Selected Indie 80Free Exhibit Plan for Indie Game Developers

TOKYO GAME SHOW(TGS) 2023, with the support of our sponsors, will set up "Selected Indie 80" (former name: Selected Exhibit) slot where indie game developers can exhibit their games in real for free at the Indie Game Area.

Refer to the application qualifications and application conditions below, and if applicants are an individual or group that meets the conditions, please apply for your title in the "Selected Indie 80".

TGS Management Office will be screening for qualified exhibitors. The selected exhibitors will be automatically entered as candidates for the presentation event "SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT 2023" (SOWN2023), where game ideas will be competed. Eight titles with excellent ideas will be selected by the judge, and the developers will become SOWN finalists. Finalists will present their titles at SOWN2023 on the second day of TGS2023.
The presentation will be streamed live on the official TGS program during the day of the event and archived.

Indie Game Developers→screening→Selected Indie 80 (Real Exhibit-Free)→screening→SOWN Finelists

The personal information submitted for the "Selected Indie 80" includes name, email address, company name, address, telephone number, department/affiliation, and title, is acquired by Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA), Nikkei BP and Dentsu, and is managed under the responsibility of each company in accordance with the personal information protection policy (privacy policy) of each company, and various information may be sent directly to you by e-mail.

The information related to the title entered at the time of entry will be posted on the website, etc., and will be shared with outsourced companies that have signed confidentiality agreements, judges, and sponsor companies that support "Selected Indie 80". In addition, TGS Management Office sends e-mails, etc., on behalf of various sponsor companies (information on meetings, products/services, exhibitions/seminars/events, etc.) and requests for surveys, etc.

Please only apply if you agree to provide your registration information.

Application deadline : April 30 (Sun) JST 24:00, 2023
Qualified/Unqualified result about "Selected Indie 80" : By email after mid-May

If you do not meet the conditions of this project, or if you are not selected for the "Selected Indie 80", please consider exhibiting at the "Indie Game Area" as usual (paid exhibit).

Platinum Sponsors

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE)
Nintendo Co., Ltd
KODANSHA
HAPPINET CORPORATION

Gold Sponsor

iGi

Device Sponsor

ELSA Japan Inc.
BenQ Japan Co., Ltd.

Application Conditions and Outline for "Selected Indie 80"

Venue

Makuhari Messe

(2-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-city, 261-8550 Japan)

Period

September 21 (Thu.) ~ 24 (Sun.), 2023

Screening

Selection will be conducted by TGS Management Office

Exhibition fee

Free

About Screening
  • To whom wish to apply for Selected Indie 80, please check whether you meet "Group or Organization that can be exhibited" and your work submitted for entry meet "What can be exhibited" first, then click on the link below, named "ENTRY FORM" to fill out the web form and submit it. If you apply for more than one title for "Selected Indie 80", please apply for each one.
  • After the application deadline, we are supposed to review all applications to select the titles presented for the exhibition. We will then directly inform individual or company applicants who passed the screening.
  • The exhibitor passed the screening for the Selected Indie 80 are automatically applied for SOWN2023, an "Idea Contests" to choose the best game from the title exhibited at the Selected Exhibit. They will have a chance to make a presentation through Live Streaming on the evening of September 22 (Friday) . Please see the details of SOWN here.
Qualification

Open to all individuals regardless of nationality, age, or occupation (students, game producers, etc.) and to all corporate bodies.

Group or Organization that can be exhibited
  • For annual sales of organizations that attempt to exhibit:
    Corporate : Annual Sales with USD500,000/JPY50 Million or less
    Individual : Annual Sales with USD100,000/JPY10 Million or less
  • For companies or organizations that try to exhibit at Indie Game "Selected Indie 80", the exhibitors must be financially independent. (For example, the capital of major game company is not in.)
What can be exhibited
  • A completely original game (Derivative content cannot be exhibited regardless of whether or not it is licensed.)
  • Created for a platform for which an applicant has the right to develop.
  • Works that comply with the CESA Code of Ethics and the CERO Code of Ethics (http://www.cero.gr.jp/en/publics/index/18/) and do not fall under any of the following items:
    • An expression that conflicts with or that may conflict with Attached Appendix 3 "Banned Expressions" of the CERO Code of Ethics (http://www.cero.gr.jp/en/publics/index/18/) is included.
    • Works for which an "Z" rating category was assigned by CERO or an expression equivalent to the"Z" rating category may be included.
    • Works that have already been released overseas and for which a "17+" (MATURE) rating category was assigned by an overseas examination body (e.g. ESRB).
    • Works planned to be released overseas for which a "17+" (MATURE) rating category is expected to be assigned by an overseas examination body (e.g., ESRB) (excessively bloody works that cannot be regarded as being equivalent to a "13+" (TEEN) rating category.

"Selected Indie 80" Benefits

TGS2023 will provide the following services to exhibitors (For Selected Indie 80) with free of charge.

  • A dedicated booth will be set up in the Indie Game Area at the Makuhari Messe venue. (See the booth image)
  • 5 exhibitor passes
  • Internet WiFi Access at the booth (no guaranteed bandwidth)
    * No platform and monitor is included at the booth. Please prepare it by exhibitor's own self.
  • Posting exhibitor names on the TGS official website "Exhibitor List/Selected Indie 80" page
  • Exhibitor introduction pages (Japanese and English) are provided
  • Exhibited titles will be posted on the TGS special site installed on Steam (if titles for Steam are available )
  • Use of TGS Business Matching System
Booth image (1m × 2m)

Application guidelines

Deadline April 30 (Sun.), 2023 (Japan Standard Time)
Application Submit Indie Game "Selected Indie 80"
Schedule
  • <1>Qualified/Unqualified result about "Selected Indie 80" : By email after mid-May. TGS Management Office do not accept inquiries by phone.
  • <2>SOWN finalist acceptance notification: late July 2023
Contact

TOKYO GAME SHOW Indie Game Secretariat

tgs.indie80@pcoworks.jp

  • Please contact by email.
Application Closed

What is "SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT(SOWN)"?

"Sense of Wonder Night (SOWN)" is an event that aims to discover game ideas that will trigger a "Sense of Wonder" (a feeling of something changing in one's world the moment one sees or hears the concept). This year will be the 16th time for the event.

The presentations will be held on September 22 (Friday), the second day of the exhibition, at the studio in Makuhari Messe, and will be broadcast live as an official TGS program. On the day of the event, the winners of the "Audience Award Grand Prix," "Audience Award Semi-Grand Prix," "Best Technological Game Award" "Best Arts Award" "Best Experimental Game Award" "Best Game Design Award" "Best Game Design Award" "Best Game Design Award" "Best Game Design Award Best Game Design Award" "Best Presentation Award

  • Last year's "Sense of Wonder Night 2022" can be viewed on TGS Official YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41LjVj0Sl5Q&list=PLfuGgcBbCkUefcOdzIdFUgkd9V20OonL-&index=3

Objectives of Indie Game
"Selected Indie 80" and "SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT"

  • To introduce game with a game design and ideas that are experimental and creative, and that cannot be called conventional or traditional
  • To raise awareness of the great value of "Sense of Wonder" in games, which may transform the common sense of game, and lead to invigorate the game industry
  • To provide future opportunities for those who are developing experimental and creative games.
  • To create new domains in the game industry

SOWN targets games that meet the following five criteria.

❶ A game that realizes a totally new, never-seen-before gaming experience

A game that employs technologies that have not previously been used successfully, such as natural language processing, physics engines, image recognition or gesture control, to present a new kind of experience.

❷ A game that challenges the common sense of games

A game that pursues new ways of gaming expressions and changes the player's vision of the world after playing and experiencing it.

❸ A game with emergent features

A game that brings user's activities into the game world by embedding features such as AI interactions and social elements.

❹ A game that makes people want to play it immediately

A game that makes everyone thinks that they want to enjoy the new experience for themselves and feel that they want to treasure it.

❺ An amazing game

Any kind of new, eye-grabbing and impressive game!!

Acknowledgement

The "SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT" event has received a lot of inspiration from the "Experimental Gameplay Workshop" that was started at the Game Developers Conference in 2001. We would like to express our thanks to the many people who helped to make these workshops a success and to all our friends.

SOWN2023 Implementation Outline

Date September 22 (Fri.), 2023 (Japan Standard Time)
Time TBA
Venue TGS Streaming Studio at Makuhari Messe
Prize Money
  • Grand prix (Audience Award Grand Prix): USD 3,000
  • Other awards : USD 500
  • Audience Award Semi-Grand Prix
  • Best Technological Game Award
  • Best Arts Award
  • Best Experimental Game Award
  • Best Game Design Award
  • Best Presentation Award
Notes: The Presentation Day
  • The presenter is assumed to be displayed at Indie game "Selected Indie 80".
  • Each presenter will be given 10 minutes for their presentation. Demonstrate or present your game within the time limit.(There will be consecutive English-Japanese interpreting for all presentations.)
  • Presentations will be streamed live and archived.
Application Closed
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