Thread by @ifnotnowgwen

There’s no glamour in making games, and it’s a lot of hard work. Here’s my personal list of Philippine-raised/descent game developers you should support when you can. 🎮

A thread.

Home again by @nell_do_well is a tabletop game about the struggles of the Tao (which translates to people in English) community to be understood by a society. The design choice of making stats communal is so powerful & refreshing.

Buy here: nell-raban.itch.io/home-again

Tulak (translates to Pusher) just gets too real and too hard. I’ve had the privilege to see the team’s journey in making this game, and Steven’s exposure to society definitely helped shaped the narrative.

Pay what you want: stevencible.itch.io/tulak

.@_Ishify, undoutedbly has been one of the best female game designers since she was a student. So playing Bliss Cafe, which she led for Spooktober, was a treat playing on tropes expected from a maid cafe, friendship bordering on playful dating.

ishified.itch.io/bliss-cafe

Arwyn Silva (@OnionBlaze) is one of my personal favorites who is capable of extensive art styles + genres. Double Delights tells the story of a lot of immigrants who use food to communciate and survive in foreign lands.

Play with controllers here: onionblaze.itch.io/double-delights

Just to illustrate, here’s @OnionBlaze’s other game Himig. Exploring the innocence of Philippine customs surrounding dating, and is such a pleasant slow (that hopefully gets featured by @_wholesomegames), calm game with playful camera placements.

onionblaze.itch.io/himig

And News Flash, their #ggj18 game, about media company wars for more views.

veggiestew.itch.io/news-flash

And the game that captured my heart when Arwyn was still using VeggieStew as their collective’s efforts. A papercut out farming game with cat puns, his skill to create adorable and loving spaces is such a treat!

veggiestew.itch.io/farmer-fran

Marie Condo Simulator, a #ggj19 by some lovely folks from @altitude_games, is short + sweet but their journey of creating a polished game in under 48 hours without too much stress is something we should all aspire to achieve. Also, spark joy!

erwinumali.itch.io/mary-condos-cl…

.@yangyangmobile is definitely at the forefront of flawless execution and intricate narrative design, starting with The Letter. Seeing Dani + John take care of their people, and make some of the best games is inspiring.

store.steampowered.com/app/460430/The…

.@yangyangmobile’s skill at marrying the Japanese influence we grew up to is so delicate. Context maybe necessary but the experience is still accessible. Love Esquire threads on that! Their games are on sale now on Steam!

store.steampowered.com/app/849740/Lov…

Academia School Simulator is one of the most technically advanced games produced ph game! With art from @RyanSumo, programming expertise of @MarnelEstrada, the legend @tristanangeles, and their amazing team!

Purchase in all store platforms, gift it: academiagame.com

Biased since I help set up their itch.io page but Garrison Archangel makes my meka fighter dreams come true. One of the last ph games greenlit on Steam. While Indigo Entertainment is closing (?), play this high intensy game on itch!

indigogaming.itch.io/garrison-archa…

Piece of Home explores how fucked up family relationships can be, but all the tiny puzzles brought me back to the 90s. @moodybread and her team set a new standard in terms of taste and execution. I’m forever a fan.

moodybread.itch.io/piece-of-home

Fighting games are one of the hardest games to build. But godamn @ranidagames makes my heart melt for doing a transmedium take on it! The balancing must be so intense, and I recently found out their designer was my upperclassman in HS!

bayaniph.com

Pictoword, by one of the longest running independent game studio in the Philippines @kooapps, helps non-English speakers learn the language thru photos!

apps.apple.com/ph/app/pictowo…

Mamayani is an RPG exploring unsung Filipina heroines, which is the perfect example of games promoting education and awareness! Witty dialogue, and inspiring women, what more can you ask for!

mamayaniheroin.es/iteration4/pla…

If you’ve visited one of those makeshift entertainment parks, or what we call Perya!, this VR game shows the struggles they face on how to revitalize this culture. I so badly wanted this game to win locally.

dreeryan.itch.io/perya

Mayari continues to be one of the most beautiful games ever made rooted in southeast asian folklore + textures. Ingenuity has shifted from a games studio to a software company because life, but please buy it!

games.ingenuity.ph/mayari/

Heavily inspired by @RawFury’s Kingdom with an island/tribal perspective, this Visayan pre-colonial game is one of my ABSOLUTE favorites. You have no idea how badly I want @lorddlazaro to come back to making games.

lorddy.itch.io/conquered

Erick Garayblas of @kuyimobile is a legend as one of the first successful mobile ph #gamedev. And Streetfood Tycoon with its unique art style and showcase of street food sprinkled with money management is pure bliss to play!

apps.apple.com/ph/app/street-…

Single used plastic bottles are still painful for our environment, but flip them with this guilty pleasure superstar from @mostplayedgame.

Undoubtedly, still one of the best success stories from Southeast Asia.
apps.apple.com/ph/app/flippy-…

With @mostplayedgame Derrick’s ruthless game design, tease your conyo friends and attempt to get a higher score with Make Tusok the Fishball.

apps.apple.com/ph/app/make-tu…

If you know people who still support police brutality and extra judicial killings, make them play Duloga by @Snackbyte and how badly redtagging is! Really throws me back to that Psychopass scene that people protect the law.

snack.itch.io/duloga

I don’t like Vinny and his troll persona or my experience with him but I won’t discredit their team’s avant-garde experimental puzzle game, Tesselate + Tesseract and what I want for the local industry.

teamthetagames.itch.io/tesselate

Some of the folks behind @altitude_games are the reason we have a game industry to begin with. Run Run Super V hit so much milestones in terms of excellence in coding, and showing how rooted our Japanese influence is (sentais!!!!)

altitude-games.com/games/run-run-…

I’m literally a walking encyclopedia of games made in the Philippines for the past two decades. I’m not even halfway there.

Some of the folks who started @altitude_games worked on the first IGF winning ph game two decades ago, Anito. Anino is now a social casino studio and @NeilMarkCorre could probs walk you through how to play this these days!

.@artsybarrels (Happy birthday!) creates such wonderful love letters to growing up, struggling with confessions, and going home. Can be mentally triggering and/or healing for others. It’s a suite of complex emotions translated beautifully in game grammar

artsybarrels.itch.io

Blink Dagger Z won Best Foreign Game for Game Jam+. @Pixelisha, @kojiro_ai + their team are some of the best and most talented game developers, for years now. Publish them so they can continue working on this kickass game.

Demo: jams.gamejolt.io/gamejamplus201…

.@AppSirGames has been in my radar for a while and I’m a big fan of their platformer (which says a lot if you knew my taste) DERE EVIL EXE. Also available on mobile platforms and was a finalist for @imgawards

appsir.itch.io/dere-evil-exe

Online multiplayers are a pain to execute. @ProjectXandata is no exception with a powerhouse team (Secret6) led by @xergintonic’s vision.

It’s still in the works (making games is hard believe me), but follow their progress projectxandata.com

I was too hard initially on Fil-Am bred The Girl Who Sees due to lack of support locally (that @ichickooo + I are working on!) but it’s a wonderful tribute to heritage and a journey for its creators to find their roots. On sale now!

thegirlwhosees.itch.io/tgws

Roxas Night Market is a lovely street market management game about the same street in Mindanao, with sprinkles of collecting satired local personalities

jlawcordova.itch.io/roxas-night-ma…

Ultrawings by @BitPlanetGames IS the first game made by a PH team released on the Switch (28/03/2019).

Shots Fired still isn’t out. But it is a treasure throve of pop culture references and a callback to one of my favorite genres, hidden objects and in this case, people. Made by my fave people! Also, I’m an easter egg.

Wishlist the game: store.steampowered.com/app/650120/Sho…

Mathoria is an RPG educational game originally a student project that continued development under @SenshiLabs! Senshi releases free educational and occasionally paid RPG heavy games.

Download here: store.steampowered.com/app/434480/Mat…

.@LawmageA is essentially RPG Hogwarts for lawyers! First time gamedev Gian has a good following and the game is free while still in development. His journey of making sprites, using RPGMaker, and doing social media has been amazing!

Donate when you can: verinius.itch.io/lawmage-academ…

Mira Arguelles was a 19 year old high school student when she made this! Such a heartbreaking and complex exploration of self worth + relationships. A shorter version, and a deeply honest take that reminds me of @mikeBithell’s Thomas was Alone.

buko.itch.io/unconditional

The ending is still too melodramatic for me, but if you have a pet peeve of people throwing trash everywhere, make them play re.cycle! Your lolo gifts you a backpack vaccuum and you set out to clean (a bit sized well-planned urban) Manila.

hatdogames.itch.io/recycle

If you’re a fan of @SuperHexagon, then you will like Baguio-based @DarkZedo + Alex’s Good Knight the Game. The game is free but please donate at least three dollars or what you can to help the devs! I met the musicians too, they’re awesome.

good-knight.itch.io/good-knight

A Dwarf Fortress inspired game and I’m sold! High learning curve but @maccimagames’ @ruinarch_game IS a game I’m highly anticipating. Might be interesting to see what @tanyaxshort or Tarn Adams thinks about the game.

store.steampowered.com/app/909320/Wor…

Jump Squad 1/2 by @PixlWalkr is one of the cutest and most family friendly games to ever be produced! Cute cats and dogs to unlock, awesome learning curve, and published under the same brand as Animal Restaurant = hours of happiness!

play.google.com/store/apps/det…

One of the fastest games made that’s highly polished! Easy to learn, and hard to master. Blambox by Heavenward Games is intense.

While the dev now works for a publisher, get this wonderful treat. It would be interesting to see this in a modern arcade.

store.steampowered.com/app/899270/Bla…

Haven’t played this game by @NikkoGuy but seems like a lot of people want rhythm games. Reminds me a bit of YIIK, but I’m hoping it plays a bit like Cytus II with the beat bar (?) potentially going cray cray all over the screen cause anime.

https://twitter.com/nikkoguy/status/1206975001989017600?s=21

https://twitter.com/nikkoguy/status/1206975001989017600

Diaspora is a game made in under 20 hours by @h0lycattle, @patsyjson, Mica + Josh. They flew to gamescom after. It’s an immigration game that’s highly relevant considering the border issues around the world.

thejosh223.itch.io/diaspora

A Single Moment by @AllTobieNoShade got recognized at GenCon’s Indie Awards a few years back. He’s made some awesome contributions to well loved TRPGs such as 7th Sea.

Check out his drivethrurpgs for other titles: drivethrurpg.com/m/product/1743…

Tadhana reminds me of my favorite game, Thunderstone, with the exception that it’s an RPG. @neilhimself did say we have an extensive folklore, and if you’d want to explore that this game is for you! You can purchase at Neutral Grounds, i think.

drivethrurpg.com/m/product/2502…

Hugot is basically Cards Against Humanity but Hugot! My first experience was with one of my exes (we still frens, yo!) which was hilarious. One of the best games to play with people who are just getting into games (we call them gateway games)

Buy at local board game stores.

9Lives is an adorable gateway game where you fight to be the last cat standing. Reminds me a bit of King of Tokyo, and the game was successfully Kickstarted!

Also buy at local board game stores or head over to: 9lives.promeworks.com for more details

The local board + tabletop game scene is actually thriving! Balangay Games was one of the first to jumpstart this! Their game Darna is pretty much Love Letter and the marriage of accessibility plus well crafted design respecting the IP.

At ₱150, it’s soooo cheap! Buy it!

Capping this off at 50 games.

So here’s our game with no name under @chikonclub where we (@ichickooo, @JeaunT, & @dalejuls) should post updates.

I’ll do a separate thread on tabletop, because they also deserve so much love.

https://twitter.com/ifnotnowgwen/status/1180158395040452608?s=21

https://twitter.com/ifnotnowgwen/status/1180158395040452608

so the collective who made this is called @Soupware and they’re long time game devs. Not sure if all of them work with altitude. Memory is a funny thing!