Recently, we were invited by the folks at The Magic Rain to join in the festivities for their third edition of their Indie Jam event, a community-driven celebration of the growing indie game development scene in Malaysia and the ASEAN region.
35 demo games by developers from across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand, and even from universities like the University of Wollongong Malaysia, DigiPen Malaysia, Asia Pacific University, and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, come together within the returning halls of Xsolla Curine Academy last weekend.
And we were there on site to try some of them, most of which are also playable on Steam as well, from now until May 11.
So, here are some of the games that we feel have “the sauce”, as the kids would say.
Nullspace by Kaigan Games
Kaigan Games, the local folks who have build a pretty solid foundation of games on mobile with their incredible Simulacra series, are branching out to PC with two upcoming tiles but one that we have our eyes on, is their upcoming RTS game, NULLSPACE, which feels like a proper homage to Homeworld and it plays so much better and more intuitively than the former already.
Building Relationships by Tan Ant Games
The weirdest and most curious game for us there is Building Relationships. And you play as a house, meeting other various other buildings of different sizes in hope to find your true love, be it as a Roof Top or Bottom Floor, we don’t judge in this article. It’s a fascinating game with quite intuitive platforming, where you can triple dash jump from the top of a mountain to the bays below. It’s outright silly and there’s even fishing too, so it’s already a good game in our books.
Sedap! A Culinary Adventure by kopiforge
There’s something charming about playing a co-op game that incorporates the chaos that is split-screen gaming. Where even the task of frying a rice can be chaotic as you and a partner (or even playing solo with two controllers at a time like this dude) go out to fight beasts to get the ingredients, then quickly bring them back to cook them as the time ticks by.
Falling Rain by Alkaline Game
A third-person shooter with an interesting verticality movement is quite a feat from a one-man studio and the shift in perspective makes the demo level feel like it has the makings of something that not only looks cool but plays as well.
Some of these games, plus more, have demos that you can play right now on Steam via the South East Asia Aesthetic Curator’s page. Thanks again to the folks at The Magic Rain for inviting us out there and check out their stuff here!