Jamaica is a country well known for its reggae music, Bob Marley, Usain Bolt, and coffee. But other than that, little is known. Even though it is an island country located in Central America, it is often misunderstood that it is Africa. Although some cultural features are distinct, little is known regarding the country itself. This is not just a story limited to Korea.
To this end, Jamaican artists strive to convey their country in various ways. The well-known dancehall culture has attracted thousands of artists to Jamaica, many of whom are telling their own stories in their own way.
‘Street Boy’, introduced by Game Mecca a while ago, is also a game made by two brothers who want to tell more stories regarding Jamaica and deliver a message. They said they started making Street Boys to improve Jamaica’s reality and for a better future for children. How did the blue sea and clear tropical scenery make an impressive street look? Game Mecca met Akim Penny Cook, the CEO of Willow Tree Studios, the developer, and shared various stories regarding games with Jamaica.
The story of Arlinton, an ordinary boy from Jamaica.
Street Boy, who pursues a third-person adventure open world game, revolves around a 14-year-old boy Arlinton who loses his parents in an accident. Set in a fictional small community in Portland, Jamaica, the main content is to raise money by doing various chores to pay for the next semester’s tuition. Still, it does not focus on the story of a single boy, but rather depicts Jamaican culture, landscape, local community and reality.
The game’s story focuses on the reality of the Jamaican children represented by Arlinton. A world where honesty is sometimes a danger in poor security. These are the children who are working hard in their own way to continue their studies and live in the midst of it. In fact, if you look at Arlinton’s life and daily life in the game, he builds and decorates a cart that can pick up antiques and garbage, runs around town, chats with his friends, and sometimes encounters a gang boss who uses these children to do bad things.
This is fiction, but it is fiction that reflects reality. In fact, the developer has put Jamaican culture and daily life in all the elements that appear in the game. The environment was built using the developer’s own experiences, memories, and memories as a reference, and designs such as industrial products that actually exist in Jamaica were reflected in order to bring out a sense of reality. This is the developer’s strategy to deliver Jamaica’s appearance and gameplay at the same time. Drinks, sweets, cans, and fruits that are familiar to Jamaicans are common elements in our daily life, so it is even more emotional.
We didn’t set up a device that gives realism only to the elements in the game. ‘Jamaica Patwa’, a unique English Creole language used in Jamaica, was introduced to bring the local atmosphere to the voice. Akim said, “If I can afford the development cost, I would like to support various languages, such as Korean, Portuguese, Japanese, and Indonesian, in addition to English.
From creating Jamaica’s first cultural game
Street Boy is a world created by two Jamaican brothers, Akim Pennycook and Tyrek Pennycook. In Jamaica, which is near a barren land for game development, he is struggling to release a game by communicating and having conversations with developers from various countries.
The third world boy’s survival story may sound barren at first glance, but the overall mood of the game is bright. Alyn Turn, running on his cart and running with a water gun, looks like an ordinary kid. This is the developer’s intention. This is because I wanted to emphasize the power of positivity and the importance of education through games so that children from the poorest classes in Jamaica, who grow up in a cycle of violence and become insensitive to it, can choose a different direction.
Akim has been developing since 2017 by doing everything she can for Street Boy, including developing both the main job and the development, and hiring outsourced personnel for a short time whenever necessary. Currently, regarding 70% of the demo version for introducing the game has been completed. However, he said that he is in the stage of taking a break for initial financing through investment due to the practical problem of capital.
Akim’s dream is to open a proper game studio. Starting with Street Boy, his goal is to open a full-fledged video game development studio, and help young people unleash their creativity by creating meaningful games. And this goal is the driving force behind his development.
“Jamaica has had a huge impact on the world, especially in music and sports,” Akim said. “With Street Boy, we hope we can do the same in the gaming industry. Our goal is to influence and help at-risk youth through our technology and creations,” Akim said. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our story,” he concluded the interview.
Hopefully, the story the two brothers from Jamaica want to tell will be completed in a good form, reaching many people and making a positive impact. In addition, I hope that the brothers’ courageous challenge will set the game development industry in Jamaica, so that more Jamaican youth can dream of becoming a game developer.
