Game developer says Pacific stories are in high demand

An interactive media studio is looking to attract more Māori and Pacific people into the gaming and the creative media space.

Rio Hemopo-Hunuki co-founder of Koi Digital told Pacific Mornings’ William Terite he wants to bring more Māori and Pasifika people into his industry, so their stories can be shared with the mainstream.

“We're great storytellers. We have a rich, rich vein of stories so that's not an issue, but it's getting our heads around the digital spaces and what we need to have in terms of knowledge to bring those stories through.”

Hemopo-Hunuki, who's of Māori, Niuean and European descent, says the gaming industry in New Zealand is still in its infancy which is all the more reason to enter.

“It's definitely a growing industry for all of the country. You know, there's some advantages to the digital space that you don't get in other industries. You just need an internet connection to really get your material out there.”

Koi Digital’s current project is Titans of Aotearoa (ToA), a third-person action/adventure video game made for consoles. The game will incorporate the myths and heroes of Māori folklore as you play through the story.

ToA is said to be in the vein of God of War and Assassins Creed according to Hemopo-Hunuki, both game franchises that are critically acclaimed and have a large following.

“We've had the Titans of Aotearoa main project that's been bubbling away for a few years, and that's an original IP based on a console game title. If you were to call it in the realms of God of War and Assassin's Creed and titles like that, that's where we would love for it to sit.”

Hemopo-Hunuki and other Māori game developers and business owners visited China in July to explore and connect with industry professionals.

The Asian game industry scale is difficult to comprehend, but despite the population size, they value culture and authenticity, says Hemopo-Hunuki.

“It was it was nice to have those cultural elements and to be able to share and see the connections between our cultures. Crazy scales and pace, just really mind-blowing. It's hard to kind of put into words.”

What sets Māori and Pasifika stories apart, is that they aren't a far-off history, says Hemopo-Hunuki. Much like many Indigenous stories across the world, Māori and Pacific stories are relatively unknown.

“It's not stuff that we look back in history books and go, oh yeah, that's how, you know, what we used to do, riding horses around castles and whatever, a lot of stuff we still kind of have, not that far back in our history.

"I knew more about King Arthur and King Richard growing up than I did about, Kupi and Maui and, you know, and so I think that really kind of unknown quantity like of our heroes.”