Not many Malaysian game studios are renowned internationally. How would you describe the state of Malaysian game development right now?Mel Law, Game Co-Director:
The game dev industry is fairly young with a few successful mobile games already released. However, the console and PC games scene is still growing steadily. Currently in Malaysia and throughout South East Asia, there’s a handful of exciting games that are currently in the works, so do keep an eye out!
What does it feel like to represent Malaysian game development?
Mel: To be honest, we didn’t set out to create a game as a way to represent Malaysia. Apart from making game assets and art, we’re actually fairly new to game development. We anticipated our game development journey to be more of an experimental learning process for our team, and didn’t put too much expectation on how people will view the final product. It wasn’t until we had the core game loop developed that we realized that the game had potential, so we continued to push from there. I’m glad that players enjoyed the game, and we are truly humbled that people viewed GigaBash as one of the spearheads of the Malaysian games industry.
Many members of Passion Republic Games have experience providing outsourcing services for AAA titles. How did that work prepare the team to create its own studio and game?
Mel: Throughout the years, we had the great fortune of working with multiple AAA studios to create concept art, game assets, and animation. As every studio handles its project differently, we got the chance to pick up different methods and tools that best fit our team and scope. It really helped us to improve our workflow, as well as how we would manage and plan for art production.
What inspired the development of the team’s first game, GigaBash?
Aiken Tow, Game Co-Director: We were captivated by our childhood fantasy of becoming a giant monster and rampaging in a bustling city. We were inspired by classic Tokusatsu films such as Godzilla and various games from back in the days, such as War of Monsters and Power Stone. We love the chaotic joy that comes from senselessly beating each other up and wreaking utter mayhem. Those emotions are what we seek to recreate in our game.
Source: Unreal Engine Blog