BitSummit is Japan’s largest indie game festival, held every year in Kyoto. Although the event was held in extremely hot weather this year, the event was as exciting as the temperature.
BitSummit is one of the oldest indie game exhibitions in Japan, but it has now developed into an exhibition that goes beyond indie games.
In this article, I will introduce the booths that caught my attention and provide an overview of the venue.
The first thing that caught my eye was the analog booth corner that was widely set up in the venue on the first floor.
This kind of exhibition style is often seen in Taiwan and other places, and I was envious of it because it seemed like a fusion of digital and analog games, but this was also achieved in Japan at BitSummit.
In terms of market scale, exhibitions at gaming events tend to lean toward digital, but analog is not inferior to digital in terms of the value of the game itself, and in fact, it can be said to be the foundation of gaming as a culture, so it has been picked up like this. I think that’s a very gratifying thing.
Also on the first floor, NHK’s “God Game Creator Evolution” had a large booth displaying a large number of games.
Many visitors gathered at each booth and were seen playing the games enthusiastically.
This is the Taipei Game Show booth. Taipei Game Show is keen to attract games from Japan, and they have a booth at Tokyo Game Show, as well as this one at BitSummit.
Taipei Game Show is one of the overseas game events that I recommend. It’s close to Japan, it’s safe, prices are still relatively low, it’s friendly to Japan, and the game quality is similar to Japan, so if you’re interested, you should definitely go. I would like you to take a look.
This is the booth of Ponos, a Kyoto game maker known for “The Great Cat War.”
He is a regular at BitSummit and has gathered many fans this year as well.
This is the booth of “GYAAR Studio”, an indie game support project run by Bandai Namco.
There were many supported titles on display, but here are a few that caught my attention.
This is “Jelly Troops,” a new work by Waken from Nukenin, a talented game developer.
Since there were no competitive Pikmin, I created it myself, and it was a cute fighting game where you control Pikmin-like characters and fight for flags.
Mr. Waken says that he would like to improve the tempo a little more, but it is already quite interesting at the moment.
Let’s look forward to the completion.
Another game that GYAAR Studio would like to introduce is “Sugoitsu Yoitofu”, which is also developed by the genius game developer Tomozobu P. It was a game where you could turn into tofu, which caused a bit of buzz at X, but it was also popular in the field, and many people enjoyed playing the game where you could turn into tofu.
Next up was the booth of Room 6, which, like Ponos, is synonymous with Kyoto, and the brand “Yokaze” derived from it.
Many game fans are probably curious about what kind of challenges Room6 will take on in the future, having solidified its reputation as a developer of indie games with a high level of creativity.
Next up was the booth of Shueisha, which is taking on the challenge of the game business as a publisher, although it feels a little different from an indie.
The yellow signboard of the Urban Legend Demolition Center was distinctive.
Next was the indie booth corner from Taiwan.
This event is supported by a foundation called the Institute for Information Industry, which is a different organization than Taipei Game Show.
There were two titles on display, “Enhime” and “Ninth Day,” and both were of fairly high quality.
“Enhime” is an action game scheduled to be published by the popular Japanese publisher PLAYISM.
It was said that it was influenced by Japanese anime, so the graphics were tailored to the tastes of Japanese gamers.
“Nine Days” is a new work by the game studio “RED CANDLE GAMES”, which continues to release popular titles, and is a challenging action game that combines the parry system with the popular roguelike action game Dead Cells
Next, we will introduce a smartphone app game called “Wild Wordopia – Birth of English -” where you can learn the etymology of English words.
The concept is not to simply memorize English words, but to learn the etymology of English words, and it is not only a fun game, but also a title that will make you realize how fun the steps of learning words are. Highly recommended!
http://arsedutainment.com/wordopia/
This is a game called “Eye on the world” where I search for cats.
It’s a game where you look for a cat hiding inside a diorama, and the developer loves dioramas, so the game is pretty well made. Just looking at the diorama is fun.
Next, we will introduce “CASSETTE BOY”, which won the grand prize at BitSummit2024. Make high-quality games
Wonderland Kazakiri’s new work is an RPG-style puzzle game. With the unique gimmick of rotating the map, you can enjoy a new experience that utilizes the concept that if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.
This is a game ported from a smartphone, “Mouse Busters.” The basic structure is the same as the smartphone version, but the Steam version has added elements that make the game even more appealing.
I’m looking forward to this one as much as I enjoyed the smartphone version.
“Wabisabi: Sushi Derby” is an indie game title supported by publisher Kodansha. It’s a game where cute sushi races, and it’s both comical and cute. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of gameplay it will be.
This is the Palworld booth, which was a big hit in January this year.
It caused some controversy due to its resemblance to Pokemon, but the reviews on Steam continue to be “very positive,” and I think it’s great that it continues to be active like this.
This is “Backpack Battle”, a popular “backpack organization” game. This is a great work that I myself have spent hundreds of hours working on, and I would like everyone to have a look at it.
The last product I would like to introduce is the RP7, which I found at the same booth as Backpack Battle. I saw this at the indie booth at this year’s Taipei Game Show and marked it as a very interesting game, and it was also exhibited at BitSummit.
A roguelike game where a cute character goes on an adventure while traveling back and forth between squares. A trial version is also available, so please take a look.
So, I’ve introduced all the games that caught my attention that were on display at BitSummit.
As I mentioned at the beginning, BitSummit has already become a game event that goes beyond indie games, but it demonstrated its value as a high-quality exhibition where a variety of games gathered.
The problem is that it will be held in Kyoto during the hot summer, but I hope it will continue to grow as a summer tradition in the gaming world.
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