Games start-ups start at Gamestart
Singapore's biggest gaming exhibition enters fourth year
Hardcore gamers are sometimes quick to scoff at their casual counterparts, who prefer the likes of Candy Crush or Pokemon Go to console or PC gaming.
But chief executive officer of Battle Brew Productions, Mr Shawn Toh, disagrees - and not just because the game studio is making a casual game of its own.
He told The New Paper in his company's office at Pixel Studios in Buona Vista: "Casual, mobile games are actually an excellent thing because they introduce the world of gaming to people who otherwise would not understand what it is. People get to see the good that it can offer.
"The effects of these casual games can only be a good thing for the gaming industry as it helps people understand and build connections with one another."
This is what motivated his team to produce Battlesky Brigade, a strategy game being developed for mobile devices that Mr Toh and his modest team of 12 have been working on since February this year.
It is one of the many local indie games that will be featured at Gamestart 2017, the fourth edition of Singapore's largest gaming exhibition.
Battlesky Brigade, he said, is a "cute-bunnies-meets-Mad-Max" game and has a heavy emphasis on world building and community interaction. Players work together to trade resources and defend their rabbit-populated bases from invaders.
Its relatively quick development - it comes out in 2018 but players can play a demo at Gamestart - was boosted by the official resources available to the team.
Mr Toh singled out Pixel Studios, an IMDA-Nanyang Polytechnic partnership that houses many up-and-coming developers and has production equipment, a green screen studio and other facilities.
One of the other indie studios that the Pixel Studio houses is The Gentlebros, developers of the game Cat Quest, which will also be featured in Gamestart 2017.
Gattai Games is another studio housed by Pixel Studios.
Managing director Justin Ng told TNP that the presence of an annual gaming exhibition like Gamestart is testament to how much the scene has grown here and how much more it can develop.
Gamestart 2017 will be held tomorrow and Sunday at the Suntec Convention Centre.
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