Sense of Wonder Night 2023 (SOWN2023)

Sense of Wonder Night 2023
Award winning titles has been selected.

The eight finalists gave presentations, and the award-winning works were determined as a result of the screening.
" Tiny Drive " (finalist name: Portalgraph) entered from Japan was selected for the Audience Award Grand Prix, the highest award. One of the judges said, "A game that retains nostalgia but can also be seen as media art, creating a new experience with the new technology of Portalgraph." Takahiro Miyazawa's "Give me toilet paper!" 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 2023

Audience Award Grand Prix
Tiny Drive [Portalgraph]

Audience Award Semi-Grand Prix 2023

Audience Award Semi-Grand Prix
Give me toilet paper!
[Takahiro Miyazawa]

Best Technological Game Award 2023

Best Technological Game Award
Tiny Drive [Portalgraph]

Best Arts Award 2023

Best Arts Award
ODDADA [ODDADA]

Best Experimental Game Award 2023

Best Experimental Game Award
Give me toilet paper!
[Takahiro Miyazawa]

Best Game Design Award 2023

Best Game Design Award
It's a Wrap! [Chanko Studios]

Best Presentation Award 2023

Best Presentation Award
Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog [Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog]

SOWN Finalists

From the 81 game titles participating in the Selected Indie 80, TGS2023 nominated and announced the eight finalists who will compete at SOWN2023, a pitch event for indie game developers.

The finalist presentations will take place at the TGS studio of Makuhari Messe on Sep. 22 (Fri.), Day 2 of TGS2023. 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.

"Sense of Wonder Night 2023 (SOWN2023)" delivery schedule

It's a Wrap!

  • Puzzle
  • Action
Chanko Studios
France

It's a Wrap! is a challenging 2D puzzle platformer set in 1980s Hollywood, where you play both the director and the star of action-packed, low-budget films.

All you wanted to do today was shoot a nice little popcorn movie, but everything is going wrong! As the director, you need to synchronize the actors and props that are messing up their timings. Then, as the movie’s star, you need to remember your script and play out the scene… without getting crushed by that giant boulder!

Features
・Director’s Phase.
Grab your megaphone and hop into the director’s chair to puzzle your way through the timing of props, actors, and special effects to make your scene work?and keep your star in one piece.
・Action Phase.
When you think you’ve got your scene set up correctly, roll the cameras and enjoy a variety of traditional 2D gameplay like platforming, car chases, and space battles where you control the movie star Johnny Rush in his most iconic roles.
・A hundred colorful ways to “die”.
Every time you fail, poor Johnny (who does not have a stunt double) will suffer a hilarious demise inspired by classic cartoons and adventure games. But don’t worry about long-lasting injuries, just rewind back to the beginning of the scene and try again!
・Heaping spoonfuls of nostalgia.
Each level is part of a movie with its own unique genre and look inspired by the biggest blockbusters of the 80s. See if you can spot all the references to your favorite fictional professors of archaeology, space wizards, and retired soldiers on the run from the law!

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

Ecosystem

  • Simulation
  • other
Ecosystem
Ireland

Ecosystem isn't just a video game version of the laws of ecology with pre-made fish models. The simulation actually determines the creatures in the game: their bodies, how they swim, and how they think and behave. All the creatures in the trailer evolved on their own in the game; none were hand-edited!Virtual creatures evolve on their own to adapt to an environment you createAt Ecosystem's heart are evolving virtual lifeforms, who grow from synthetic DNA and live in a physically-simulated ocean. This synthetic DNA encodes everything about a creature, from skeletal structure to skin, from joint-types to mental processes. The genetic code of a creature can mutate, combine, be spliced with other species, and be directly modified by the player.

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

ODDADA

  • Rhythm & Music
  • Construction
ODDADA
Germany

ODDADA is a little music game based in a fantasy toy world. Take your train through different landscapes, machines and buildings to collect melodies and rhythms and create your own musical journey. In this roguelite music builder you go through random levels to build different musical pieces such as bass lines, melodies and rhythms. In the final level you'll perform with the music blocks you have collected - then you can save your own song as a virtual cassette, sit back and listen to your cassette collection or move on to the next playthrough.

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

Tiny Drive

  • Table Game/Card Game
  • other
Portalgraph
Japan

With the latest "Portalgraph" technology, a hologram seen in sci-fi movies and cartoons appears on your desk, and you can play a driving game like a classic electromechanical arcade game, which was created before all gamers were born. Enjoy the gap between the unexperienced visual experience and the nostalgic main game.

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

Retro Gadgets

  • Simulation
  • other
Retro Gadgets
Italy

Retro Gadgets is a gadget creation station where you invent, build, solder, code and customize your own gadgets, and then share them with the world!

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

Give me toilet paper!

  • Action
  • other
Takahiro Miyazawa
Japan

Joy-ConTMをトイレットペーパーに入れて転がす新感覚ゲームです。お手元のトイレットペーパーを左右に転がせばゲーム内のトイレットペーパーも左右に転がります。トイレで紙がなくて困っている男性の元まで、トラップを避けながら進みます。

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK

Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog

  • Adventure
  • other
Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog
United Kingdom

Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog is a visual novel / graphic adventure inspired by classic PC-9800 games and 70s science fiction movies. Featuring an extensive cast of characters, rich explorable environments and a story full of meaningful choices that rewards investigation and interaction, The Gun-Dog is a game that works to create a nostalgic but totally new adventure designed for all audiences.Using traditional point-and-click adventure mechanics, the player will navigate carefully designed locations aboard the titular Gun-Dog, examining areas for information, talking to characters to manage relationships and solving puzzles and challenges to advance the game's branching plot.

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

Out of the World

  • Action
  • Puzzle
Toyota Ryuto
Japan

【In this world, “only what you see” is true.】
This game is a 2.5D platformer puzzle action game in which objects seen by the character materialize, and when you meditate and open your eyes again, the object you saw disappears.
Enjoy the thrill of advancing based on your memory, and the pleasure you get when that memory is correct.

◆Stages
There are a total of 50 stages, so you can experience the fun of this game to your heart's content.
◆Story
The main character has been deceived by the Internet society and wandered into a mysterious world.
Please enjoy the story of the main character as he asks himself questions in this mysterious world and "derives his own answers".
Is the world really only what you see...?

WEBsite
Store/Demo Ver.> LINK
  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox
  • Steam
  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Meta
  • HTC Vive
  • Browser
  • other

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

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

Five Criteria That Match SOWN

1A 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.
2A 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.
3A 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.
4A 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.
5An 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.

Game JournalistKiyoshi Shin

Professor, Graduate School of Digital Hollywood University. CEO of AI Frog Interactive, Inc. Author of "Metaverse Business Hegemony War" (NHK Publishing). He is also a regular contributor to ASCII's "Metaverse Presence".

Juan Gril

For the past 25 years, Juan Gril has worked in Games, Interactive Media, and Augmented Reality. Juan has served different roles: programmer, game designer, producer. He founded his own game studio (Joju Games), and ran it successfully for 12 years.
Over the course of Juan's career, he has been part of teams that launched various AR applications, websites, and he has produced and designed more than 50 games. Among others, he has designed games for the following companies: Dreamworks, Disney, Jam City, Nickelodeon, Universal, 505 Games, Atari, GSN, MTV, and Comedy Central.

Tohoku Gakuin UniversityNobushige KOBAYASHI

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.

shindenken [Doujin Circle] Circle representative, Game Planning, ProgrammingIsao KITAYAMA

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.

Videogame Ninja: TrusigaRamon Nafria

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.

NPO OcuFesTakeshi TAKAHASHI

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 OcuFes (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.

Director
AURYN
Kazunori KOMAGATA

In April 2021, KOMAGATA started his activities with 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.

Head of Indies Initiative
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Shuhei YOSHIDA

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.

KODANSHA GAME CREATOR’S LAB.Yuki KATAYAMA

Joined Kodansha Ltd. in 2018. Currently belong to the Creators’ Lab.
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 24 indie games supported by the GCL and managing the release schedule.

Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan UniversityJh Shin

Shin is a postdoctoral researcher at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2020 at the same institution. Shin specializes in serious games and serious gaming approached from a socio-cultural perspective, with a particular focus on Japan and South Korea. She has a broad interest in exploring how games can make our world as a better place. Shin also participates in projects at the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies (RCGS).

iGi indie Game incubator
Project Manager
Saori CHINEN

Saori CHINEN joined Marcelous Inc, in 2011.
After working as the planner of "Browser Sangokushi(ブラウザ三国志)" and as a manager of recruitment, education, and training in the Human Resources Department, she is currently in charge of the iGi indie Game incubator (iGi) project manager.
The project belongs to the Global Business Promotion Department, iGi Management Office.
iGi provides technical and business support to Japanese indie game developers and helps bring them to the world.

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