From outsourcing to storytelling: the emergence of Indonesian indies

This article includes an interview with Mohammad Fahmi Hasni (better known by his mononym Fahmi) conducted in early 2022, regarding his upcoming game Afterlove EP. It was written before we learned of his tragic passing in March. While it feels at odds to talk about the future of Indonesia's indie scene when one of those important voices is no longer with us, we have decided to publish this article and include Fahmi's contribution, with the blessing of his family and the members of the development team working on Afterlove EP.

Think of Asian games, and Japan as well as China will likely come to mind first. But the industry extends to the rest of the continent, as we have seen with India and Taiwan. Perhaps less known to Western audiences, however, is the impact of the industry in Indonesia, despite it being the fourth most populous country in the world and having had a development boom over a decade ago during the Flash era.

For a more comprehensive retrospective look at Indonesia's industry, I recommend this Game Developer article from Kris Antoni Hadiputra, founder and owner of Toge Productions, an Indonesian-based developer and publisher that began as a two-person team making Flash games in their garage, "which was the closest thing to working in the games industry that we can get", he tells me.

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