3 video games that are unapologetically Filipino

Technology

3. Sunday at the Memories

Benedict Villariaza of Dagitabsoft is a game developer specializing in visual novels and role-playing games. At the International Game Developers Association Manila Booth at ESGS 2017, he exhibited the visual novel “Sunday at the Memories.”

Set in present-day Philippines, “Sunday at the Memories” centers on a girl named Jacqueline Larossa. While listening to old songs on the radio every Sunday, Jacqueline finds herself reminiscing about the time she spent with a girl named Rayzelle Anne.

One day, said girl returns. While a reunion is definitely in order, certain complications arise, and things take an unexpected turn.

FromDagitabsoft

Villariaza wanted “Sunday at the Memories” to emphasize contemporary Filipino culture, thus he made the Pinoy habit of listening to oldies every Sunday a central element in the story.

“Sunday at the Memories” started out as a short story Villariaza wrote for an online fiction writing contest in 2010. He eventually expanded the story, “adding a second act to wrap up the plot.”

He submitted “Sunday at the Memories” to the 2017 Yuri Game Jam, whose goal was to create more games about romantic relationships between women. But because of the busy schedules of the artists and composers that Villariaza recruited to help develop the game, the team experienced a tough time getting everything done by the jam’s November 1 deadline.

The build they eventually presented had a couple of issues, such as character sprites not being completely shaded, a scarcity of event CGs (special images depicting significant events), and the absence of a song Villariaza wanted in the game.

"Sunday at the Memories" is inspired by Japanese visual novels that Villariaza got into visual novels thanks to three Japanese works:

“I’ve been a fan of visual novels ever since high school (2000), when I first stumbled upon the anime ‘To Heart,’ which is based on the visual novel of the same name. What inspired me to create my own were two more visual novels, ‘Narcissu’ and ‘Planetarian.’”

Villariaza hopes to create more games, refine his older ones, and one day go commercial and release his games on Steam and other popular PC game marketplaces.