An exciting initiative from Screen Australia, supported by the Federal government, has seen 27 game development projects one step closer to reaching eager gamers. From hundreds of applicants, two Canberra projects were selected for funding, one of these was Roots.

“It’s inspired by the concept of family trees, growing up, and the process of uncovering stories and history about your family that you didn’t know because they weren’t shared with you. We want it to be cosy and comforting but still confronting issues surrounding family histories and secrets,” says Chloe Brett, creative director.

The point-and-click puzzle game is one of the simpler game mechanics explains Ms Brett, she says it is like the games you used to play in the ‘90s. Like the Carmen Sandiego puzzle games, Ms Brett says Roots is a story-driven narrative.

“It’s a really good way for visual storytelling and narrative storytelling, ensuring the game doesn’t distract from the messages and the stories that you’re trying to tell. All the players do is point and click the mouse.”

Receiving $30,000 from the Emerging Gamemakers Fund will allow Ms Brett, art director Alyce Warmington, lead designer Harry Lynch and lead programmer Adam Pattrick, to create a demo. The money should cover the four of them being able to work part-time on the development for around eight weeks. However, Ms Brett expects the demo to take 10-12 weeks to complete.

“To make it as polished as we can. Hopefully, by July, that’s when the next round of funding opens. If we have the demo done, we could apply for the bigger grant which is up to $100,000,” says Ms Brett.

A large grant like the Screen Australia Games Production Fund would see the team through almost the rest of the development process, allowing them to devote six months to the game.

“I think even then development would go over that timeframe, that’s just how long it can take to make sometimes,” says Ms Brett. “The funding is so important because when you think about how long it can take just to make a nice sit down two/three-hour experience that’s really polished, you’re looking at over a year of development.”

The demo will be compatible with PCs, the hope is that it could be released for Nintendo Switch or PlayStation in the future. Leaning into the popularity of DNA and ancestry testing in the past decade, Roots explores family history and members offering you new perspectives and asking you to make decisions.

“There are few sort of pivotal moments where it’s like do I pursue this lead, do I let it go, do I tell this person what I found out, do I let them exist without that knowledge, would they be happier not knowing? A few major choices that you get to make that will have little consequences as you play the game,” says Ms Brett.

Always loving games and bonding with the family over playing them, Ms Brett says if you looked in her year six yearbook, it would say she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. Not seeing it as a viable career here in Canberra, she studied psychology. However, once she was done, she knew her passion was in art and enrolled in a two-year game course.

After graduating in 2017, Ms Brett says it was hard to break into the industry while living in Canberra as the action is generally in bigger cities or overseas. The past few years have been good for Australian developers with titles like Unpacking and Untitled Goose Game gaining great success internationally.

“I think it has piqued the interest of Government bodies and funding initiatives to look into games. That’s why we were so excited about the Emerging Gamemakers Fund because previously to get that kind of funding you had to already have a demo. That can be really hard if you are working, it is hard to put the time aside to make a full demo to apply for funding.”

This new fund will help hopeful game creators, like Ms Brett, see that vision come to life. She believes these governing bodies can see the value in supporting something right from the start.

“Screen Australia’s got the funding until 2027, there’s going to be this huge wave of games that come out of this and hopefully they do really well and it inspires more government more bodies to invest in games,” she says.

With this spotlight on Australian games, Ms Brett is thrilled that two games from the Canberra region were selected for funding. She says there is a small gaming community here with a developer meet up every month called Pizza and Pixels. She says it is welcoming and encouraging to other creatives.

“There is a community here for people who are interested in making games and I want to help bring awareness to that and help it grow and introduce people to it as a career if it is something you are passionate about,” she smiles.

Keep up to date with the progress of Roots; rootsgame.com.au

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