We are pleased to announce the successful applicants for this year’s Whakawhanake Te Ao Niko - Interactive Development Fund.
Whakawhanake Te Ao Niko - Interactive Development Fund supports concept development of original, narrative-focused, interactive and games content delivered on any platform (including mobile, online, console as well as virtual, augmented and mixed reality).
The funding provided will allow the teams to develop an interactive concept, including creative material such as story and design, that may form the basis of a playable prototype suitable for accessing the appropriate marketplace to seek project financing.
ATUA - Piki Films
Many years ago gender and sexuality diverse Pasifika gods were sidelined by the introduction of Christianity to Pacific society. ATUA brings these deities to life in large scale AR monuments to retell lost mythology in contemporary urban reality.
Seedlings - Peter Bardsley
In the forests of New Zealand, sentient seeds have started to appear. Play as a seed and control different plant creatures with unique abilities. Solve puzzles to work your way through the forest while humanity tries to understand the situation.
Shadow Work - Raqi Syed & Areito Echevarria
Shadow Work is a narrative focused, 3rd Person action adventure game. A young woman and her father are confronted by her doppelgänger. When her father embraces the copy and banishes her, she must battle supernatural forces and confront herself.
Arid - Project Limbus
Explore a desert wasteland, complete puzzles, help the spirits of former denizens restore water to the desert; and learn that restoration doesn't mean a return to how things were.
ShelfLife - Thomas Barrer
Recovering from an accident, a non-binary art student begins dreaming of a parallel dimension populated by manifestations of their internal struggles. They must overcome these experiences to find balance in their relationships, schoolwork and life.
Tuwhiri - ARA Journeys
A geo-location mobile game that uses XR to reveal the local stories that make our places special.
The Last Kauri - Melissa Haydon / Weta Workshop
Journey as the last healthy Kauri cone in a diseased land. Encounter a cast of charming characters, each also burdened by ecological catastrophes. Take small incremental actions that make a big difference.
The Last Mountain - Midnight Pixel Studios
A narrative game about a father and son wandering down the back of their 80’s Kiwi farm on a warm summer's day, battling goblins, hunting pirate treasure and uncovering ancient alien artefacts along the way.
Te Karere - Tamati Luther Kawha
After witnessing an allied tribe defect to the enemy, a gifted messenger (Karere) must hastily journey through a number of once loyal sub-tribes and warn his/her Chief of the mass betrayal and imminent invasion.