Filipino themed game?

I think this last sentiment is correct -- if the gameplay is good, an original theme will help (and be a good sales point) distinguish your game in an crowded marketplace.

Congrats on your other game.

It might not have the immediate fanbase that a game with a Japanese theme would have, but that market is also FLOODED. The Filipino market is, as you have pointed out, is pretty untapped. If the game is well-designed, you could market the game as also a way of introducing people to a foreign/exotic culture.

Good luck!

Simply because I know nothing of your culture and I've never seen a game that claims a Filipino theme, I would at the very least pick it up and look at it. At that point, it has to be fun, but at least you've gotten your foot in the door. There are lots of possibly great games I haven't even looked at because they were based on a theme that's been done to death, so I didn't even bother.

I say go for it!

I grew up in Hawaii (so a lot of my friends were Filipino, Samoan, Tongan, Okinawan, and Japanese), and while I love fantasy, I didn't hear much about Filipino fantasy creatures growing up. This means that if I saw the game, I'd be thinking, "Huh: that's new," and I'd want to take a look at it.

Similar to what Zag and others mentioned earlier, I think it gives you a niche that will appeal to people beyond the Filipino community and those outside of it because we're used to seeing games that follow European/traditional high fantasy. The game I'm designing intentionally integrates a variety of Eastern and Western mythical traditions because it's wildly different from what people normally see.

I'd say go for it!

Hi! I think this will be the first time for me to comment in bgdf because most of the time I just lurk and I'm still quite new to the site. I'm a Filipino game designer and I've lived in Manila all my life. My game design group also wanted to make a Filipino folklore tabletop game some time ago but we shelved it for now because we became busy with other projects.

Others have already said that as long as the game has fun mechanics then the theme won't be a hindrance to the game and could even be an exotic selling point. I agree and I am all for making Filipino games. However, I want to say that you have to be careful in designing the game so that it doesn't misrepresent Philippine culture. The problem with Philippine culture is that it is not well known (as seen by the replies of others). Even in the Philippines itself our own folklore is not well known. This makes it very vulnerable to being misunderstood and misrepresented.

For example, if you take the typical western high fantasy rpg and you replace all the monsters with aswang, tikbalang and other creatures of lower Philippine mythology, you are essentially still playing a western high fantasy game that has just been re-skinned. If you want to make a Filipino game, I suggest you have to delve deep into Philippine culture and psyche: what is the mindset of a typical Filipino? What are their goals in life? What do they strive for? What do they eat? What are the challenges in life that they go through? What do they live and die for? There are so many other things that make up a culture. If you can really delve into those details, you might even find inspiration for new game mechanics and you'll make something truly unique.

For example, a game where the creatures of Philippine mythology are enemies seems very western to me at its core because many mythological creatures here are not really seen as evil things to be vanquished but as entities you respect and just have to live in coexistence with. It's similar to Japanese culture where you live with spirits instead of trying to dominate them. They're not dragons you go on quests to kill.

I'm sorry if I assume you don't know too much about Philippine culture. I'm just basing my assumption on what you said that you are very Americanized. Ask your parents and your other relatives how life was back here before they migrated. I'm sure you already have lots of insights about Philippine culture from your family. Why they migrated is in itself already a great starting point to delve into Philippine culture because lots of Filipinos leave the country.

I suggest don't go first into pre-colonial culture because even that is difficult for us to research and we are already in the Philippines. The Spanish did a pretty good job of erasing most records of pre-colonial culture. I'd suggest you go into today's culture which is still very much alive with supernatural and paranormal beliefs. Especially in the provinces beliefs in aswang are still solid. By keeping it modern you can also explore our own strain of Folk Catholicism which is something very interesting when you pair it up with aswang, multo, duwende and other creatures. If you haven't read it yet, I'd recommend you read the paranormal noir comic Trese by Budjette Tan.

Hope this helps :) I'd also be happy to share research and insights with you :) If you need more information, I'd gladly help (as long as I can squeeze it in my schedule somewhere).

Oh btw our game company is called Balangay Entertainment which you can find here (www.facebook.com/BalangayEnt). We haven't had the time to setup our own website yet :)

It is my feeling that telling people that you are creating a specifically Filipino themed game would be a mistake.
Creating it would be great and I'd love to play it; telling people that you are creating a game which draws on a particular culture/mythology would make it very attractive to people who are interested in that culture and to people like me who are into mythology/tradition from various parts of the world. Others will overlook an otherwise interesting game because they don't want “a history lesson”. This is sad.

My advice is that you make the game as you would, perhaps you could go further than just making Filipino monsters and add mythological weapons and or spells/heroic abilities? Tell people that it is unique and they will go crazy over it. Later, someone will look up one of the monsters or something like that and they'll say “hey, this is from Filipino mythology, all of it!” hopefully by then it will be established that your game is fun to play and interesting, this will make your chosen mythology/tradition fun and interesting. If you reinterpret some aspects it will be because you were making a fun interesting game and people who take things way too seriously will be glad that you made the game (making their particular field of interest popular and suddenly making them seem fun and interesting), they will be delighted that you give them the opportunity to correct you by telling people that things in mythology/tradition are a little different to the way you portrayed them in the game, but this won't be criticism, just some “look how clever I am”.
The alternative, as I see it is that the game only appeals to a small group who were interested in that specific tradition/mythology to begin with and among them there will be those who criticise you for “getting it wrong” - that is offering an interpretation of things which differs from their own interpretation.

Well, whatever you do, please do make the game. Even if (as with Japanese or Irish, etc mythology/traditions) it one day becomes so popular as a theme in popular culture that people actually end up avoiding “just another Filipino game”, your game will be remembered as the one which made it all happen.

I would love to see this game. So many board games focus on only the biggest cultures like Japan or Ancient Rome, it'd be wonderful to see something that looks at something new and can help people connect to their heritage.

Sorry, I'm doing that again, I'm a deeply sarcastic person but it doesn't always come across well on the internet!
If I make a suggestion it's your choice whether you want to use it or not, similarly, if I make an observation it is up to you how seriously you want to take it. Normally it is best to use a desatruation filter and assume that I don't nessesarily mean it seriously.

Off topic: I see nature spirits, ghosts, angels, etc all the time and I'm nobody's definition of either pure or good, but I'm not a Filipino so I'll just shut up and try not to subvert your discussion. :P