Barely a thought is spared for the local video gaming industry – if one exists at all. Well, what do you know: there actually is a Malaysian video game industry and, according to 33-year-old Saqina Latif, it’s growing!
Of course, to compare sizes now is a bit premature but, rest assured, the local industry shows plenty of potential. And one of the studios out there making waves is Persona Theory Games, which released its second title “Kabaret” on Wednesday.
Saqina, its co-founder and managing director, started her journey into game development through a non-related industry: advertising. “At the time, there were no game development courses. Programming was all about apps, nothing specific to games,” she told FMT.
She dabbled in making indie films while working in advertising, during which time, she and her friends Buddy Anwardi and Derek Mui were introduced to a group of developers who had a prototype that required a story.
They subsequently helped create some lore to enrich the game – an experience Saqina recalls as being “a fun one”, enough to convince the trio to set up their own company. And thus, Persona Theory Games was born.
Video gaming, Saqina shared, has long been a hobby of hers. That said, the self-professed console gamer barely has any time to indulge in this activity these days, given her busy schedule at work!
Still, classics such as “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill” nurtured her love for game storytelling. Indeed, Persona Theory’s first game, “Fires at Midnight”, actually started off as a script for an “arthouse indie film”.
Eager to prove the studio’s capabilities, the script was transformed into the backbone of a video game. “‘Fires at Midnight’ explores difficult topics through Malaysian lenses, such as relationships with significant others, parents, community and surroundings,” Saqina explained.
The studio began working on this debut in 2019, with elements of subsequent lockdown years making in-game appearances.
‘Beautiful, tragic, gory’
Asked why should folks give their new release “Kabaret” a try, Saqina replied: “It’s beautiful, it’s tragic, it’s gory. I think everyone will find something they will fall in love with.”
She revealed that six years ago, when mobile games were all the rage, it was difficult to propose a game such as “Kabaret”.
“Trying to convince people you want to make a narrative PC game about Southeast Asian culture had everyone thinking it was crazy. Who would want to play this?”
But with more attention being given to indie games these days, the team forged ahead with this “visual novel” that features mythological monsters and figures from the region.
Explaining the title, Saqina said the word “cabaret” refers to a “prominent fixture in history when we were still Malaysia and Singapore”.
“This was during the P Ramlee and Shaw Brothers era – a time when everyone came together in this one space, from all around the world.”
The game, therefore, puts a twist on this concept by bringing together monsters from all over Southeast Asia so players can meet and interact with them.
For Saqina and her team, researching these creatures was a long and eye-opening experience. As it turns out, many monsters are shared across Southeast Asian cultures, although there are several that are unique to Malaysia.
‘Small but growing’
Asked what the local game development scene is like, she described it as “small but growing every year”, despite it still being “concentrated in KL and Selangor”.
That said, there are efforts to expand the industry beyond the Klang Valley, with Saqina citing the example of a fellow developer in Sarawak.
And of course, funding remains one of the biggest hurdles faced by studios in the country. Saqina expressed hope that Malaysia would someday follow in Indonesia’s footsteps by supporting local game developers.
“Our brothers and sisters across the pond are collaborating with their tourism board. There’s no reason why we couldn’t,” she pointed out.
“There’s a stigma against video games here in Malaysia. Some people don’t see the merit of them. I hope things are changing, slowly and eventually.”
Check back in tomorrow for FMT’s review of ‘Kabaret’. Learn more about Persona Theory Games here and on Instagram.