BIC Festival 2020 this year was an online affair for the first time since its first event in Busan in 2015. The global indie game convention saw developers showcase their titles from across all platforms – mobile, console, PC and even cloud gaming – to showcase the future of gaming online. The event saw 140 titles from 16 countries, with some games made playable through the cloud gaming service GeForce Now.
Various conference sessions as well as business matching events were also held: the former enabling audience to learn more about the industry and easily communicate with speakers, while the latter was to provide more business opportunities to indie game developers. 40,730 gamers from 43 countries joined in the festivities, with a record 323,600 page views.
That’s not forgetting the BIC Awards winners announced at the closing ceremony as follows:
GENERAL DIVISION
- Grand Prix: Serenity Forge and Atmos Games(USA) – “Neversong”
- Jury Prize: X Plus Company Limited(USA, Indonesia, Iran, Germany) – “Smelter”
- Excellence In Art: Serenity Forge and Atmos Games(USA) – “Neversong”
- Excellence In Game Design: Lightshards(France) – “Time Rift: Escape From Speedjail”
- Excellence In Experimental: Vittgen Inc.(ROK) – “Chasing Light”
- Excellence In Narrative: Somi(ROK) – “The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother”
- Excellence In Casual: HuMoFish(Taiwan) – “Dungeon and Puzzles”
- Excellence In Multiplayer: Digital Crafter(Taiwan) – “Fight of Animals”
- Excellence In Audio: Endflame(Spain) – “Ikai”
- Excellence In Social Impact: MazM(ROK) – “MazM: Pechka”
- Rising Star: Outsider kids(ROK) – “RiffleEffect”
- Excellence In Art: WONDER POTION(ROK) – “Sannabi”
- Excellence In Game Design: CubeLab(ROK) – “Project Hanim-e”
- Excellence In Experimental: carrot & stick(ROK) – “Goosegle”
- Excellence In Casual: Stormev(ROK) – “Ice Cream Truck”
- Excellence In Multiplayer: BUILD PROJECT(ROK) – “VoxelHunt”
- Excellence In Audio: Whoosh whoosh magic(France) – “Cobble & Trouble”
“The first online hosted BIC Festival 2020 presented the current situation and progress of the Indie game, which is the root and start of the Korean game industry. The committee is glad to host the event successfully and will arrange the future event with a promise to meet a lot of people next year to promote Korean indie games tothe world.”Tae-Geon Seo, Executive Chairman of the Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee