This is Otorakobo Inc., an indie game developer with a theme of “color.” On November 3, 2024, we exhibited our third work, “Irisy Aqua,” at the Digital Games Expo 2024, held at Akihabara UDX 2F Akiba Square and 4F UDX Gallery.

Although we only exhibited a video, thanks to the participants’ support, we were able to distribute all the prepared flyers. We appreciate your interest in our work!

IrisyAqua will be released for Nintendo Switch in the spring of 2025. Amid changes in the indie game market and the diversification of user needs, this report will discuss two things: the challenge of creating a new gameplay style that combines MOBA and Battle Royale and the reaction to it.

Digital Games Expo 2024 event information

The Digital Games Expo 2024 is a gaming festival where the participants can only exhibit indie and Doujin games. This year marks its 12th anniversary. It is attracting attention as an exhibition and distribution event where various digital games, from PCs to smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles, are gathered together regardless of platform.

[Event overview]

• Date : Sunday November 3, 2024, 11:00-16:00
• Concept : Doujin/indie digital game exhibition and sale
• Venue : Akihabara UDX 2nd floor, Akiba Square & Akihabara UDX 4th floor, UDX Gallery
• Scale : 250 exhibition spaces

Event details and Otorakobo’s booth

The Digital Games Expo 2024 brings together original games and their creators—exhibitors developing indie and doujin games for any platform gathered to show off their unique creations.

There are two types of exhibition space: Space 1 (desktop 90cm x 45cm) or Space 2 (desktop 180cm x 45cm), which allows for more extensive exhibits. In addition to panel displays and gameplay videos, playable environments allow visitors to play unreleased games.

At the Digital Game Expo, two venues were located on the second and fourth floors of the same building. Otorakobo exhibited in C-03ab, space 2 of the Akihabara Square venue on the second floor.

The exhibition featured posters, video footage of the game in development, flyers, banners, and other items that said Otorakobo.

On the day, all the Otorakobo members were at the booth: Okuda (front right), the engineer and initiator of the project; Yada (back), the game planner and sound specialist; and Inami (front left), who is in charge of quality assurance from the user’s perspective.

The biggest attraction of the Digital Games Expo is to allow developers and users to interact directly.

Users can hear detailed explanations and behind-the-scenes stories about the works directly from the developers, getting a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes aspects that cannot be seen through normal gameplay.

On the other hand, it is a rare opportunity for us developers to see firsthand players’ “real reactions,” such as what they thought of the game and which parts interested them.

Digital Games Expo exhibiting report

As Otorakobo continues to develop our new game “IrisyAqua,” which combines MOBA and Battle Royale, exhibiting at the Digital Games Expo marked a significant milestone for the company.

In this report, we will share our thoughts about the Digital Games Expo, our impressions of participating, and future developments.

The reasons and thoughts behind our decision to exhibit at the Digital Games Expo

It is an important time for Otorakobo because our third game, “Irisy Aqua,” will be released in spring 2025. In October 2024, Otorakobo took a new step forward as an indie game development company by establishing a new account of X and renewing our website.

Among all these, we decided to exhibit at the Digital Games Expo, an event with a powerful “Doujin game flavor” among several game events. This is because developer Okuda, who has always loved Doujin games, has a deep attachment to this event.

This exhibition was to inform people about “Irisy Aqua” and Otorakobo and mark a milestone in our future indie game development as a company. It had a special meaning, just like a “graduation ceremony” for us. It may be good to say that we exhibited as an opportunity to mark a milestone in our game development careers thus far and to show our respect and gratitude to Doujin Games.

###The Digital Games Expo keeps evolving

Visitors’ demographics to the Digital Games Expo have changed significantly over the past few years. Before the COVID-19 pandemic from 2018 to 2020, most visitors were hardcore Doujin game fans looking for trial versions and completed ROMs. However, since 2022, the number of casual gamers who come to play demos and enjoy the atmosphere of the expo is increasing.

Behind this change, we believe that the simultaneous emergence of high-quality games and increased opportunities for exposure due to an increase in indie game-related events such as TOKYO SANDBOX, TOKYO INDIE GAMES SUMMIT, and Tokyo Game Dungeon have led to a steady rise in awareness of indie games.

I posted a picture of the set-up booth on the day on Otorakobo’s X account with the hashtag “#DigitalGamesExpo,” and I was surprised by the number of impressions of the post.

This incident made me realize gamers are highly interested in the Digital Games Expo.

Exhibition on the day

At the Digital Games Expo, Otorakobo decided not to present a playable version of the game but to focus on video and panel displays and hand out flyers. This was to avoid the risk of not fully conveying the game’s merits by offering a trial version still in development.

We were worried about whether the visitors would be interested because we did not set up a playable exhibit. However, many people stopped by and we were able to distribute all of the flyers we had prepared.

We believe that the character design and striking colors made a vivid impact, which led to many people taking photos and picking up flyers.

We aimed to distribute all the flyers, so I was happy to have achieved the goal and felt a sense of relief.

What we saw from conversations with visitors

What stood out in conversations with visitors was the high level of awareness of the individual genres of MOBA and Battle Royale. However, many of them recognized that MOBA, as typified by LoL, and Battle Royale, as an FPS, were completely separate genres. It seemed difficult for them to form a concrete image of the new gameplay that combined these two.

Most visitors asked us, “Can we play a trial version?” We guess this reflects their interest and confusion about this new combination.

Future developments

After exhibiting at the Digital Games Expo, we realized the problem of conveying the appeal of the new MOBA x Battle Royale genre in a more understandable way. In the future, we plan to open a special website, make an explanatory video, and create a catchy 15-30 seconds PV.

We are also planning to take steps to communicate the element of “color” with users, which is an essential feature of this work.

In preparation for the release of “Irisy Aqua” in spring 2025, we will enhance our content to convey Otorakobo’s theme of “color” and the unique appeal of MOBA x Battle Royale to more people in an easy way.

Summary of Digital Games Expo event report

Participating in the Digital Games Expo 2024 made us aware of the big changes in the indie game community and our future challenges. As the number of visitors expands, the attention on indie games is definitely increasing. This time, we did not have a playable exhibit. Still, Otorakobo could make a big step to have many people know about our work through videos, panel exhibits, and flyers.

The most impressive point was people’s high awareness of the existing game genres, MOBA and Battle Royale, and their interest in our new attempt to combine them. At the same time, we are keenly aware that we must work on making this innovative combination more intuitive.

From now on, we will enrich the content to convey the unique charm of our new work, including the essential element of “color,” more efficiently, leading up to the release in spring 2025. The experience at the Digital Games Expo was a valuable opportunity for Otorakobo to make a new start as an indie game developer.

We will continue to provide updates and the latest information on “Irisy Aqua” on this website and our X account.

References

Otorakobo’s X account: https://x.com/otorakobo Introducing Otorakobo: Expressing “brand new works that nobody has ever seen” through “color” - Introducing Otorakobo Inc., an indie game developer.