Beyond the Woods — Howl @ ArtScience Museum
Photo courtesy of Marina Bay Sands Singapore
One of the joys of game development is that, unlike many other software projects, its completion doesn’t mark an end to the product - but rather, the start of an exciting journey with its players.
I recently got to experience this again when my student game, Howl: A Tale of Wolves, had the honor of being invited to exhibit at ArtScience Museum at a special event hosted by Singapore’s one-and-only Marina Bay Sands. (Thanks Jasmine, Dina, Huddin, Kevin, and Dawn for making this happen!)
In the past, conventions and trade shows such as GDC and GameStart used to be held in-person, and gamers and developers alike fervently looked forward to enjoying their favorite games and the glean the latest releases.
In a pandemic-stricken world, the majority of these events either moved online, or were held at a much smaller scale than before.
You could imagine the immense surprise and excitement when our team was told that our game would be one of the few that were chosen to be represented in a collaboration event with the museum!
Photo courtesy of Marina Bay Sands Singapore
Howl, a narrative experience which follows the perilous journey of a shewolf and her cub across the seasons, was an ambitious project which aimed to portray the incomparable, unconditional love of parents in the world through an interactive medium.
Developed over a year, the rich narrative experience relies heavily on visual elements drawn in a storybook-like style — as well as carefully crafted puzzles — to deliver a heartwarming experience in the beautiful absence of prose.
But as an interactive experience, we sought to not just tell a story, but to evoke strong emotions and to provide a means of catharsis for our audiences.
With a substantial part of the game featuring survival elements, we inherently included moments of surprise, shock, and sublimation to show that love - which popular media loves to portray in an idealistic form, most often comes at great cost.
And so, it brought us much joy to see that the game was well-received at the exhibition event.
Throughout the weekend, we welcomed players of all ages to follow the journey of our beloved mother-and-cub duo and brave the winter storms and challenges along with them.
Photo courtesy of Marina Bay Sands Singapore
This is also where our journey with our players began.
To say that it is exciting when a player enjoys the fruits of your hard labor is a huge understatement. As game developers, our ultimate goal lies in bringing forth an envisioned experience to our players.
To see that being fulfilled in front of our eyes is what keeps us going.
Photo courtesy of Marina Bay Sands Singapore
Just like the parental love depicted in Howl, a developer’s love for making games comes at a great cost - with projects sometimes lasting many long months and years, and with some projects never seeing the light of the day.
Even so, the hope that we will be able to see players utter a simple “woaahhh”, fuels us to pour in our unconditional love into what we do, and bring the next extraordinary experience closer to our players.
I can’t wait to do this all over again.
