industry), selects works to be on-site and selects a game that will be honored by the awards. Chairman Lee Deuk-woo, who has been working with BIC since the first episode, has painted a lot of pictures that will make this event with more than 30 anonymous judges.
On the 2nd, I met with Lee Deuk-woo, the chairman of the judge and asked how the game selection process took place. We have listened to the trend of BIC entries and the trend of indie game development this year. Chairman Lee predicted that convergence planning will be a keyword for indie development in the future.
Q. Dismise Game: Finally, BIC’s offline event has been held again.
a. Lee Deuk-woo Judge Chairman: This year, the booth feels especially comfortable and good. The exhibition hall is released from side to side and the conference is underway on the central stage. A total of 162 games are exhibited from sponsor works. I hope the audience comes a lot. If the typhoon is coming up now, if it was a movie hall (BIC was held at the Hall of Film until 2018)… (Laughter)
Q. What role did you play in this BIC?
A. BIC Organizing Committee has several business divisions. Until the previous year, he was the head of the Secretariat, who is in charge of BIC’s administration, and this time he leaves the administration and is in charge of judging by the Organizing Committee. Along with 31 BIC members and external experts, they conducted a review of this year.
Q. I want to hear BIC’s selection of the game.
A. First of all, I am motto, ‘Let’s play enough and judge.’ Game is different from self-subjectivity and taste. In order not to be affected by each other, they prefer online screening as much as possible. The judges are anonymously scoring the game, and all of them are anonymously treated. And the judges can say ‘no game run’, but opinions are prohibited.
So do so. Then the outline is hidden from then on. Statistically, 130 of the top games must be picked up. This time, he invited six minutes of judging and held a meeting together to determine the final selection. I and they played all the games.
Q. Does 31 people don’t know each other?
A. OT knows each other’s existence, but it doesn’t know how these people have judged. They ask them not to exchange opinions with each other, but to judge them as subjective.
BIC has been held since 2015, and there are people who are judging since then. It consists of indie developers, members of the organizer, and those who operate the company from the business perspective, large corporations, journalists, and lawyers. Officially, only the chairman of the judges reveals and works. Until last year, Professor Lee Jung-yeop was the chairman of the judge.
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Q. Is the outline of the awards held with the closing ceremony?
A. I do not notify those who have been decided. The results will be announced at the end.
Q. What is the qualification for BIC?
a. From the beginning, I am trying to bring a feeling like a new developer. The game under development or the game within one year of launch is the subject of screening. It is divided into two classes, general and rookie, and Rookie is aimed at students, less than 25 years old, and developers who do not belong to the company. It is said that there is a problem of equity to compete on a stage without distinguishing between general and rookie.
But nowadays, Rookie seems to be popular. Even if the rookie side is a little lower, it is a fun idea or the younger generation’s favorite elements. So I also think of the general and rookie as a horizontal relationship, not in the upper league and the lower league.
Q. As we have been with BIC for a long time, the trend of the works seems to be read every year. For example, ‘This year has a lot of loglike’.
a. It really tends to show every year. In fact, Roggike is now like a basic grammar in Indie. Indie games sometimes put the logic in half because of the limitations of resources. In the case of last year’s BIC, there were many story-oriented adventures. There were many story-oriented games such as creating their own IP, adapting fairy tales, or creating a love simulation. Last year, the rookie category was
This year, I see a lot of card deck buildings that seem to have been influenced by Slay the Spire. It’s not called a crop, but it feels a lot of mix? The story elements are mixed, the loglike is mixed and shows a lot of variety. That’s why games in the fusion genre are colorfully decorated. In comparison, bibimbap feels much more ingredients? (laugh)
Q. Isn’t that a problem if it’s bibimbap in the table?
A. I expect novelty to create something new in Indie, but there is no game to be selected based on that. Personally, I think a good game is a familiar game. It is also important to review the familiar elements and reflect it in the game.
Of course, I think it’s not good to borrow a familiar development. I see a lot in the clicker genre. However, even if you mix well, you can feel fresh even in familiarity. This convergence plan is expected to be keywords in indie development in the future.
Q. Apart from the judging, if you have a personally liked or impressive work, ask an introduction.
A. Regardless of the judging, personal feelings are very personal. Since it was the position of the event, the most memorable people from the first year are the most memorable. It is interesting to see how they change and grow.
For example, in the case of ‘Ko-gu’, he came out with a mobile game puzzle, but this year, he completely changed his style to Steam Game and exhibited
Pixel Age also exhibited
Q. What is the charm of BIC only from the judge’s point of view?
A. The charm is that the build may change between three months. The quality of the game at the time of judging and the quality of the game exhibited in the BIC may be different. As the developer is given an exhibition deadline, the game quality may not know during that period. (Like game jam?) Yes. I think the event called BIC has a good impact on these development schedules. Even though it is selected by the selection, even though the event can be made during the event, developers can be made in real time.
Another thing I feel this year is that there are more university works. This year, there were so many universities in universities. Originally, there were not a few universities with game majors, so there were a lot of professionals and exhibits there, but even if there is no department, the game development club is activated there, so there is a game in BIC. Increased examples of exhibiting. It is seen as a very desirable phenomenon.
Q. One of BIC’s first intention was to networking of developers. Through the Corona 19, this part tends to be somewhat weakened. How did it change at this event?
A. The same events are prepared as before corona 19. Even on the first day of the event, the companies held a network party. It feels like a mini-star. The fact that the developer network continues to occur from the outside is evidence of interest in indie.
Originally, BIC had a strong nature of the event that developers made for developers. But now, ‘BIC Connectors’ (a kind of gamer supporter) writes in detail about the game. It seems to be reborn as an event with such a deep user. They are selecting and exhibiting games that they want to see again because they are called ‘Connectors Pick’. As a result, developers who came before came back into an event that could come back and enjoy.
In addition, in the past, the awards were selected at 100%of the judges, and this year, the event is being created to reflect some of the opinions of the connectors.
** q. He has played a variety of roles in BIC, including director, secretary general, and judge. As a result, it seems that the eyes are looking at the event. What is the special meaning to this event?
a. In fact, when I first made it, I played a leading role in the situation where there was nothing, so I started working with the ambiguous title of the director. I didn’t know that this would grow so much. (Laughter) Now, BIC has become a corporation, and has been in charge of administrative work for a long time in the event of an event. Then I stepped away and became the judge chairman, and it was different. I think that the event itself is creating an environment so that creators can concentrate on creation.
As you know, trends are changed by many factors. The mobile game market is also swept away by advertising policy. Last week, False of P in Game Scom won three crowns. It was difficult to occur in Korean game history. So the trend has a character that doesn’t know what’s going on. You should be able to cope flexibly in a rapidly changing environment, but I think that doing it is grassroots indie game.
BIC rarely restricts qualifications, but if there is one restriction, games using popular IPs will not be listed. To encourage pure creation. I feel that contributing to the industry with such a game plays a very important role. In that sense, this time, the organizing committee has created a new technical division to illuminate games using their own engines.
Q. Finally, what would you say to those who will find the event until Sunday?
a. This year, various games were especially well displayed. It is also normalized after the Corona 19. All online and offline will be combined to give various pleasures. If you want to enjoy the game slowly without interference around, you can enjoy it online. If you come to the scene, you can communicate directly with the developer and feel only here. I hope you come and enjoy.
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