MALAYSIANSKINI | Malaysia-based indie game studio Persona Theory Games is charting its own path with an emphasis on games that have narratives based on Southeast Asian folklore.

Although the co-founder of Persona Theory Games, Saqina Latif, never had any experience in the gaming industry, it was a passionate hobby that is now her vocation.

“We are not from the traditional games industry. I was a producer in Leo Burnett while my other two co-founders are from film and digital marketing,” she said during an interview session with Malaysiakini.

The small indie game studio was co-founded by Saqina, Buddy Anwardi, and Derek Mui and has been able to create premium narrative games such as ‘Fires at Midnight’, ‘The Lonely Heart Pet Shop’, and ‘Kabaret’, using only a team of 13 people.

Saqina said that many Malaysians still do not appreciate narrative games as they prefer something more dynamic and immediate and that is a challenge for Persona to overcome.

She described the decision to start a game development company six years ago as “crazy”, particularly at the time of the rise of mobile games.

“I think we were ‘crazy’. Six years ago was the time of Angry Bird and Candy Crush so it was a mobile game bloom.

“Not many people see the merit of making narrative experiences, especially for PC (personal computer) and we wanted to make Southeast Asian stories, people just thought we are crazy,” said Saqina.

Unusual plot twists 

The latest game - ‘Kabaret’ - features protagonist Jebat who is cursed by a God and enters a monster realm that is akin to the afterlife.

Players will play as him to discover how to undo the curse while learning the truth about the monsters’ past life.

It’s not all heavy stuff as ‘Kabaret’ allows players to experience traditional games such as congkak and guli, as well as attending a tea ceremony.

Another game is ‘Fires at Midnight’, a retelling of a story from the 1990s featuring two main characters - Yun and Chitra - who are in a dysfunctional relationship.

As the world around them is engulfed in flames, players can explore their memories.

The narrative suggests that engaging in physical intimacy without emotional connection can be dangerous and that the person you love may ultimately be the one to harm you.

Learn from mistakes

Drawing from her own experience, Saqina advised new game studios to avoid repeating the same mistakes they made and emphasised the challenges of starting a company from scratch.

“I am very careful with my advice to newer studio game companies and I’m very candid about problems and issues that we have here, and it’s not just in Malaysia,” she said.

Saqina said that the reason why they decided to make Southeast Asia-centric games is that Malaysia has a lot in common with other countries in the region.

“I think there are a lot of similarities that we can relate to our Southeast Asian brothers and sisters.

“For example, when we were researching the pontianak myth, there were many different versions but it is all rooted in the same basic story about a woman who is badly mistreated by society,” she said.

Need for local support

Despite having rich and diverse folklore traditions, Southeast Asian stories do not receive the same level of exposure or attention as others countries and continents.

“It is sad that the new generation would prefer to travel and pay for other traditions show such as Japanese kabuki (classical theatre) rather than watch wayang kulit, mak yong, and others,” said Saqina.

“When I pitched my idea locally for ‘Kabaret’, they told me that the game is too exotic and international audiences may not know what is wayang kulit, and they told me no one would care.

“It made me so angry because why would you bring your own people down? You should bring our industry up and not shut us down,” she said.

Undeterred, Persona focused on marketing its games internationally by joining many international game shows.

The team also convinced Saqina to try using TikTok as a platform to promote ‘Kabaret’ and it went viral, attracting more local audiences.

“One of the videos went viral and now we hear people say they found our games through TikTok. I never thought that would be a thing,” she said.

Saqina said that Persona is just getting started and has more projects in the pipeline.

She couldn’t reveal more but said that they will “blow your mind”.

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