You can climb any surface and glide across the map with ease. Locomotion is super important for any game offering a lot of exploration, and we wanted to make moving around fun in and of itself. It was my motto from the very start to give it a “Toy Box” feeling, reminiscent of playing with toys as a kid. Tchia is a very analogic and physical game. Making something culturally relevant is incredibly fulfilling in and of itself, but first and foremost we focus on making a game that is fun and plays great. We also record Kanak (indigenous melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia) choirs and musicians for the game’s soundtrack, giving it a unique energy that I think has rarely been seen in video games. All characters are voiced in traditional languages by local talent. It was also important for us to work with locals as much as possible to make sure that the soul of the experience is deeply rooted in those local cultures. They are fantastical places but definitely “feel” very japanese in many ways, and that makes for some super fascinating worlds. Bringing people from all over the world to the team also helped a lot in making sure what we are making is enjoyable for anyone who isn’t familiar with the country.Ī fair comparison for our approach is how Studio Ghibli treats Japanese culture in some of their films. We are drawing inspiration from the rich and varied local landscapes, flora and fauna, cultures, music, languages, folklores and traditions and bringing our own sensibilities to everything. This also allows us to include some fantastical elements in the mix and build a very unique world where the cultural inspiration isn’t a constraint, but rather an incredibly rich and solid backbone for the game. Making something too instructional or aimed directly at locals would completely defeat the purpose for us, which is why the world, story and characters we are creating are entirely fictional. The approach we are taking with Tchia is first and foremost to build something anyone can understand, enjoy, and immerse themselves into. Honoring the culture, and making it accessible. For example, the name “Awaceb” itself is local slang for “It’s all good”, or “No worries”.īecause of that, it felt just right to draw from that heritage and insufflate those sensibilities in our next game, Tchia. Because we grew up there, the incredibly rich and varied cultures of New Cal are deeply rooted in what we do. Awaceb is a young studio founded by my partner Thierry and myself, two childhood friends from New Caledonia, a small archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
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