Sayart.net) 

Jack Lee, wangjb77@gmail.com 

 

Ordinary games focus on popularity to maximize profits. So game developers have a primary goal of developing to secure box office success and popularity.

For this reason, the ideas and plans of commercial game developers are not easy to go beyond the imaginable scope of gamers, and they cannot find the need to go beyond it.

However, among indie game developers, there is a steady increase in the number of developers who value their own creative ideas and experimental spirit of pursuing new things, regardless of popularity.

Sponsored by SmileGate, one of Korea's major game developers, "OOI 2022 (Out Of Index, OOI)" is an international experimental game festival that once again confirmed the infinite imagination of game developers in Seoul on Dec. 3.

The "OOI 2022," held at "All That Mind," a complex cultural space in Mullae-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, received great attention from developers who are curious about experimental games as well as indie game creators around the world.

This "OOI 2022" introduced a total of 10 works that are very original and can give new shock and inspiration to people, including Neverthless Studio's "Reloader: test_subject" and Shiniara's "Time Ocean."

Experimental or adventurous games such as keyboard, mouse, controller-independent games, even off-monitor games, and non-space-bound games have drawn particular attention in this "OOI." 

For example, "Reloader: test_subject" is an experimental game that advocates Bullitt counting reload action, featuring realistic gun manipulation and cinematic action. Players manipulate characters who have excellent shooting skills, but are ignorant of guns. Most existing shooting games require you to press the "R" button, but in "Reloader: test_subject," you must directly manipulate all the processes of inserting a bullet and pulling the slide to fill the medicine room with bullets.

▲ screen shot image of "Reloader" /  courtesy of the organizers
"OOI" is a real festival for many indie game developers around the world who challenge experimental games, and it started in 2014 with the aim of exchanging ideas between them.

It was held every year, but it has not been held properly since 2019 due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was held normally again this year, drawing more attention.

"OOI" is not strictly for indie games, as the basic motto of the event is "Festival for Experimental Games." However, experimental attempts rather than commerciality are usually made in the area of indie game developers, so it is actually an indie game event.

Indie games and experimental games are good alternatives for commercial game developers who have run out of ideas and materials and are limited to new projects. In this regard, "OOI" should be reborn as a festival of true developers who communicate and share ideas, not just for indie game developers.

Game critics argue that "the opposite of experimental games is not "commercial games," but "the entrenchment of genres. " This means that it is necessary to pay more attention to experimental games in order to break away from the stereotype of commercial game companies.

What other works will appear in next year's "OOI 2023" that go beyond the limits of imagination? Many developers are already very curious about what works will be introduced in next year's "OOI 2023".