TOKYO GAME SHOW 2022

Sense of Wonder Night (SOWN) 2022

SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT 2022
Award winning titles has been selected.

The eight finalists gave presentations, and the award-winning works were determined as a result of the screening.
" SCHiM " (finalist name: Extra Nice) entered from Netherland was selected for the Audience Award Grand Prix, the highest award. One of the judges said, "I think everyone has the experience of jumping from shadow to shadow when they were children, but I felt the nostalgia and the novelty of the game idea. Art direction with a limited number of colors, It's also wonderful."
Rias ‘s " Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino " from Japan has been selected for the Audience Award Semi-Grand Prix. In addition, “Best Technological Game Award”, “Best Arts Award”, “Best Experimental Game Award”, “Best Game Design Award” and “Best Presentation Award” were awarded. The Audience Award GP winner received a cash prize of US$3,000, and each award winner received US$500.

  • Audience Award Grand Prix

    SCHiM [Extra Nice]

  • Audience Award Semi-Grand Prix

    Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino [Rias]

  • Best Technological Game Award

    Pastry Panic (with cat) [Yong Zhen Zhou]

  • Best Arts Award

    Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino [Rias]

  • Best Experimental Game Award

    MORSE [ALJO Games]

  • Best Game Design Award

    SCHiM [Extra Nice]

  • Best Presentation Award

    Pastry Panic (with cat) [Yong Zhen Zhou]

SOWN Finalists

From the 78 game titles participating in the Indie Game Selected Exhibit, TGS2022 nominated and announced the eight finalists who will compete at SOWN2022, a pitch event for indie game developers. Receiving the record-high entries of 583 titles, TGS2022 selected 78 developers participating in the Indie Game Selected Exhibit area. The screening committee further nominated eight game developers as finalists who will give their pitches at SOWN2022.

The finalist presentations will take place at the TGS studio of Makuhari Messe on Sep. 16 (Fri.), Day 2 of TGS2022. The event will also be live-streamed as a TGS official program. The winners of the seven awards, including the Audience Award Grand Prix, will be announced following the final judge.

Moreover, the TGS2022 Indie Game Official Ambassador and popular content creator Pocky will select the work that he feels the “SENSE OF WONDER” for the Pocky Award from the viewpoint of play-by-play game commentator among the 78 developers of the Indie Game Selected Exhibit.

"Sense of Wonder Night 2022 (SOWN2022)" delivery schedule

〇Date and time: Friday, September 16, 2022 from 16:00 to 17:50（JST）

〇URL：https://youtu.be/41LjVj0Sl5Q

  • MORSE

    • MORSE

    • ALJO Games

      United Kingdom

      Use timing, tactics and telegraphy to try break the bitter attrition of the Great War in MORSE. Step into the shoes of Ida Brockett, a working class telegraphist flung into a pivotal role operating a mysterious machine at a blacksite buried deep in the British countryside.Enter dots and dashes to sink ships, shell trenches and shred airplanes, all while learning a lost language. Your telegraph key is one button with over 30 different outputs which you can use to zero in on German targets. Once in range, use the launch button to call down an arsenal of artillery shells to try tip the odds in your favour! In between your shifts, wander the grounds and get to know the other staff that work on the base and discover the secrets of the manor.Can you change the world with the push of a button?Accompanying the game is a bespoke physical custom controller made for a more authentic experience of play. This consists of a handmade telegraph key, a spring-loaded launch button, switchboard and plug, genuine 1930's headphones (used by naval telegraphists in WW2) all enclosed in a vintage briefcase. Here's some footage of the controller and game at EGX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27M7zrm-ltoHere's some additional information about the controller from the ALT.CTRL.GDC video submission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-f_Hd7qmsQ

  • SCHiM

    • SCHiM

    • Extra Nice

      Netherlands

      SCHiM is a game about jumping from shadow to shadow in a challenging and lively environment. This 3D platformer takes elements of light & animation and adds them directly to the gameplay, delivering an experience that you will only find in SCHiM.

  • Rhodopsins

    • Rhodopsins

    • Sapporo shiritsu daigaku fujiki Matsunaga zemi group

      Japan

      This work is a cooperative 2D platform for three players using a colored glasses interface. By wearing colored glasses, players cannot see objects (enemies, tiles, etc.) painted in the same color as their glasses. In this game, three players each wear different colored glasses (red, green, and blue) and play the game while looking at the same monitor. This creates a situation in which the three players, who are supposed to be looking at the same monitor, perceive different information from each other. In this situation, the players communicate closely with each other to complement each other's information that they do not see. This sharing of information through colored glasses gives the three players a sense of working toward the goal as a community, as if they were one living organism. The sense of accomplishment when the goal is achieved will surely be tripled.

  • IDEA

    • IDEA

    • TLR Games

      Spain

      IDEA is a game about discovering and sharing. Explore gorgeous landscapes, roll down highways and stumble upon welcoming cottages and abandoned dumpsters. Help your ideas find their way ? and share them with the world when they stop, before beginning your journey anew.

  • Pastry Panic (with cat)

    • Pastry Panic (with cat)

    • Yong Zhen Zhou

      Singapore

      "An alternative control arcade game with a haptic and physical twist! Also comes with a lazy cat.
      Pastry Panic (with cat) is a single player arcade style game where players swap input sliders to control baking tools in a pastry factory. There are 5 inputs, with haptics designed to correspond with the actions of kneading, cutting, sprinkling, filling, and baking.
      Each input is used differently, mash quickly to knead dough or lock the oven into place to bake (but remember to take it out!).
      Incomplete pastries descend along two belts and players must follow the recipe with sequences of actions to finish the pastry. What is the sequence? The recipes are in a physical book that players must browse, so read up!
      The inputs are independent, free for players to move and misplace. The player must handle two pastries appearing at the same time, recipes to read, and inputs to press. Pastry Panic presents a frantic experience where players must consider both the screen and the physical space around them while making as much pastry as possible.

  • DORDOGNE

    • DORDOGNE

    • UMANIMATION

      France

      DORDOGNE is a narrative adventure game in which you play as Mimi, a young woman visiting the house of her recently deceased grandmother, where she spent the summer of 1982. After that summer, Mimi and her parents didn't have contact again with Nora.20 years later, Mimi comes back to the house to revive the old memories, connect her family story points and find again her roots.

  • Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino

    • Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino

    • Rias

      Japan

      "Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino" is an exploratory 3d action adventure game with a Japanese-inspired atmosphere being created by Rias, an illustrator and concept artist who came up with the idea for it based on one of his own illustrations.

      You will play as Fox, a girl who finds herself on Adashino Island and starts traveling with Frog.

      Torii gates, food stall lanterns, and neon signs give light and color to the island. Something is lurking in the shadows, inching ever closer...

  • How To Say Goodbye

    • How To Say Goodbye

    • ARTE France / Florian & Baptiste

      France

      How to say Goodbye tells the story of a character recently turned into a ghost, lost in an unknown world populated by spirits.In this narrative puzzle game, move the element of decor and the characters to guide the characters out of the liminal space between life and death in which they are trapped.Help them find their friends who are prisoners of a mysterious wizard and accompany them on their journey to the other side.The goal of each level in How to Say Goodbye is to guide your group of ghosts to the exit, symbolized by a door. To do so, move the scenery on a grid and make your way to the door. But dark forces seem to be holding you back against your will. Lost spirits called spleens will try to prevent you from escaping the liminal space by blocking the way to the door.Find your friends, avoid the spleens and find your way out of the liminal space!Inspired by illustration and children's literature (Tomi Ungerer, Tove Jansson, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Maurice Sendak...), How to say Goodbye deals with the theme of grief with kindness and sensitivity.Still shocked by their recent passing, the ghosts of How to say Goodbye try their best to leave the liminal space they are trapped in. Together, they will have to discover how to mourn in order to accept their own death, and “move on”.

What is "SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT"?

"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 15th time for the event. The presentations will be held on September 16 (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 2021" can be viewed on TGS Offcial YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvH1JkCGjhk&t=1s​

Objectives of Indie Game "Selected Exhibit" 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Member of SOWN Committee

Selection will be taking place by the following "SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT" screening committee members.

  • Kiyoshi Shin

    Game Journalist

    Professor at the Graduate School of Digital Hollywood University. Developer of VR sword-fighting game "Sword of Gargantua".
    His recent book "Metaverse Business Hegemony War" (NHK Publishing)

  • Gametapas

    Founder

    Juan Gril 氏

    Juan has designed and produced a successful mass market game for 20 years. Currently the founder of Gametapas. Previously, he was the founder of the successful casual game studio Joju Games. Working with both major media companies and game publishers for over 12 years developing over 50 games for PC, console and mobile platforms. Yahoo! He started his career in the late 90's when he was one of the former members of Games.

  • Nobushige KOBAYASHI

    Tohoku Gakuin University

    International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Japan Dojin & Indie Game Subcommittee (SIG-Independent). A company that solves the problems and solutions of the relationship between Japanese game voluntary production and the game industry.Doctorate from Tokyo Institute of Technology, according to a paper "Independent Production Culture as Key to Growth of the Game Industry" (full text is available online) that analyzes the issues and solutions of the relationship between Japanese independent game production and the game industry through social science. Academic) acquisition. In June 2020, published the book "Introduction to Digital Game Research" (Minerva Shobo). Specializes in media studies and cultural sociology.

  • Isao KITAYAMA

    shindenken [Doujin Circle] Circle representative, Game Planning, Programming

    KITAYAMA has launched shindenken in 2002.
    Since presenting "I'm Gonna be God of the Forest" at SOWN in 2010, he has been a member of the SOWN selection committee since 2012.
    There are more than 20 works including "QUALIA", "Watashi wa Jikan wo Tomeru" and "AGARTHA".
    >Currently, he is creating game that applies artificial life.

  • Ramon Nafria

    Videogame Ninja: Trusiga

    In 1992, Ramon realized at the age of 12 when he started playing videogames that it was the best medium to express himself. Since 1999, he has contributed to Spanish media such as Onez, Ociojoven, Anaitgames, Eurogamer, Videoshock and Vandal and produced games since 2003 in companies like Nerlaska, Gameloft, Digital Legends, Abylight, U Play, Blit Software and A Crowd of Monsters. He has been giving lectures about games at multiple universities, organizes Valencia Indie Summit, and the last game he has worked in is Alex Kidd in Miracle World Dx, the remake of the classical game from SEGA.

  • Takeshi TAKAHASHI

    NPO Ofufes

    TAKAHASHI has joined Koei Co., Ltd. in 1998. Engaged in "Shin Sangoku Musou 1-4". In 2008, transferred to Creatures Co., Ltd. and worked as a director of "Pokepark". In 2013, we acquired Oculus Rift DK1 with a kick starter and started the VR software development and VR software presentation OfuFes (now Japan VR Fest). In 2014, became independent as a VR specialist. In the same year, OcuFes became an NPO corporation. Since then, he has been actively working for the spread of VR in Japan and VR developers in the world.

  • Kazunori KOMAGATA

    Director

    AURYN

    KOMAGATA left TSUKUMO in April 2021 and moved to AURYN Corp. Currently, he is developing the Vtuber business and planning and selling his favorite games, merchandising in collaboration with Vtuber, and PC peripherals. His favorite game genre is action games, and he especially likes dodd pictures and 2D exploratory games.

  • Shuhei YOSHIDA

    Head of Indies Initiative

    Sony Interactive Entertainment

    Yoshida joined Sony Corporation in 1986, and joined the current SIE in February 1993.Since then, he has produced a number of software titles for the “PlayStation” platform, and in 2008 he was appointed President of SIE Worldwide Studios, the game production division of SIE.Yoshida has overseen development of franchises such as “God of War” and the “Uncharted” series.
    In Nov. 2019, Yoshida became the Head of Indies Initiative to promote indie games.
    He was also the key person during the development of the “PlayStation VR” virtual reality system, which was released in October 2016.

  • Yuki KATAYAMA

    KODANSHA CREATOR’S LAB

    Joined Kodansha Ltd. in 2018. Currently belongs to the Creators' Lab, of the 4th division.
    After working as an editor for "FRIDAY" and "Monthly Shonen Magazine", he became the Chief of the Game Creator's Lab (GCL).
    His current role involves checking the production status of 21 indie games supported by the GCL and managing the release schedule.

  • Matias Kala

    iGi indie Game incubator

    Project manager

    I worked on global governmental projects advancing my way into the gaming industry through holding large scale e-sports events and game fan fests globally.
    Now working at Marvelous Inc. as iGi indie Game incubator’s project manager supporting Japanese indie game developers with the ins and outs of game development on a technical and business level delivering games on a global scale.

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