Southland developers tackle grief through gamification
Imagine unravelling a mystery, one fantastical two-dimensional world at a time.
Invercargill’s Pekapeka Productions is developing an interactive visual novel that fuses adventure with lessons about the power of choices and the grieving process.
The group, made up of Southern Institute of Technology | Te Pūkenga creative arts students, recently returned from Wellington where they presented Splintered Fate at the New Zealand Game Developers‘ Conference’s Kiwi Interactive Showcase.
For the students who travelled up, it was a chance to network and see what a career in gaming might look like.
Creative producer Jessica Steininger said it was gratifying to know she’d be able to earn a salary from her passion.
“I’ve grown up with animation, film and gaming,” she said.
Pekapeka Productions was a multidisciplinary group of students from across different creative programmes working together and Steininger said the possibilities for such collaborations in game development were endless.
They needed animators – whether 2D, 3D or even sculptors – background artists, voice artists, sound engineers, writers, and the list goes on.
The team spent a week brainstorming ideas for its project before settling on a story and setting.
Splintered Fate followed a girl through western steampunk, children’s fantasy, and disco horror worlds, as she unravelled the mystery of how her family were killed.
“The processing of grief was just one of the strongest themes to come through (during brainstorming),” Steininger said.
The gaming industry in New Zealand was growing steadily, she said, but she’d like to see more opportunities in Southland.
SIT screen arts programme manager Rachel Mann said the students were asked to create a business plan for
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