AbTeC – Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace

Past Future Forward

The Making of a Hawaiian Video Game

Past Future Forward: The Making of a Hawaiian Videogame tells the story of a group of neophyte designers learning to make the first videogame about Hawaiians in space, drawing on their community’s long history of technological innovation.

Synopsis

“He wā maoli ke hiki maila.” The future is Indigenous. There are many stories we can tell to call that future into being. This is one of them.

The complex interplay between cultural practice, language, and the use of new technologies of communication is illuminated by stories about navigating the great expanses of the Pacific, the generational trauma caused by the American theft of Hawaiian lands, and the ways in which mo‘olelo–stories and histories–shape what it means to be Hawaiian today and what it might mean tomorrow. The documentary highlights the long history of Kanaka innovation and how the participants in the workshop carry forward that heritage.

Skins 5.0 – He Au Hou was a three-week intensive workshop teaching how to make videogames from within a Kanaka Maoli cultural context. The workshop took place from 17 July to 6 August, 2017, at Haāula ‘Īnana in Honolulu, and was a collaboration between the Hawaii-based Kanaeokana and the Montreal-based Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF)

This feature-length documentary “He Au Hou” means “a new world” in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, and the workshop provided haumāna support to envision sustainable new worlds for Hawaiian moʻolelo and values to populate and then gave them the skills necessary to bring those worlds into being. In the final five days of the workshop, the participants created He Ao Hau (“a new day”), Hawaiian-language game based on an original story and set in a universe filled with Hawaiian stories and traditions. Participants shared stories from their culture and learned everything from coding to graphics to voice acting.

DOWNLOAD the videogame here!

Credits

directed by
Jason Edward Lewis
+
Prem Sooriyakumar

camera & editing
Prem Sooriyakumar

additional camera
Ryan ‘Gonzo’ Gonzalez
Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada
James Hall

sound design
Travis Mercredi

original score
Christian Olsen

additional music
Kauwila Mahi

color
Jose Enrique Hernandez Careaga

Kamapua‘a Illustration
courtesy of Solomon Enos

produced by
Jason Edward Lewis

created by
Nā ‘Anae Mahiki

Story
Forest Frizzell
Ioane Goodhue
Jocelyn Makiʻilei Ishihara
Kauwila Mahi

Concept Art
Chad Brown
Jocelyn Makiʻilei Ishihara
Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa
Keanu Lagundimao
Vance Tolentino
Briana Wright

3D Modeling
Chad Brown
Jocelyn Makiʻilei Ishihara
Keanu Lagundimao
Dwayne Shimizu
Vance Tolentino

Cinematics
Chad Brown
Briana Wright

Rigging and Animation
Jocelyn Makiʻilei Ishihara
Keanu Lagundimao
Dwayne Shimizu
Vance Tolentino

Programming
Rian-Angelica Barreras
Alexander Duong
Ioane Goodhue
Kainoa Keanaaina
Nathan Nahina

Level Design
Noelani Arista
Mox AtkinsForest Frizzell
Ioane Goodhue
Kauwila Mahi

Sound Design
Noelani Arista
Mox Atkins
Kauwila Mahi
Devon Shimizu
Matt Sproat

Music
Matt Sproat

Chants
Kalama Cabigon
Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa
Kauwila Mahi

Voice Talent
Ioane Goodhue
Tūtū
Jocelyn Makiʻilei Ishihara
Lehua
Noelani Arista
Hiʻiaka

Technical Leads
Simon-Albert Boudreault
Level Design

Jasmine Eladas
Concept Art, Modeling & Texturing

Julian Glass-Pilon
Programming

Lianne Maritzer
Rigging & Animation

Skawennati
Storytelling

Nancy Townsend
Virtual Project Management

Technical Consulting & Support
Pippin Barr
Programming & Sound Integration

Chad Brown
Cinematics

John Mervin
Animation

Mahalo
Kiele Gonzalez for the hula dance references
Zachariah Lewis-Fragnito for your participation

Skins 5.0
He Au Hou: Telling Moʻolelo Through Videogames

a Skins Workshop on Aboriginal Storytelling and Videogames

a collaboration between

Kanaeokana: The Kula Hawaiʻi Network

The Initiative for Indigenous Futures

Directors
Skawennati & Jason Edward Lewis

Cultural Advisors
Noelani Arista
Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa
Owisokon Lahache

Lead Instructors
Simon-Albert Boudreault
Level Design

Jasmine Eladas
Concept Art, Modeling, Texturing

Julian Glass-Pilon
Programming

Lianne Maritzer
Rigging, Animation

Skawennati
Storytelling

Nancy Townsend
Virtual Project Management

Instructors
Chad Brown
Cinematics

John Mervin
Animation

Matt Sproat
Audio

Social Media
Owisokon Lahache

Technical Support
Elio Bidinost
Denise Hirano
Sabine Rosenberg

Graphic Design
Lianne Maritzer
Roxanne Sirois

Curriculum Director
Nancy Townsend

Curriculum Development
Simon-Albert Boudreault
Level Design

Jasmine Eladas
Concept Art, Modeling & Texturing

Julian Glass-Pilon
Programming

Nicole Lin
Concept Art, Modeling & Texturing

Lianne Maritzer
Rigging & Animation

Skawennati
Storytelling

Nancy Townsend
Virtual Project Management

Curriculum Consultants
Pippin Barr
Game & Workshop Design

Morgan Kennedy
Industry Design Methods

Rilla Khaled
Game & Workshop Design

Logistics & Travel
Kori Ili
Lianne Maritzer
Pilialoha Wong

Documentation
Prem Sooriyakumar

Assessment
Rilla Khaled
Director

Michelle Lee Brown

Industry Guest Presentations
Dominick Meissner
Creative Director, Behaviour Interactive

Solomon Enos
Artist

Stephanie Harvey
Game Designer

Assistant Producer & Workshop Coordinator
Lianne Maritzer

Associate Producers
Kēhaunani Abad
Ryan ‘Gonzo’ Gonzalez
Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada

Producer
Nancy Townsend

Executive Producers
Jason Edward Lewis
Skawennati

Supported by

Office of Research • Department of Design and Computation Arts • Dean of Fine Arts

Generously Funded by

project

www.indigenousfutures.net

An Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace production

www.abtec.org

created at

An Obx Labs production

Jason Edward Lewis

director