The work-in-progress project, “The Ancestor Catcher” (temporary name), is an interactive game exploring the history of displacement and marginalization. It intertwines Hmong/Miao dialects, histories, religions, and identities with embroidery patterns serving as symbolic clues about resettlement.
Field trips to Hmong communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, Southeast Asia, and Southern China are being planned during our ideation process to ensure authenticity and cultural appropriateness.
Concept
Below is a concept storyboard of this project in the ideation phase. The protagonist is an avatar representing the fictional collective “Hmong/Miao.” They collects spirits of the ecosystem, their ancestors, and even deities during their diasporic journey across various regions.
Mechanics
Players embark on an immersive journey as a Hmong/Miao individual, traveling from Southern China through Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand to California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the United States. Interactions with diverse people, animals, and cultures allow players to acquire essential skills for overcoming challenges. The game also introduces the concept of the “Dragon” within Miao culture, symbolizing the belief that all entities are equal and have the potential to transform into a “Dragon.”
This Demo is being designed and produced by a UCSC team (Yi Xie and Tszho Mak). The level design is strategically positioned at the onset of the game. It commences with the character experiencing a dream that delves into the origins of the Miao people, who hold the belief that all life sprang from a maple tree. Within this dream, the character inadvertently finds themselves in the ancestral Miao village, distinguished by a colossal maple tree perched atop a hill at the village’s heart. The level reaches its conclusion as the character approaches the maple tree of origin and embraces the quest to retrace the journey of the Hmong/Miao people.
Storyboard by the demo design team.
Village landscape designed by the demo design team based on a Miao embroidery pattern of “landscape.”
A detailed document outlining the design mechanics created by Yi Xie and Tszho Mak can be found in this link.
Screenshots of the game prototype.
Moving and camera shifting mechanics in the prototype.