The winners of the third Southeast Asian Game Awards have been announced at last week’s Level Up KL 2019! This is the region’s premier game conference that brings all the best game developers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and The Philippines to showcase their work. Each year the competition brings in more entries and each year the games get better and more diverse in gameplay and content. It’s always an exciting time to really celebrate this region’s game developers.
This year the devs from Malaysia and Indonesia really stepped up to take home all the prizes. But a shoutout needs to be said for all the other games that were nominated. Each of you deserves a big congratulations and we hope to see your games doing well! We did a highlight here of our Malaysian nominees if you want to read before the main event!
Best Visual Art
When The Past Was Around by Mojiken Studio, Toge Productions (Indonesia)
From the studio that brought you other wonderful looking games such as She The Light Bearer (last year’s SEA Game winner for Best Visual Art), comes a hand-drawn tale of love and heartbreak. In When The Past Was Around, your thoughts and memories are illustrated in the form of rooms in a house. It’s a simple point and click adventure game where you’ll need to look for clues and solve puzzles. Eventually unveiling what has happened between the girl and her owl love.
You can play the prologue of this chapter for free on Steam and itch.io. The full version is expected to be released Spring 2020.
Best Audio
Valz by Klappanome (Indonesia)
A rhythm game that combines storytelling and visual art. Valz is set in a world where monsters are terrorizing people with silence. You and your band are here to beat back the monsters with the power of music! The game has a unique rhythm-based combat system, as well as a hand-painted comic art book style. Music, monsters and adventure this game has everything that most rhythm games are missing. Valz is available for purchase now on the App Store for USD 3.99. It’s currently in Google Beta with no word on its release date.
Best Storytelling
DeLight by DreamTree Studios (Malaysia)
DeLight is a story-driven adventure game about a blind girl named Sammy who journeys to reunite with her parents in a time of war. Helping her is a stray dog named Deli, her only companion in this journey. Throughout this journey, the duo will explore a battered city in search for a way out. As you play the game you can only see the girl but nothing around her. Use her cane and your pup to illuminate objects around you to ‘see’ the world around you. The game has multiple endings so every choice you make will affect the final games outcome. DeLight doesn’t have a release date as of yet but is set to launch on PC and Mobile.
Best Student Game
Ano: Journeys Through Tattoos by CtrlD (Malaysia)
CtrlD is all about merging design & technology to develop specially curated personal experiences. Ano: Journeys Through Tattoos is an AR mobile game based on the artform and culture of Sarawak’s traditional hand-tapped tattoos. You’ll play through a fictional short story that’s based on a specific indigenous tribe in Sarawak and the meaning behind each tattoo. The game is meant to educate people on the culture, and collect virtual tattoos as rewards. These tattoos can be viewed on the user’s arm in AR, in hopes that it will enhance their gaming experience.
Ano: Journeys Through Tattoos is available for download on the Google Play Store.
Best Innovation & Rising Star Award
Retrograde Arena by Freemergency (Indonesia)
A beautifully bright neon environment that belies the hardcore multiplayer shooter game that lies within. Retrograde Arena is a physics-based twin stick brawler for up to six players. The twist? Your weapon doesn’t kill the other players but your environment will. What does this mean? Well, instead of just shooting your enemies you’re going to need to navigate as well as avoid running into the dangerous walls around you. Each wall colour means something different, the red will kill you, the yellow is bouncy and the blue is neutral. Navigation is key in Retrograde and as you can tell by the description this is going to be absolute chaos.
You can play the prologue of this chapter for free on Steam and itch.io. The full version is expected to be released Q3 of 2019 (that’s about now!).
Best Technology, Best Game Design, Audience Choice Award & Grand Jury Award
GigaBash by Passion Republic Games (Malaysia)
I want to say that everyone at the SEA Game Awards was a winner, but clearly GigaBash by Passion Republic Games was the clear winner. Taking four out of ten awards, this is truly one of the biggest contenders we’ve seen to date. GigaBash is an arena brawler featuring giant monsters (and heroes) battling it out in cities and exotic places around the world. 4 players control unique giants inspired by classic monsters and cause mayhem in various destructible arenas. The story happens after many years since heroes have eradicated all the giant monsters when suddenly a mysterious force awakens ancient monsters around the world. And they’re out to wreak havoc. Play as different monsters and discover the secret of their origins, wage battles against friends, or go on a rampage, smashing up everything in a war against the clock.
GigaBash is currently scheduled for launch in late 2020.
