If hand-drawn, side-scrolling adventure games are your jam, Afterlove EP is definitely one to keep an eye on. It comes from the makers of Coffee Talk, but instead of brewing beverages in a small café, this new title has you exploring Jakarta, Indonesia in an adventure about music and relationships.
How the developers of Afterlove EP continued the game after its creator's death
23.05.2024 - 13:39 / gamesindustry.biz
The difficulties of game development means it's not uncommon for the original creator to depart from the project before it's finished, for one reason or another. It's not often as tragic as is the case of Afterlove EP.
The music-centric narrative game was first announced in December 2021 on Nintendo's Indie World showcase. Just a few months later, the game's creative director Mohammed Fahmi passed away.
His sudden passing felt like a huge loss, especially as his breakout game Coffee Talk had made him a beacon for Indonesia's growing indie scene, while Pikselnesia, the studio he assembled for Afterlove EP, was also a remote team with people from across the country. It could have then been all too easy for it to all collapse afterwards but if anything, it was a catalyst for the surviving members to finish what Fahmi had started.
"We stopped work to grieve for three months and then we all agreed that our hearts could not let his vision go to waste and we had to finish the game, no matter what," says game director and programmer Dany.
After going under relative radio silence, Afterlove EP recently re-emerged at this year's LudoNarraCon with a free Steam demo, and a release window for Q3 2024. It would have nonetheless felt very raw given that the game's premise is also about grief and trying to move on after a loved one's untimely passing.
"In everything we've done [on Afterlove EP], we hold Fahmi close to our hearts and think about what he would say if he was here"
The cause of Fahmi's death had never been publicly confirmed, although Coffee Talk publisher Toge Productions had said he had been suffering from asthma. When Afterlove EP starts and players get a glimpse of protagonist's Rama relationship with Cinta, who also has signs of respiratory problems, followed by urgent messages on his phone that he receives too late, it's hard not to draw eerie parallels with what the team would have personally experienced.
"With Fahmi's passing, we were all experiencing the feeling that Rama feels and we understand what he is going through very intimately," says Dany. "It's hard to point to any specific elements where it has changed but in everything we've done, we hold Fahmi close to our hearts and think about what he would say if he was here."
But even with Fahmi's passing early in Afterlove EP's development, it wasn't as if the team was at a complete loss.
"One thing I like from working with Fahmi is that he doesn't leave anything in a grey area – either it's black or white," game producer Ivor Dwitomo explains. "He knew what he wanted for sure. The story outline was well documented before he passed away and the big direction decisions for Afterlove EP from start to end were very clear."
There was still a big task for
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