Shieny Aprilia, Co-Founder Agate Studio Shares Many Stories about Akarmaut: Rootmare and Indie Games

Recently, Agate announced the launch plans for their latest game, Akarmaut: Rootmare, at the Baparekraf Game Prime 2024 event. Shieny Aprilia then discussed the game further and provided comments and suggestions about the development of indie games in Indonesia.

At the Game Prime 2024 event held at Mall Taman Anggrek, West Jakarta, last Saturday, Shieny Aprilia, Co-Founder of Agate Studio, shared a lot of information about their latest game, Akarmaut: Rootmare, and gave her views on the indie game industry in Indonesia.

Akarmaut: Rootmare Launched with Two Different Names for Local and International Markets

According to Shieny, this game actually has two different names, namely Akarmaut for the Indonesian market and Rootmare for the international market. She also explained that Akarmaut: Rootmare is a game that combines elements of psychological-thriller and horror with a beautiful aesthetic touch.

"Actually, our latest game has two names. In Indonesia, we call it Akarmaut, while for the international market, we are likely to use the name Rootmare."

"This game is actually a blend of psychological-thriller and horror. However, what we want to offer through Rootmare or Akarmaut is beautiful horror. So, we can call it beautiful horror. Our inspiration comes from popular films or other media with similar themes."

"So, this game has a horror atmosphere, but with a beautiful and attractive appearance, creating a creepy impression. We believe that in the game industry, there are still many underserved markets that have a demand for games with this theme. Therefore, we decided to create this game," she said.

While producing Akarmaut: Rootmare, the Agate team faced several challenges when using Unreal Engine as their game engine

In the process of creating Akarmaut: Rootmare, the Agate team chose to use Unreal Engine as their game engine. However, Shieny revealed that her team faced various challenges while using Unreal Engine to develop the game.

"We faced several challenges when using Unreal Engine. First, the learning resources for Unreal Engine are still not as many as those available for other engines. Therefore, our team had to work harder to resolve the emerging issues."

"However, on the other hand, our team at Agate Academy is also trying to fill that gap by enhancing learning capabilities. For example, one of our team members has become a Unreal Authorized Instructor since last year. And earlier this year, Agate Academy became an Unreal Authorized Partner, so we can be trainers for other studios that want to adopt Unreal Engine."

"Thus, we hope to help not only our internal team but also other studios that want to use Unreal Engine in the future," she said.

According to Shieny, Akarmaut: Rootmare will feature elements of Indonesian culture, but in a more subtle and not too striking way. These elements will be presented in a more understated manner, allowing players to enjoy a more mature gaming experience.

"Actually, there are quite a few Indonesian elements in Akarmaut: Rootmare. For instance, there are graffiti that uses the Indonesian language. However, these elements will not be displayed explicitly, but rather in a more subtle way."

"So, the elements will be presented in a more understated way, but still make Indonesian players feel that this game was made by Indonesians. Therefore, we hope that Indonesian culture and identity will be increasingly recognized on the international stage," she added.

Currently, Akarmaut: Rootmare is only available on the Steam platform, according to Shieny

Although Akarmaut: Rootmare is currently only available on Steam, Shieny said that they are very open to considering other opportunities to expand the reach of the game. "We are currently only on Steam, but we are very open to the opportunity to bring this game to consoles. We have a team that specializes in porting games to consoles, so we hope to get that opportunity soon and make Rootmare available on various platforms," she added.

Shieny shares her views and gives advice to indie game developers in Indonesia

She expressed her surprise at the rapid development of indie games in Indonesia. According to her, there are now many game studios with increased production capabilities and quality.

"It's amazing. It means we have been in this industry for 15 years, and I didn't expect that we could develop this fast. I didn't even expect we could reach this stage, where there are more and more game studios and especially this year, I see the production capability and quality has significantly improved," she added.

At the same time, she also emphasized the importance of innovation in local indie game products to compete with major game studios and publishers in the industry. According to her, the key to success lies in the ability to create innovative products.

"The key, actually, many things are needed. But the most crucial is ultimately innovation in the product itself."

Because she believes that the gap for Indonesian developers in terms of production and execution is no longer that far apart. However, the decision to determine the game to be made is what she considers a significant challenge.

"So, when determining what kind of game to create, which I think is very crucial. Because I think Indonesian developers are no longer significantly behind in terms of production and execution."

"But rather, determining what game to make is something that seems challenging not only for Indonesian developers, but developers everywhere. Because it starts from nothing, suddenly we want to make this game."

"So, this requires multidimensional capabilities, from business aspects, as well as from game design, art, visual, also in terms of visibility, and technically as well. That's why, in the end, that is the real key, and once they have the capability to determine the right product, other aspects such as funding or attracting talent should follow."

"Because if the product is good, of course, there will be publishers or investors who will be interested. Also, human resources, if the product is convincing and has business visibility because, for example, there is a budget and so on, it should be quite easy to attract talent," concluded Shieny Aprilia

Source: GGWP