Kiwi musician's Maori gaming concept given green light

A unique gaming concept out of Rotorua could see people worldwide interacting with centuries of Maori and Polynesian legends and history.

Rio Hemopo-Hunuki, bassist for Trinity Roots, is the mastermind behind the new venture which recently received $50,000 in funding through Te Puni Kokiri's Ka Hao: Maori Digital Technology Development Fund.

Titans of Aotearoa is a third-person action adventure game that follows the main character Toa, as he makes his way across Polynesian islands, alongside mythological heroes such as Maui.

The series will be made up of 10 games, with each focused on a period of Maori and Polynesian legend and history, including crossing the Pacific, discovering Aotearoa and the British colonisation of New Zealand.

The majority of the dialogue will be in te reo Maori with the settings based in historically accurate locations.

"The three foundations of the game are authenticity, accuracy and integrity. We want to make a fun, entertaining game, but also be able to repurpose it as an educational tool," Hemopo-Hunuki said.

"There is real depth in these stories so we're not trying to rush this out.

"Based on the people I've talked to, the gaming community is looking for something else, a different perspective from the last 20 years of gaming, which has been largely Japanese and Eurocentric.

"We haven't seen anything like this come from a Polynesian perspective."

Hemopo-Hunuki said the gaming platform was an amazing way to tell a story.

"It's hands-on. It will see people all around the world interacting with these legends and the history of Polynesian and Maori people."

He said the series was hopefully just the beginning of a multimedia franchise.

"The game comes first but then we want to look at an animated series, movies, figurines - the possibilities are endless."

The target audience would be mature gamers, because of some of the "dark story lines".

Titans of Aotearoa was one of three Rotorua projects to be given the green light by Te Puni Kokiri and Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell.

The other two projects were the production of a digital cartoon in te reo Maori and programmes through Digital Natives Academy aimed at helping build digital pathways for Maori.