Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 10, 1 October 2017 — Social issues inspire Hawaiian game designer [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Social issues inspire Hawaiian game designer

ENEHANA ^ TECHNOLOGY f

By Treena Shapiro Video game developer Christian Miller didn't set "Neofeud" in Hawai'i but his point-and-click adventure game is colored by the social inequality he experienced growing up and teaching in urban O'ahu. As a child, Miller straddled two worlds, living in working class Kalihi Valley while

attending private Catholic schools Maryknoll and Star of the Sea tuition-free as a teacher's son. Among his affluent classmates, Miller

felt singled out and a little bullied. "I grew up in a plaee where my best friends were in housing, eating pork and beans every day, with no slippahs or broken slippahs, living 20 to a house. It was all tin roofs," recalls Miller.

Drawing a distinction " between his disparate worlds, Miller noted that the private schools banned dodgeball but in

Kalihi, "We played dodgeball with a rock." Miller earned a computer science degree from the University of Hawai'i in 2008 and worked for a few loeal video game companies before his science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) background and

sense of social justice drew him to teaching. Through the Hawai'i Technology Academy and later the Hawai'i Community Action Program, Miller provided instruction in programming and design, trained teachers

and offered tutoring and competency-based diploma preparation in underprivileged communities including Pālolo, Wai'anae, Kāne'ohe and his hometown, Kalihi. The kids Miller worked with dealt with a number of challenges - some never saw their parents,

others were abused or dealing with drugs and violence. "A large percentage of them were living in horrible conditions, 30 percent were homeless, living in vans, sleeping on sidewalks," described Miller, who had the difficult job of convincing them all to show up to class anyway. "Neofeud" is a reflection of Miller's experiences with extreme inequality, addressing issues like racism and classism. "I was originally going to make a game where you're just running around shooting people - a strong, white guy saving a hot girl - but I don't want to live in a world where that's all there is," he said. Instead, he created a dystopian feudal society where defective but sentient machines are stripped of their rights and hidden in a landfill. "The main character is a social worker trying to socialize these secondhand citizens called conscious machines," he said. Miller, 34, a cyberpunk fan who met his wife at a meet-and-greet with "Neuromancer" author William Gibson in Vancouver, B.C., was drawn to the science fiction subgenre because he could see his life reflected in its themes. Cyberpunk's futuristic dystopias eschew superhero and CEO protagonists, preSEE MILLER ON PAGE 17

Christian Miller uses his leeh skills in afterschool programs for urban youth. - Photo: Courtesy

The castle in "Neofeud" is inspired by 'lolani Palaee. - lmage: Youīube

MILLER Continued from page 16 ferring street smart and tech-savvy underdogs who sometimes play fast and loose with the law. Miller compares "Neofeud" to the movie "Blade Runner," with a main character modeled after Honolulu-born actor Jason Momoa. Miller didn't incorporate Native Hawaiian themes into "Neofeud," fearing they would ring hollow.

But if his first game is a success, he hopes to have the luxury of designing a game with a direct eonneehon to his heritage: "Hawaiians are the greatest voyaging people. Why shouldn't they be the brave explorers going through space?" ■ "Neofeud" by Silver Spook Games launeheā on the online game platform Steam on Sept. 19. For more information or to buy the game, visit store.steampowered. com/app/673850/Neofeud.