Enraged: An Anito Interview

Section: 

Anito

Once again we feature an interview on a game you may not have read about yet. Are you an adventure and/or RPG fan searching for something new? Look no further because the following title could prove to be very interesting to you. 'Anito: Defend A Land Enraged', created by a young indie developer from the Phillipines, mixes elements of both genres in a promising setting. Read on as Luna Cruz, Head Story Writer at Anino Entertainment, answers a number of questions on the scenario, cultural inspiration, gameplay, availability and other aspects of the game.
Q: Who are you and what's your job at Anino Entertainment? What have you done before you started working on Anito?

Luna Cruz: My name is Luna Cruz, and IÂ'm the head story writer at Anino Entertainment. For Â"˜Anito: Defend A Land EnragedÂ', I wrote the story and dialogue for the Maya character, and did additional scripting and 3D modeling. I also handle public relations for the company.

I joined Anino straight out of college graduation and smack-dab in the middle of the development of Â"˜AnitoÂ', so I actually havenÂ't done any game development before this :P Same with the company - this is our first big project, and though weÂ're developing a few small games now on the side, Â"˜AnitoÂ' will really be our first shot.

Q: A brief look at a dictionary indicates that "Anino" translated to something like "shadow" (and "Anito" probably means "spirit"). What else can you tell us about your company?

LC: Yes, Â"˜AninoÂ' means Â"˜shadowÂ'. We like to think that we work in the shadows of the bigger gaming companies (as a relatively unheard-of independent studio) but that we can still come up with games that rival those of the best.

The word Â"˜anitoÂ' is more commonly used to describe a statue or idol (it usually looks like a man sitting down with arms crossed) that represents spirits that tribal peoples worship. Before Christianity was Â"˜introducedÂ' in Asia, we believed in spirits in nature - in the trees, land, water, etc. (Some still do; others practice it as a form of superstition.) In the game we do have an Anito statue that plays an important role to the community where the player resides.

Since weÂ're the first local company to venture into commercial PC game development, we all learned everything through self-study - the game engine was built from scratch, our artists learned 3D art by themselves, and of course weÂ'd never written / designed a game before. We come from different backgrounds (film, creative writing, even engineering), and weÂ're pretty young (our average age is 25 years old). Our only common ground is that we love games.

(IÂ'm also the only female in the group, and I like to think that I can give some perspective to the otherwise male-dominated game world ;)

Q: Since I'm not an expert on the gaming scene in the Philippines: are there any other (non-hobby) game developers in that region?

LC: Local game development is just starting here; so far weÂ're the first company to make PC games. There are some local companies who make games for mobile phones and television (SMS is a big thing here, so we have TV games where viewers send in their moves via text messages), and others develop games for foreign companies. The local IGDA chapter was created a few months back, with Anino, some mobile game companies, and amateur (Â"˜hobbyÂ') game developers as members.

Great Watcher Tree  Battle

Q: How long has Anito been in the development so far and how many people are involved in the production?

LC: Â"˜AnitoÂ' just turned two years old this month; we started development in October of 2001. WeÂ're a very small team, having eight members - two programmers, two writers, one head designer, two artists, and one sound designer (part-time). To make up for it, most of us can do more than one type of task - some of us helped in the scripting, 3D modeling, and some voices you hear in the game (like AgilaÂ's). (Except for the programming, since we leave that to the programmers ;)

Q: Now before we go into detail about the gameplay, let's take a look at the setting. Could you elaborate on the background, which obviously isn't based on standard medieval European or post-apocalyptic scenarios. Where and when is the game set to take place?

LC: Â"˜AnitoÂ' is not your usual medieval or futuristic RPG because we wanted to write something closer to home. Southeast Asian history is full of colonial invasions and native revolutions, so we had a rich background to draw from.

The story of Â"˜AnitoÂ' is set in 16th century Asia, in a fictional island called Maroka. Maroka is one island out of the Moriontes Islands, named for King Moriontes, the Senastille King whose explorers and soldiers took over the archipelago.

Q: There apparently are four main factions in Anito. What cultural backgrounds have you sourced for each of them?

LC: The four factions in Â"˜AnitoÂ' are loosely inspired by the different cultural groups that existed in Southeast Asia in the 16th century. During that time, our area was full of Western explorers (our Â"˜SenastilleÂ') and Asian traders (our Â"˜KongsunÂ' and some other merchants in the game). The Mangatiwala and Mangapawi are versions of ourselves - those who lived harmoniously in occupied cities and those who created independent settlements. We did research on medieval weaponry and items and tribal/ethnic culture so it would look and feel authentic. We also went to museums for ideas. The Marokan textures you find in the game are textures based on real photographs we took of local cloth, food, etc.

Take note, though, that our game is hyperrealistic, so we also took a lot of artistic liberties to create our fictional world. For example, the Datu political system is Asian, but we made up the DatuÂ's quests for the game; the same way that the creatures you meet along the way come from some local mythology but we created our own back stories for them.

Q: Can you give us some more information on the historical/cultural/religious background of the game as well as references made to 'real' events, movements, or nations in general?

LC: The story of Â"˜AnitoÂ' is loosely based on Asian colonial history. The Philippines is one of several Southeast Asian countries that were claimed by Western nations during the Age of Exploration and the Age of Conquest. (The Philippines, for example, was colonized by Spain, Japan, and the United States.) The quest for freedom and balance between the East and West is an experience that all Asian countries share.

This kind of history is probably the reason why Â"˜AnitoÂ' has a politically driven story, with both a colonial government and the local rebellion at odds with each other. While the story is fictional and no references to Asia or the Philippines are made, people with similar histories will be able to relate to the story we have. At the same time, the themes of freedom and balance are universal, so you donÂ't have to be Asian to enjoy the game. Since its setting is also unique, I think many will enjoy experiencing the ethnic look and feel of Â"˜AnitoÂ'.

Even if this is inspired by our history, the game must not be misconstrued as being anti-Western - in fact, Â"˜AnitoÂ' strongly advocates tolerance of cultures, not violence (as players will find out later in the game).

Q: What is the soundtrack going to be like? (Also, it would be interesting to know if the final version will use the Ogg-Vorbis format as mentioned a while ago.)

LC: Our soundtrack is all original score that can best be described as 'tribal rock'. Our sound engineer used a lot of ethnic instrument sounds (like bamboo, native drum, flute, etc); we stayed away from anything that sounded modern or industrial because it wouldn't fit the setting of the story. The Marokan music is very heavy on beat, like most tribal world music, while the Senastille themes sound either military-like or very sad and ominous. Each level has its own music made especially for that area, and we have severalcombat music (not just one). [We have thirty-three songs in all, including the theme song with vocals.] And yes, we're still using the Ogg format for our music.

Q: The full title is Anito: Defend A Land Enraged. Can you briefly explain that or would it already spoil a significant part of the story?

LC: (I asked our Content Director, Michael Sean Tan, to help me answer this one, as he has the final say about spoilers.)

The Anito is an artifact in our game that symbolizes Marokan history and culture. The player will have to defend Maroka from two opposing forces: the Senastille government, whose colonial dominance is destroying the original belief system of the Marokans; and the Marokan rebels, who will risk any casualty of war just to get rid of the Senastille outlanders. ThereÂ's more to the conflict than that, really, but itÂ's the basic premise of Â"˜AnitoÂ'.

Q: Now for the gameplay: on the one hand Anito basically is an action-RPG, one the other hand it's also supposed to emphasize on adventure elements. Of course, RPG developers often promise "adventure elements" which often results in messenger/FedEx tasks. In the case of Anito, are we talking about adventure elements or "adventure elements"?

LC: We like to think of ourselves as an Â"˜adventure / RPGÂ' - the RPG part handles the battle system, leveling up, and the player going through the story as a character of his/her choice, and the adventure part contains the nature of quests. Â"˜AnitoÂ' is heavily story-driven, where the player has main quests and side quests to finish, and many puzzles to figure out. Some battles are there only to help move the story forward, so itÂ's not a dungeon-crawl hack-and-slash game. But for action-RPG gamers looking for battles, we have plenty, and the enemies are fun to beat ;)

As for "adventure elements", we do have a few messenger tasks, but theyÂ're side quests. The main quests are all adventure :)

Q: Whom do we actually get to play in the game?

LC: At the start of the game, you can choose to play as either Maya or Agila, two children of the missing Datu Maktan, tribal chief of Maroka. We donÂ't have a party system so you can only play one character at one time - however, there are instances that other NPCs join you along the way, but you canÂ't control them.

What makes our game unique is that Maya and Agila have different stories - AgilaÂ's story is more combat-oriented, while Maya is more puzzle-oriented. They have separate main quests, so if you finish one characterÂ's game you can play the other character and have a totally different gaming experience. (So itÂ's not like you play the entire game over and just changed your gender.) The general plot (of your father missing and the land on the verge of war) is the same, and Maya and Agila will see each other along the way. To find out the entire story itÂ's best that you play both characters.

Q: What about classes? Will the main protagonist slowly improve all of his/her stats and skills, thus being an allround character or does one have to specialize and choose a certain path sooner or later?

LC: ThereÂ's no class or specialization in Â"˜AnitoÂ' - each character has stats and skills that can be upgraded. Stat ups and skill ups are earned either through combat or as quest rewards. Maya and Agila have different starting attributes, since their roles are generally different (AgilaÂ's the warrior and MayaÂ's the clairvoyant, to put it loosely). The player can choose to put all his/her points in one area or skill, if s/he wishes (I usually put all my points in Strength, to give a whopper fight ;)

Q: What skills are there to be learned/upgraded?

LC: We have four upgradeable player attributes (Strength, Agility, Health, and Chakra) and 28 upgradeable skills. (Â"˜ChakraÂ' here refers to whatÂ's usually called magic points [MP].)

Our skill system is loosely based on the Indian Â"˜chakraÂ' system - chakras are energy centers of the body, that when tapped can give enormous amounts of power. In Â"˜AnitoÂ' we have seven chakras, each chakra having four skills each.

Some skills are passive, like Â"˜AvoidÂ' (raises defense temporarily) or Â"˜Aim (increases probability of a fatal hit). Some are charged and combine with your attack, like Â"˜StunÂ'. Some are targeted, like Â"˜SlowÂ' or Â"˜CharmÂ' (on enemies), or Â"˜HealÂ' (on yourself or allies. Well, you can heal enemies too, but why would you? ;). Some are cast, like Â"˜SummonÂ' (summoning forest creatures to fight for you), Â"˜ProjectÂ' (creating mirror images of yourself), or Â"˜AstralÂ' (doing invisible astral travel to escape from enemies or traps).

Character Screen  Battle

Q: Let's talk about the battle system. The game features 2D/isometric view, however, the player is controlling his character via WASD/mouse scheme. How does that actually work? How do you aim?

LC: You move your character using FPS controls (WASD), not through clicking the mouse where you want to go. Besides examining / interacting with items and people, the mouse is used for attacking (melee and ranged) during combat. When youÂ're using a melee weapon, left-click is for the primary attack and right-click is for the secondary attack of that weapon. If youÂ're using a ranged weapon like a bow or a gun, holding left-click will aim and releasing it will shoot. The right-click is for quick melee attacks when an enemy gets too close to you. During combat, the player will always look in the direction of the mouse, so you can scout the area around you.

It may sound confusing at first, but itÂ's pretty intuitive once you start playing it :)

Q: It was earlier mentioned that one probably won't find traditional spells such as fireball and the like in Anito. What kind of magic are we going to see and how does it work?

LC: As mentioned above, we use a chakra system instead of having the usual magic spells. There are seven chakras, each relating to one part of the body. The lowest level (the brown Â"˜Earth ChakraÂ') has passive combat skills like Ranged [weapons] and Defense, while the highest level (the white Â"˜Divine ChakraÂ') has the most powerful magic skills like Teleport and Sleep. Gamers will definitely experience something new here. See my above answers for the different types of skills and how they are used.

Q: How is the battle system working in general? What kind of weapons and specials are there? Can you equip every item or do you have to be specialized?

LC: First, we donÂ't use an automatic one-click attack system where you click once and then wait till the enemyÂ's beaten into submission. In Â"˜AnitoÂ', one click equals one strike - the reason for this is we have a strategic battle system where the player must choose the best attack to defeat an enemy. You can choose between a melee and a ranged weapon, a primary and secondary attack with your melee weapon, and combine skills together in combat.

Many of our weapons are named after ethnic weaponry. Some weapons have secondary attacks and some are stronger in one type of attack. We also have some special weapons and armor that give the player bonus points in Strength, Agility, Health, or Chakra. You can equip any kind of item since we donÂ't have specialization in the game.

Q: You're supposed to be able to target specific body parts of your enemy in the battle. How do you do that during the battle?

LC:  The player wonÂ't be able to target a specific part per se - itÂ's more of a probability of where you or your opponent will hit. Some enemies have higher probability to hit a certain body part - assassins, for example, are more likely to use head shots to kill you. If the player is hurt in the legs, s/heÂ'll walk slower. If the player is hurt in the head, well, s/heÂ's dead. ;) You can have a higher probability of making a critical shot by upgrading certain skills.

(In the original design of Â"˜AnitoÂ', it was possible for the player to target each body part of the opponent, but we decided to remove it for the current design since it added unnecessary hassle for the player.)

Q: Anito is currently being beta-tested. How's the test going so far? Still lots of tweaks to apply here and there or is it more or less bug hunt now?

LC: We donÂ't have an internal QA center so we rely on outside testers to help us out. WeÂ've been getting good feedback from our beta testers - they like the game so far, and canÂ't wait to have the full version (since our beta doesnÂ't contain the last chapter of each character). But yes, the bugs keep on coming, although only a handful now that weÂ've been testing it for what seems like forever. We still have two weeks till we go gold, so weÂ're just tweaking it to be as bug-free as humanly possible.

Q: Is there an external publisher for the game or are you going to distribute it on your own? Where and how is Anito going to be available?

LC: Locally we'll be publishing and distributing it ourselves, since the game industry in the Philippines is not really that huge. Right now we're still negotiating with publishers to license (and/or localize) 'Anito' abroad,particularly in North America and Europe. (As you may have heard, Logrus and 1C have agreed to do that for us in Russia.) Just in case our licensing deal isn't finished yet by November 22 (our local release date), you may be ableto purchase the game online, either on our website or on a partner site, plus shipping.

Q: Do you already have an idea about what Anino could/will work on once Anito is finished?

LC: We have a few game ideas lined up already. Some are confidential, but what I can tell you is that weÂ're also releasing a mobile version of Â"˜AnitoÂ' called Â"˜Anito: TersiagoÂ's WrathÂ'. Developed by another local company (ePLDT), itÂ's somewhat like a prequel to the PC version, and you play as Tersiago (the PC villain) on his quest to find the Anito. Â"˜Anito: TersiagoÂ's WrathÂ' will be released for the Nokia series 60 phones. WeÂ're also finishing a game for the Palm O.S (not Anito related), a puzzle game called Nucleus. ItÂ's also due for release soon, so weÂ'll be posting updates on our website about that.

Q: What games have you played recently? Anything you're looking forward to?

LC: IÂ'm currently playing Final Fantasy X on the PS2, and have yet to finish Dark Cloud 2 on the PS2, Shenmue 2 on the Dreamcast, and WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne and Freedom Force on the PC. Once I finish some or all of these, IÂ'm off to buy Knights of the Old Republic and Disgaea. And I canÂ't wait for XIII and Half-Life 2. :) [IÂ'm a late gamer, and a female at that, so my taste is kind of eclectic.]

Thanks a lot for answering our questions!

If you want to know more about Anino Entertainment and Anito, head over to their official website.

- Spunior

Comments

Sounds interesting Spunior!

Thanks!  Im sure most of us would have had this pass completely under our radar!

It does sound pretty interesting. If nothing else, the setting should make it stand out a bit. Any word on a demo?

I'll be expecting a GWJ review when the time comes, of course.

I think it's cool that GWJ is getting these type of interviews and it's cool you're picking up small game makers that don't usually get press.  Good interview!