These independent games shine the spotlight on Filipino arts, culture

MANILA, Philippines – Last year, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) launched different grants that “aim to generate original Intellectual Property (IP) content that reflects the country’s rich cultural heritage with its folktales, myths, and legends”.

With the program, CCP hoped to encourage local creative businesses, content developers, artists and students to create original content that featured Filipino culture.

Among the different grants was a Game Development Grant for the creation of a Filipino culture-inspired game, with the CCP helping developers by providing them access to the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art.

With the help of the CCP grant, these three games have highlighted different aspects of Filipino culture for the appreciation of a new generation of gamers.

Katakata Creatives’ “Kata” is a platforming adventure game that features different quirky characters, breathtaking locations, and traditional music all inspired by Filipino culture and arts. Players will help rebuild Kata’s bahay kubo and climb to the top of the Narra tree all the while partaking in different Filipino traditions.

“When the Cultural Center of the Philippines announced that they would be giving grants to projects that showcased Filipino arts and culture, [the team] pitched ‘Kata’ as a challenging and engaging platforming game that also presented Filipino culture. We decided to go all-in on the cultural aspect of the game and make it more of an educational game aimed towards students and pre-teens,” recalled Angelo Barrera, founder and CEO of Katakata Creatives in an interview with Philstar.com.

Also the creative director behind the game, Barrera shared that the center of Kata had always been Filipino arts and culture, and that showcasing these were the cornerstone that made Kata the game it is currently.

“One of our main considerations while designing the game was its timelessness — will it still be relevant five, 10, 15 years from now?” said Barrera.

This consideration eventually led the team to making Kata an educational game, hoping to work with the Department of Education (DepEd) to make the game accessible to students nationwide.

He adds, “We are aiming to be