Jeeyon Shim

Jeeyon Shim is a second generation Korean American game designer and writer. A former outdoor educator, her body of work is strongly influenced by themes of connection to the natural world.[1] Playing Shim's narrative games often involves creating a keepsake artifact.[2]

Jeeyon Shim
Shim in 2020
OccupationGame designer
Notable workField Guide to Memory
AwardsIndieCade, Diana Jones Award, Dicebreaker
Websitejeeyonshim.games

Career

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shim was made redundant from her outdoor education job and pivoted to "full-time game design in 2020".[2] She is the co-designer on Field Guide to Memory (2021) with Shing Yin Khor.[3] Field Guide to Memory centers on the creation of a journal through guided writing prompts with occasional live action mechanics, such as going on a hike in real life to echo a fictional hike experienced by the characters in-game.[4] The Verge highlighted that "the pair defined keepsake games as both a genre and a useful shorthand for their work".[2] Academics Greg Loring-Albright and Wes Willison highlighted that while Shim and Khor coined the term "keepsake game" in 2021, the collaborators have slightly different definitions with Shim "more interested in thematic concerns [...]. If Khor delimits how a keepsake game's keepsake object comes to be, Shim explores what that object is meant to do or mean. [...] Khor approaches the material keepsake object and works backwards through its procedural creation to its co-authors: the game designer and the player. Shim starts with the process and its intended thematics and situates the keepsake object as a result of those processes".[5]

In addition to working with Khor on Field Guide to Memory, Shim has collaborated on indie role-playing game projects with Jason Morningstar[6] and Lucian Kahn.[7] Shim is also the creator of other keepsake games such as The Shape of Shadows,[8] The Last Will and Testament of Gideon Blythe,[9] and The Snow Queen[10] which were all funded via crowdfunding campaigns.[2][10] The Snow Queen is a game for two players, loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. It adapts the game mechanics of Chess.[10]

Linda Codega, for Io9 in 2022, stated that they are an "ardent fan and admirer of the short games" Shim has published on Itch.io which are "hallmarked by ethereal storytelling, psychological immersion, and a unique, punky design aesthetic. While many of her games follow the suit of Field Guide to Memory, in which a keepsake is created, many others dive into the transformative, otherwordly, and horrific".[11] In 2023, Codega included Shim on a list of "people to follow" in the "Year Ahead in Tabletop Roleplaying Games" – they described Shim as "an innovative and fresh voice in tabletop design" pursuing sustainable and independent game design with "nearly a dozen games [released] over the past three years".[12]

Awards and nominations

Field Guide to Memory won the 2021 IndieCade Award in the best live game category.[3][13] Shim was awarded the inaugural Diana Jones Emerging Designer Award in 2021.[14][15] In 2022, Shim was nominated for "Designer of the Year" in the inaugural Tabletop Awards by Dicebreaker at PAX Unplugged.[16][17]

Personal life

Shim was born in the United States and currently lives in Northern California, where she's spent the majority of her life.[14]

Shim developed Long COVID in 2022.[18][19]

Works
Title Credits Date Notes Ref.
Pin Feathers/Cloud Studies Designer 2018 Included on SFWA's 2018 Nebula Awards reading list [20][21]
Wait For Me Co-designer 2020 Funded via Kickstarter campaign in 2020 [2]
A Green Hour Designer 2020 In The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book (Simon & Schuster)[22]
Trash Play Co-designer 2020 Patreon Collaboration with Jason Morningstar [23] [6]
The Thaw Designer 2021 Included in the Hibernation Games anthology; funded via Kickstarter in 2021 [7]
Sea of Legends: Rise of the Ancients Adventure writer 2021 Board game expansion published by Guildhall Studios; funded via Kickstarter in 2020 [24][25]
Field Guide to Memory Co-designer 2021 Funded via Kickstarter campaign in 2021 [4]
The Shape of Shadows Designer 2021 Funded via Kickstarter campaign in 2021 [8]
The Last Will and Testament of Gideon Blythe Designer 2023 Forthcoming game funded via Kickstarter campaign in 2021 [9]
The Snow Queen Designer 2023 Forthcoming game funded via independent crowdfunding campaign in 2022 [10]
The Longest Rest Designer 2024 Forthcoming game funded via Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in 2022 [26]


References
  1. Han, Karen (March 20, 2022). "Jeeyon Shim's "Keepsake Games" Combine Crafting and Storytelling". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  2. Ong, Alexis (June 28, 2022). "Jeeyon Shim carved a new path in crowdfunding for her keepsake games". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  3. Carpenter, Nicole (March 26, 2021). "Field Guide to Memory is a 'keepsake' game written inside your own personal journal". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  4. "Podcast #135 - The Solo RPG Special". Shut Up & Sit Down. March 19, 2021. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  5. Loring-Albright, Greg; Willison, Wes (February 16, 2023). "Materiality of Keepsake Games". Generation Analog 2021. Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press: 55–66. doi:10.57862/FZB0-QG05.
  6. "Vessel of the Garbage God release notes - Vessel of the Garbage God by OrionCanning". Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  7. Carter, Chase (February 3, 2021). "Hibernation Games Bundle". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  8. Carter, Chase (April 29, 2021). "Keepsake game The Shape of Shadows transforms a day planner into a magician's grimoire". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  9. Carter, Chase (March 3, 2021). "The Last Will and Testament of Gideon Blythe". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  10. Carpenter, Nicole (February 15, 2022). "Award-winning designer Jeeyon Shim's next project blends chess and role-playing". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  11. Codega, Linda (October 18, 2022). "The Gaming Shelf Enters the Tavern". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  12. Codega, Linda (January 4, 2023). "The Year Ahead in Tabletop Roleplaying Games". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  13. "2021 AWARD WINNING GAMES". IndieCade. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  14. Carter, Chase (August 4, 2021). "Jeeyon Shim wins 2021 Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  15. Hall, Charlie (October 8, 2021). "One of tabletop gaming's most prestigious awards has gone missing". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  16. Jarvis, Matt (December 2, 2022). "Tabletop Awards 2022 winners: The year's best board game, RPG, designers and publishers revealed!". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  17. Long, Michael (December 6, 2022). "Winners Of The Inaugural Dicebreaker Tabletop Awards Revealed". Tribality. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  18. Shim, Jeeyon [@jeeyonshim] (January 19, 2023). "I talk about my illness frankly because I want to show people that several things are true at once: covid disabled me, and I still love my life and enjoy what I've managed to retain of it. That I love and treasure my communities; and, that I really, really need them to step up" (Tweet). Retrieved March 21, 2023 – via Twitter.
  19. Shim, Jeeyon (2022). "Jeeyon's Post-COVID Syndrome Fund". GoFundMe. Retrieved March 21, 2023. "In May, I contracted COVID-19 after managing to successfully mitigate my risk and avoiding the virus for over two years. Now, I have a post-COVID syndrome diagnosis (also known as 'long covid')"
  20. Carter, Chase (January 11, 2022). "Single-player RPG bundle Solo but Not Alone once again fundraising for suicide prevention". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  21. "Pin Feathers // Cloud Studies". SFWA Discussion Forums. Archived from the original on 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  22. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ultimate-micro-rpg-book-james-damato/1136602702. Retrieved 2023-06-09. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. Guildhall Studios [@GuildhallStudio] (May 22, 2020). "Today we're featuring @jeeyonshim for our Sea of Legends Writer Spotlight! Jeeyon works on a tom of smaller, weirder games on her Patreon, which is her main source of income! She joined our team as an adventure writer! [IMAGE] [Thread]" (Tweet). Retrieved March 21, 2023 – via Twitter.
  25. Takahashi, Dean (July 27, 2021). "Game Devs of Color Expo remains all-virtual when it kicks off September". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  26. Carter, Chase (October 20, 2022). "The Longest Rest is a horror RPG that warps fantasy taverns into monstrous haunted houses". Dicebreaker. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
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