He Ao Hou (A New World)

“He Ao Hou” is a point-and-click adventure game, set in the far future, when your people, the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), have attained the next level of navigation: space travel. While your grandfather, a great navigator, is on his deathbed, your sister has gone missing. Entrusted with your grandfather’s space canoe, you set out to find her, along the way meeting interesting individuals and learning about their relationships to their planets. Each encounter leaves you with new knowledge that brings you closer to finding your sister.

The gameplay is based on Kanaka Maoli stories and knowledge, and focuses in particular on the uses of the native kukui nut, itself a symbol of knowledge. On the water planet you learn that you can use the kukui to clarify water that is cloudy, thus finding a helpful shark. On the lava planet, you use it to make a torch that lights your way. On the plant planet, you use the kukui as a projectile, hitting the boar-like, eight-eyed demi-god, Kamapua’a, to wake him up.

In “He Ao Hou”, the creators aimed to create a universe, characters, music, puzzles and art style that reflected Hawaiian values of kinship and sustainability, as well as history and culture. Told in the Hawaiian language (with both Hawaiian and English subtitles), the story is an original melding of ancient myth, present-day lived experience and, most importantly, hopes for the future.

“He Ao Hou” is the result of the unique Skins Workshops on Aboriginal Storytelling and Video Game Design, three-week intensives for Indigenous youth offered by an Aboriginally-determined team of designers, artists, technologists, and educators. The workshops combine traditional storytelling with technical training in digital media production. Our main goal is to empower Indigenous youth to see themselves as producers, not simply consumers, of new media.