The game’s commercial prospects seemed slim when the publisher passed on Venba, but the public’s desire for a deeply personal cooking game proved the tastemakers wrong.
Bemba is a cooking game where you play as an Indian immigrant mother in 1980s Canada. This is an adventure story that explores themes of love and family against the backdrop of cooking South Indian cuisine and restoring lost recipes.
Following his success at the Game Developers Choice Awards and the IGF Awards, Abhi, a designer, programmer, and writer at Visai Games, gave the following insightful talk at GDC: BembaThe journey from conception to release.
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a well-deserved award Bemba It suggests that the game had a winning blend of elements from the beginning. However, as Abi explains, the project evolved significantly over time, and many publishers were initially skeptical of its prospects.
“From the beginning, it was about very specific emotions,” Abi says. “In early 2020, when I was at my parents’ house, my mom was fussing about food, which was very normal for her. In South Asian culture, especially for South Asian mothers, It got me thinking about why food plays such an important role.I feel like media produced by the diaspora often focuses on the second generation, the assimilated children. It does not embody unassimilated immigrant parents.”
Abi notes that parent characters often overemphasize accents and behavioral metaphors. He was keen to show the other side of this, saying parents who moved the country in their 30s or 40s probably have the most interesting stories to tell.
“The idea that a mother, who has sacrificed so much for her family, is passing it on to her son through the language of food was very profound to me. It’s the lens of South Indian cuisine that I’m very, very fascinated with. It was very exciting to be able to convey this through.”
Abi began developing the idea for the game with artist and friend Sam Elkana. They both worked at his mobile gaming company and wanted to find funding to start and develop a new studio. Bemba full time. While juggling these responsibilities, Abi began teasing ideas and elements for the game on her social media.
“I started posting little GIFs and bits and pieces on Twitter and saw a lot of response and interest. So I really thought this game was as special as I thought it would be. It felt like we were gaining a lot of momentum and it gave us confidence. So I started reading articles like “How do I start an indie game?” and it was basically about verticals. The consensus was to build a directional slice. You want to show it to publishers and raise money. So that’s exactly what we were planning. ”
Prepare a small playable slice and suggest it on a modest budget. Bemba We pitched to every publisher that answered the phone. After six months of no success, a message was becoming clear about the game’s commercial viability
“They weren’t sure if there was a market for a visual novel with cooking elements,” Abi explains. “And we weren’t so similar to other cooking games on the market that we could point to something and say, this is what it’s going to be, but it’s a little different.” And I understand why. BembaEven though the budget we were looking for was small, it was considered a risk. ”
Abi said that even though he thought the game was shaping up to be something special, the criticism stung and doubts about its quality began to creep in.
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Towards the end of 2020, Wholesome Games reached out to find out: Bemba It may be included in the winter direct showcase.
“It took us three weeks to make the trailer, and there was definitely not enough gameplay to make a whole trailer,” he reveals. “We felt like this was our last chance to get the game out. Most of what you see in the trailers won’t make it into the game, and if it does, it’ll be dramatically different. It still feels like a trailer.” does Bemba, I think it does a good job of capturing what players were promised for the game. On the day of the premiere, we never expected such a response. ”
The trailer was an instant hit and went viral. Bemba Joined the list of multiple most anticipated games. The preview was then reported across major gaming websites, and within a week, Abi received emails from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft inquiring about bringing the game to their platforms. As a result of the buzz, the emerging studio has also secured funding, including support from various Canadian arts funds.
“We were now at the point where we didn’t need a publisher,” Abi says. “So within a few months, Bemba We went from not being able to raise funds to not needing a publisher, to being profitable even before release. ”
Abi explains that the key points to note are: Mr. Venba The change in fortunes didn’t come about because of any major changes in the game itself. What changed, he says, was perception. The trailer and subsequent audience reaction proved that there was a market for this game, and this reduced the perceived level of risk from publishers and platform holders.
“I realized it was better to look at publishers as venture capitalists rather than creatives. “I think it would have been easier if I had just pitched things,” he jokes. “If it’s something new or different, I think it’s a little more risky for them.”
Abi added that when dealing with feedback from publishers, it’s wise not to internalize it too much.
“For a publisher to think the market isn’t ready for your game is not the same as whether the market is ready or not. actually I’m ready for the game,” he says.
As development got into full swing, Abhi and the team worked on improvements. Mr. Venba Core principles of gameplay. The concept of players restoring recipe books has been around since the beginning, but significant changes were made as the team sought to balance reliability and playability. At first, Abi says, the instructions were too simple and seemed like a long list of ingredients.
“I was so particular about wanting to capture the essence of these recipes that simplifying it didn’t seem like an option to me,” he explains. “Technically it’s a puzzle, but if you opened a recipe book and saw this, you’d be overwhelmed as a player. It didn’t really make for fun or interesting gameplay.”
“I didn’t know what to do here because I didn’t want to compromise on recipe reliability. And this obsession with reliability caused problems outside of recipe design as well.”
Remarkably, the inspiration for solving these challenges comes from the TV series. community. In the episode “Advanced Documentary Filmmaking”, the dean must create a commercial to promote her college, Greendale, and her community. Throughout the episode, the Dean gradually descends into insanity as the commercials become more and more elaborate and go over budget. For Abi, the parallels with game development were obvious.
“The deeper you go, the more BembaWith the development of , the relationship with the dean deepened, which is not a good sign. We both wanted the same thing, right? What we were making had to be perfect. For me, perfectionism wasn’t just a creative endeavor. It also felt like a moral responsibility because we’re dealing with authenticity and representation. ”
The episode ends with Abed’s character using fly-on-the-wall footage of the dean’s efforts to create a 30-second ad. The final result is not a work of art, but it does the job well.
“When the film is shown to the board, they say my favorite line from the show,” Abhi says. “They say, ‘That’s good.’ You know? It’s better than good. That’s good enough! That’s a very funny and good line to me, because how creatively bankrupt are they? They didn’t care at all whether the trailer was good or not. They just wanted it to be good enough. But it’s also a perfect paean to perfectionism, so And it became my motto that I repeated throughout development.”
“With that in mind, I let go of the idea that everything had to be 100% accurate. And I started simplifying things while still being reliable.”
Abhi uses the game’s Biryani level as an example to show how the mechanics have been changed to focus only on the cooking and mixing of ingredients, which is the most fun for players. Everything from grinding spices to marinating food is done in advance. This gave it the reliability it needed, but without overwhelming players.
“These kinds of compromises exist throughout the game, but it took us a long time to figure out how to do it properly. Reproducing everything exactly would result in boring, confusing, and costly gameplay.” ” says Abhi.
“Whenever you recreate something in a game, you have to go through a process of abstracting, simplifying, and stylizing it. These simplifications Bemba is not a game that you can play and not learn how to cook, but it is a game that will make you want to learn how to cook. And for me, I thought that was better than good. ”
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In terms of cooking, Bemba These are essential to the game’s goal of telling a simple but moving story about an immigrant mother and her relationship with her family and culture through the shared experience of food.
“We were worried that players would look at this very specific family story and mistakenly think it was a common experience across the culture,” Abi says. “But that’s not really a problem for me to solve. If I make his Venba about everything, it’s not really about anything. Bemba is an expression, but it is not representative of the culture it represents. that’s ok. I wanted to make this game because I wanted to tell a very special story. ”
The game’s producer, Sharin Khan, believed in the following concept: Bemba It will resonate with players, who will say, “It makes you want to call your mother.” Bemba It was released in July 2023 and received positive reviews and sales were strong. While critical and commercial success was undoubtedly welcomed, Abi feels that the most satisfying aspect was the emotional impact it had on players.
“Since the release, we have received so many kind and heartfelt messages that continue to this day. And yes, a lot of people called their moms,” Abhi admits.
“Some people impulsively booked plane tickets to go see their moms after playing.” Bemba. It has even become a genre of “This is the game I want to show my mom and play with her.” I never expected such an experience. ”
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