The heart of indie gaming in Japan: the best titles from BitSummit Drift
8.5.2024
By Alicia Haddick, Contributor
Since the inaugural 2013 event attended by just 170 industry creatives as a joint effort between Q-Games and Epic Games, Kyoto has served as the home of Japan’s largest indie gaming showcase, BitSummit. It’s a time for domestic solo developers and teams to feature their work in a multi-day showcase of development talent with creators from around the world, and for publishers and creators to reach the public and each other to collaborate and celebrate their craft. Most of all, it’s a chance for the intimate and close-knit community of indie developers to welcome each other and general audiences in a celebration of the difficulties and joys that lie within the act of creation.
At the time of its inception, Japan lacked events (such as PAX) that could showcase this small but passionate collective of creators, some who lack commercial success but are no less capable of creating works that inspire and entertain. Indeed, only Q-Games—developer of titles like Pixeljunk Scrappers Deluxe—could really be cited outside of rare doujin hits like shmup series Touhou as an example of Japanese creators finding success on the indie scene. It was up to them to build the initial incarnation of BitSummit, one which has grown from a closed gathering in a gymnasium to a convention-sized event.
This year’s BitSummit was not only the largest showcase yet, but also a broad celebration of every corner of the industry and everything related to it. You had a large official selection of 80 titles alongside a slew of publishers and sponsors from around the world in attendance; experimental games using non-standard controllers from human whack-a-mole to what can essentially be described as a hula-hooping Cooking Mama; and schools showcasing promising student projects. For the first time, BitSummit even featured a board game section for independent creators to showcase inventive ideas. If you like games, there was something there for you.
You even had a game like Changeable Guardian ESTIQUE, which is a solo developer’s heartfelt attempt to create a brand-new side-scrolling shooter for the NES, pushing the hardware to its limits. Amid all this was a chance to catch recent hits and look forward to the many exciting games approaching over the horizon. Naturally, we were there to take a close eye on everything they had to offer, including games coming soon to the Epic Games Store, as well as several that are available now.
For those games already released to the public, it was a chance to reintroduce their titles. Viral hits like DEEEER Simulator from Japanese developer Gibier Games generated a healthy share of laughs, while on the other end of the spectrum Doki Doki Literature Club Plus surprised audiences not yet familiar with its many hidden secrets.
One of the sponsors for the event was the China Indie Game Alliance, an organization that runs various events throughout the calendar while supporting creators with investment, incubation, publishing, marketing, and more. The Alliance showcased some of the titles it has sponsored to help the scene in the country grow, including the indie darling Eastward, developed by the Shanghai-based studio Pixpil. This adventure game's detailed pixel art instantly charmed me when I first laid eyes on it, and it was nice to see the game receive some love from those in attendance and earn a few new fans in the process. More than that, Eastward stood proud as a beacon of how crucial such programs are in bringing games that may otherwise never see release to completion.
Of course, this event didn't focus only on the past. Numerous indie titles bound for the Epic Games Store over the next month were at the show. Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to get our mitts on some of these upcoming releases. Many of these came from developers who took the arduous trek across the waters to Japan to showcase their work to new audiences. JDM: Japanese Drift Master felt right at home in its cross-continental trip thanks to its Japan-inspired manga-infused setting.
The team behind the game has previously discussed the ways they referenced Google Maps satellite imagery and photography to create its fictionalized Japanese setting, and driving through its impressive world allowed us to get a real feel for the drift-racing action the team have in store. With a free prologue mere weeks away before a full release later this year, the game is at the starting line ready to race onto PCs very soon.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a Game Boy Advance-inspired adventure from developer Pocket Trap that genuinely looks and feels like an unreleased title from that era time-warped its way into 2024. This is a top-down open-world adventure through urban sprawl and underground labyrinths; you fight crime lords in order to revitalize your family name and regain influence.
The demo showcased at the event was a perfect introduction not just to the game’s setting, but the ways in which the developer has taken the simple idea of a yo-yo and transformed it into a Swiss Army knife of fun ideas for varied gameplay, puzzles, and combat. On a most basic level, it can be used to move around the world and attack any enemies that stand in your path. Yet this tool also serves as a key to open chests and steal their contents, a grapple to traverse gaps, and a weapon that can bounce across walls to surprise your opponents. All of this is wrapped in some of the most charming pixel art we witnessed on the show floor.
Pipistrello currently has no confirmed release date, but development on the game appears to be progressing well. Hopefully, the positive reception to the strong demo suggests it won’t be long until the game reaches the hands of players around the world.
For a game you’ll be able to play far sooner, Trialforge Studio’s Deathbound provided an intriguing Soulslike experience at the show. Indeed, it’s a game that offers something new to the scene by having players cycle through a party of heroes as opposed to a single character.
Such a design decision may appear minor on paper, but it was only once I had the opportunity to sit down with the game and mess about within its Afro-Brazilian martial art world that I really appreciated just how much of a difference it makes. While I would hesitate to argue that Soulslike titles struggle to offer variety in their gameplay loop, it’s often difficult to adjust your strategy on the fly without leaving battle entirely to adjust your equipment and armor. In some cases, you may need to spend significant time creating an entirely different loadout in order to try a new approach to beat that one particularly troublesome boss.
Deathbound integrates this freedom into the fabric of the game itself by allowing you to freely switch between a selection of four characters at will during battle. The result is a kinetic fusion of styles that retains the weighty and deliberate feeling of the genre while imbuing it with a sense of self-expression that genuinely excites you when you pull it off effectively. I won’t pretend to have fully grasped the intricacies of this system during my brief time on the show floor with the game, but it was certainly fun. Additionally, its rugged urban setting (inspired by the Latin American roots of the studio) make it one to watch, with a release just around the corner on August 9th.
Perhaps the most intriguing title on the horizon for the Epic Games Store had to be Detained: Too Good for School, an intriguing taste of open-world side-scrolling beat-'em-up action (a la Final Fight) featuring a duo of punky schoolgirls seeking revenge against those who wronged them.
Shortly after your brother’s murder in a spate of gang violence in Swinster City, you’re locked behind bars in a juvenile detention facility for disturbing the peace. While locked up, you meet another girl hell-bent on revenge; once you’re let out of jail, you both decide to reenter the fray to determine the fate of the city.
While the final game promises the opportunity to pick a side between justice and joining the criminal underworld, this demo on the show floor mostly served to introduce the game's basic combat. You have the breadth of Swinster City to explore and embrace, with the pitch that the full game will offer the chance to take on minigames that range from part-time jobs, school, or even attending a host club. There’ll be chances to date an array of characters of all genders who could even join you in battle.
That said, my time in the game focused on entering the combat-focused Raid Stages, locations filled with waves and rooms of enemies to pummel while fighting to shift the balance of power in the city. As you level up, you’ll gain new moves, with a surprisingly in-depth combo system promising more than a simple button-mashing experience.
The whole thing is wrapped in an inviting hand-drawn art style that draws you in while giving characters a dose of personality that makes your own personal mistakes or repeated deaths—this is far from an easy game—more forgiving. It encouraged me to give battles another chance and continue fighting for change.
Throughout the show floor, everywhere you looked, there were developers with experimental titles and unique ideas around every corner. Though local indie scenes vary in strength and character, the industry as a whole is passionate and actively growing. Most of all, those who make the trip and speak to people involved in the Japanese gaming industry find a community willing to welcome these creators and anyone with a passion for gaming with open arms.
More than any similar event, this was an equalizing experience. It didn’t matter if you were a head honcho at a major publisher or a solo creator making your first game: at BitSummit, especially in the regular gatherings of developers and industry fellows looking for good memories on the banks of the Kyoto river, your level of commercial success meant nothing. Everyone loved games, and that was the most important thing.
I came away from the event thinking about these games and countless others: the moments I spent accosted by the various mascots in costumes that were surely far too warm for the Kyoto heat; not to mention the guttural screams I heard from one experimental game that required players to run, kick and shout into a microphone in order to make a paper airplane fly as far as possible. Conversations and opportunities to catch up with friends across the industry, and a chance to celebrate a medium that we all enjoy.
Ultimately, that is what BitSummit is all about. This was a show with tons of exciting games from the recent past and the coming future to play for the first time, filled with experiences for just about anyone. More than any similar event, the heart and passion of the creators who made the journey shined brightly, firing a beacon for the future of indie gaming no matter where you come from.