When most people think of video games, they think of American and Japanese companies like Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts. But how might smaller studios, located elsewhere or imaginatively based in other places, shape what video games can be? Taiwan is primarily known for its role in electronics manufacturing, but where is its creative place in the global video game community? In this first-ever games event in the Sounds, Screens & Stages from Taiwan series, we are pleased to welcome the co-founders of Analgesic Productions, Melos Han-Tani and Marina Kittaka, who created the games Anodyne (2013) and Even the Ocean (2016). Han-Tani and Kittaka will talk about their recently released game, Sephonie (April 2022), an innovative puzzle-platformer about three scientists of Taiwanese descent tasked with studying the ecology of a mysterious island. They will be joined by Dr. Alenda Chang (Film and Media Studies) and PhD candidate Patrick Fryberger (East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies) for a post-presentation discussion of their work, including Han-Tani’s All Our Asias (2018). The panel will also consider the still nascent Taiwanese game scene and its complicated cross-strait relations with China, given Taipei-based Red Candle Games’ mixed success with Detention (2017) and Devotion (2019).

Marina Ayano Kittaka is a Japanese American trans woman and multi-disciplinary artist working primarily as an independent video game developer. With creative partner Melos Han-Tani, she has created games such as Even the Ocean, IGF grand-prize nominee Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, and Sephonie, which follows the story of 3 shipwrecked researchers of Taiwanese descent. She is the author of the influential essay Divest from the Video Games Industry! and creator of the scrappy HTML blogging software Zonelets. Her blog and links can be found at marinakittaka.com

Melos Han-Tani (he/him) is a Tokyo-based game designer and composer of Japanese/Taiwanese/Irish descent, known for his work on All Our Asias, the Anodyne series and more! He enjoys writing stories and essays on his blog, https://melodicambient.neocities.org/, as well as reading and walking. He’s on Twitter at @han_tani.

Monday March 6, 2023 4pm-5:30pm PST

Join us via Zoom: https://bit.ly/3RviebW