Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Saya akan bermain gim di ruang tamu malam ini. - I will play a game in the living room tonight.

Saya akan bermain gim… ≈ I will play a game… / I’m going to play a game…
It doesn’t change form for person or number (no different form for I/you/they).
It doesn’t express nuance like certainty or intention as strongly as English modals; the context usually carries that meaning.

So yes, it roughly matches “will”, but it’s more neutral and less “grammatically obligatory” than in English.

Do I always need akan to talk about the future?

No. Future time in Indonesian is often shown by context and time expressions, not necessarily by akan.

All of these can be used for a future meaning:

Saya akan bermain gim malam ini.
Saya bermain gim malam ini.
Malam ini saya bermain gim.
Saya mau bermain gim malam ini. (more like I want to play a game tonight / I’m going to play a game tonight)

Akan makes the futurity explicit and is a little more neutral/formal. In everyday speech, people often drop akan if the time expression (like malam ini) already makes the time clear.

What’s the difference between saya and aku? Could I say Aku akan bermain gim…?

Both saya and aku mean “I”, but they differ in formality and relationship:

Saya – polite, neutral, standard; safe in most situations (with strangers, at work, in writing).
Aku – more informal, intimate; used with friends, family, people your age or younger.

So:

Saya akan bermain gim di ruang tamu malam ini. – neutral/polite.
Aku akan bermain gim di ruang tamu malam ini. – informal, friendly.

In many regions people also use slang pronouns like gue, gua, ane, etc., depending on dialect/region.

Why is it bermain gim and not just main gim?

Bermain is the base verb main with the prefix ber-, which often forms intransitive verbs.

bermain = to play
main = the same verb, but more colloquial and shorter

Both are common:

Saya akan bermain gim… – slightly more formal/standard.
Saya akan main gim… – more casual, typical in speech.

You’ll hear main very often in everyday conversation. In writing or in slightly formal situations, bermain sounds more complete and standard.

Why is it spelled gim and not game or permainan?

Indonesian has officially adapted game (English) into gim following Indonesian spelling rules.

gim – borrowed from English game, used especially for video/computer games, very common in modern usage.
game – you will also see/hear game (English spelling/pronunciation), especially in informal contexts, advertising, or among gamers.
permainan – a native Indonesian noun meaning “a game” / “a play” / “a match” / “play (as a concept)”. It’s more general and more formal/abstract, not the usual word gamers use for “video games”.

So:

bermain gim ≈ to play (video) games
bermain permainan sounds odd; it’s like saying “play a playing”
permainan ini seru = “this game/play/match is fun” (more formal/neutral)

Could the sentence use memainkan instead of bermain, like Saya akan memainkan gim…?

Yes, but the nuance is a bit different.

bermain [noun] – you play (and the noun is the activity or game you do)
- bermain gim = to play games
memainkan [noun] – you perform/do/play that thing more as a direct object
- memainkan piano = to play the piano
- memainkan peran = to play a role

With gim, both can appear:

Saya akan bermain gim. – natural, everyday way to say “I’ll play games.”
Saya akan memainkan gim ini. – more like “I will play this game (specifically this one).” It sounds a bit more formal/specific.

For your sentence, bermain gim is the most natural.

Why is there no plural marker on gim? How do I say “games” vs “a game”?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural on nouns. Gim can mean game or games, depending on context.

Saya akan bermain gim malam ini.
→ could be “I will play a game tonight” or “I will play games tonight.”

If you need to be explicit:

satu gim – one game
beberapa gim – several games
banyak gim – many games
dua gim, tiga gim, etc. – two games, three games…

Reduplication (like gim-gim) is possible but sounds unnatural for this word; for common countable nouns, people prefer numbers or quantifiers rather than repetition.

Why is it di ruang tamu and not ke ruang tamu?

Di and ke are different prepositions:

di = in / at / on (location)
ke = to (movement/direction)

In your sentence, you’re talking about where you will play, not where you are going:

Saya akan bermain gim di ruang tamu… = I will play games in the living room.
Saya akan pergi ke ruang tamu. = I will go to the living room.

If you wanted both ideas, you could say:

Saya akan pergi ke ruang tamu dan bermain gim di sana malam ini.
(I’ll go to the living room and play games there tonight.)

Can I change the word order of di ruang tamu malam ini? For example, malam ini di ruang tamu?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible with time and place phrases.

All of these are grammatical:

Saya akan bermain gim di ruang tamu malam ini.
Saya akan bermain gim malam ini di ruang tamu.
Malam ini saya akan bermain gim di ruang tamu.
Di ruang tamu saya akan bermain gim malam ini. (emphasizes the place)

Typical “neutral” order often follows:

Subject (Saya)
(Future marker) (akan)
Verb (bermain)
Object (gim)
Place (di ruang tamu)
Time (malam ini)

Placing malam ini at the beginning (Malam ini saya…) is also very common, especially in spoken Indonesian, to emphasize when.

What’s the difference between malam ini and nanti malam?

Both can refer to tonight, but there is a nuance:

malam ini – literally “this night”, can feel a bit more neutral or slightly more “calendar-like”.
nanti malam – literally “later tonight”, often used in casual speech, emphasizing that it’s later from now, but still tonight.

In most everyday conversations, nanti malam is very common:

Nanti malam saya akan bermain gim di ruang tamu.

Your original malam ini is also perfectly correct and natural.

Why is there no word for “to” before bermain, like in English “to play”?

Indonesian verbs don’t need a separate particle like “to” for the infinitive. Bermain itself already functions as:

“to play”
“play”
“playing”

depending on context.

Examples:

Saya suka bermain gim. – I like to play games / I like playing games.
Saya akan bermain gim. – I will play games.

So you never add a word equivalent to English “to” before a verb in this sense; you just use the verb form directly.

Is there a more casual, everyday version of this sentence a young person might say?

A very natural casual version (e.g., among friends in Jakarta) might be:

Nanti malam gue main game di ruang tamu.

Changes:

Saya → gue (very informal “I” in Jakarta slang)
akan dropped (time nanti malam already shows it’s future)
bermain → main (colloquial verb form)
gim → game (English spelling, common in slang)

Depending on region, gue might be replaced by aku, gua, ane, saya (still fine in casual speech), etc.