• Stories from the time of Japanese Occupation in Indonesia (1942-1945)
  • Three characters

• Visual novel
  • User selects the story path
  • Sounds follow user reading & selection of story path

About

• Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule

• The Japanese army took over the Dutch East Indies in 1942
• European were taken into interment camp
• As Japan recapitulated, Indonesian proclaimed its independence in 1945

Context

• Indonesian poet/philosopher who tries to conceptualize culture & develop the language

• Young Dutch women who sing in a voice orchestra in the interment camp
• A Japanese student pilot who contemplates on his last night alive

Stories

• Shared history, multiple perspectives
• Overcoming sentiments, stereotypes
• "Small narrative" within "big narrative"

Why

• Visual Novel
  • Text
  • Sound
  • Image
  • Video

Development

The Text

• Random walk to explore story "atoms"
• Written in Twine
• Inspiration
  • Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana
  • Woman Voice Orchestra of Sumatra
  • Kamikaze Diaries (Ohnuki-Tierney)

The Visual

• Image & video collage
• Made with processing and python
• Inspiration: pattern in batik, wagara, quilt
• Image & video theme: Japan propaganda film, European in Dutch East Indies, the modernist Indonesian
• Ink drawings
• Shadow figures

• Collage / cluster
  • Popular music at the time (keroncong, arrangement of trad. song)
• Melodic materials from voice analysis
  • Alisjahbana and Zuster Catharinia
• Borrowing ideas from gamelan music
  • Pelog tuning system (Lindhu Raras)
  • Garap ("orchestration")
  • Cengkok ("short musical pattern")
  • Rasa ("impression")

The Sound

The Visual Novel

• Visual novel engine: Monogatari
  • Javascript based
• Sound: tone.js
• Tweaking the default of the engine

• First complete work using web technology
  • Longer development time
• Limitation of the visual novel engine
  • Accommodate a specific usage case
• Real-time generation vs pre-made materials
  • Limited interactivity

Challenges

• Reference of other works / use case
• Technical and aesthetical problem-solving
• Input on aesthetic considerations
• Dialectic process
  • Guidance through discussion

Mentor Contributions