Helping SouthEast Asian Indie Developers: The Story of TGFI
It’s sort of funny to hear your boss going, “hey, you’re going to manage this new program that we have for our company” when you’ve been in said company for only a year. For a while, I couldn’t believe how my boss decided that I should be the one to manage the logistics for this brand new but really cool initiative that we’re starting.
Over the past year and a half that I’ve joined Toge Productions as their new PR, I’ve learnt a lot about both the industry and all the things that Toge Productions want to achive in the future for the sake of the indie game scene. My boss had many years worth of experience in the indie game dev scene and he felt that lots of other indie game dev companies were struggling to make it into the scene. In his mind, he had a goal that he wanted to achieve and the TGFI program was his answer.
What is this TGFI?
The Toge Game Fund Initiative (TGFI) is a no-strings-attached funding program that we’ve developed at Toge Productions. The program aims to help game developers (specifically in the SouthEast Asia region) make something really cool. Making something really cool takes lots of time and resources though, especially money. The TGFI program offers up to USD $10,000 to help with this something cool that they want to make. On top of the funding, game developers also get mentoring from the Toge Productions team.
We’ve had lots of fun interviewing and meeting so many different indie developers from all over SouthEast Asia. Everybody had so many ideas that makes their individual projects so cool and unique to their own styles. It’s very unfortunate that we can’t help every single developer out there, but in the spirit and vision of the TGFI program, we’ve chosen 6 projects (for now) to receive the funding and mentoring from our team.
“Project Darma” by Anoman Studio, Indonesia
A fast-paced action game about a hitman’s vengeance quest to kill the gangster leaders in modern Indonesia.
“Ngopi Yuk!” by Uniqx Studio, Indonesia
Based on the Webtoon comic “Ngopi, Yuk!”. This game tells a story about a traditional coffee shop in Indonesia, specifically in Pontianak, West Borneo. What makes it unique is that there are hundreds of coffee shops that are always filled with many people and various generations.
“Project Descent” by Kotakoren Games, Malaysia
A real-time tactics strategy game set in a fantasy SEA-inspired world. Manage your warriors and achieve victories in battle!
“Project Angkara” by Trimatra Interactive, Indonesia
A Hexen-inspired retro FPS set in a dark fantasy Southeast Asian mythology where you try to stop the never ending cycle of life and death using the power of time.
“The Secret Life of Dorian Pink” by AmberLimShin, Malaysia
Secret Life of Dorian Pink is a narrative RPG where you try to save your boyfriend Basil from Hell by making questionable choices, gaining allies, and making doughnuts explode.
“Sunset Satellite” by Twilight Foundry Games, Malaysia
Sunset Satellite is an atmospheric emotional 3D interactive fiction that talks about growth and acceptance.
All of these projects are in various stages of development and we at Toge Productions have an immense amount of love and support for all the projects we are supporting, as well as all the others that did not manage to make the cut. We hope that with this funding program, we get to give many developers chances to showcase what they truly can do and bring their games to the international stage where they truly belong.
There are links in the captions to each project’s Twitter accounts to keep up to date with any project that you might find interesting to your own interets. We’re so hopeful that you can find a project that catches your eye and we hope that you tune in for further updates on each of these beloved projects and their respective studios.
