Boshi’s Place: Where Indie Gamers Go to Play
The next gen of creative programmers have a Brooklyn hub to showcase their work.
“A game by, about, and for Sylvie. In a world where summer never ends, she became…Hot Summer Sylvie." This opening message introduces a single-player 8-bit pixel art game where players embody Sylvie — a character with blonde hair, a green bra and a pink skirt, complete with cat ears and a tail. As they navigate a whimsical landscape, they leap over bright red crabs and dodge snapping green piranhas. At the finish line flutters a blue, pink and white striped banner — the trans flag.
This game was showcased earlier this year at Boshi's Place, a venue in East Williamsburg, that serves as a hub for the indie gaming community. Named after their mascot, Boshi — a character reminiscent of Nintendo’s Yoshi — the locale regularly features unique games, like “Hot Summer Sylvie,” which reflect its commitment to giving diverse voices a platform.
“We have a plan for an [upcoming] event and one of our members is currently selecting games that present interesting trans narratives,” said Gustavo Ceci Guimaraes, one of the founders of Boshi’s Place. “The deeper you go in games, the more you find that they are made by people from marginalized communities.”
Boshi’s Place continues the legacy of Babycastles, a former space on the Lower East Side that indie gamers flocked to — before pandemic-related financial challenges caused it to close in 2020. “[Boshi’s Place] has this element of being a coworking space, but it also shows strange, experimental, avant-garde, noncommercial work,” said freelance game designer and NYU professor Charles J. Pratt. “Lots of people involved in that are deeply influenced by Babycastles.”
The indie gaming scene in New York dates to the late 1990s. “There were a lot of programmers, artists and writers in this area doing a bunch of early interactive content on the web,” said Naomi Clark, Chair of NYU’s Game Design Department. This wave of emerging game designers and creators helped shape the city’s indie gaming community, which has continued to evolve with new spaces like Boshi’s Place.
Since its launch in 2023, Boshi’s Place has served as a creative incubator and the setting for dozens of events, many of which have featured cutting-edge work by a new generation of indie programmers. Some of the games showcased include “Beach Date” by Nina Freeman, “Sandscratcher” by Increpare and “Super Altinha Soccer” by LAMA, Kosha and Guimaraes himself.
While most of these games have been free to play, Boshi’s Place asks for donations to support the screenings. A portion of the proceeds are shared with the programmers to help support their work.
“We did a cool Halloween show last year, and we’re definitely doing it again this year,” said Guimaraes, describing its Day of Dry Bones event coming up on October 26.
Such events help indie creators shine in an increasingly crowded gaming scene. “There are a lot of independently developed games out there right now, and it’s hard to stand out,” said game developer and visiting NYU professor Karina Popp.
At Boshi’s Place, indie gamers can “come together” as a community, said Guimaraes, while also trying to make their mark and have some fun.
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