Many video games offer their players a fantastical take on the real world. For example, Game Freak's Pokemon franchise is known for designing its regions using actual places, from France-themed Kalos to Hawai'i-themed Alola and beyond. Indie games are no different, and oftentimes go further in reflecting the visions of their smaller development teams. For Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK, one major goal behind Cris Tales was offering up "Colombian flavor" that isn't usually portrayed by mainstream media.
Cris Tales creative director and lead game designer Carlos Andres Rocha Silva said his team wanted to highlight the country's magic with "our own take as to what Colombia can bring to the world." Many in-game places are based on parts of Colombia, and the developers' life experiences also informed various storylines, NPCs, and social constructs. Game Rant spoke to Silva about Cris Tales' deep Colombian roots stemming from the question, "What would a Disney Princess look like if she was from Colombia?"
Cris Tales Takes Players on a Trip Across Colombia
Silva had the idea for Cris Tales' experimental conceit of a game that shows off the past, present, and future at once while finishing work on Haimrik with developer Below The Game. He approached Sebastian Villarreal (art director) and Yaddir Villamizar (gameplay director) with the idea, and together they formed SYCK - an acronym consisting of their names and Silva's brother Kamilo, whom he dedicated Cris Tales to and used as the basis for android character JKR-721.
Once the team had a prototype with potential, they "bootstrapped the concept" and started full production with Dreams Uncorporated; at which Silva is founder and CEO. Villarreal first posed the idea of creating a Colombian Disney Princess: the game's protagonist Crisbell. Her "castle" was imagined to be a cathedral, and the cathedral in her home town of Narim where she awakens the latent powers of a Time Mage is based on Las Lajas Sanctuary.
Disney was a big influence on Cris Tales' art design, which is traditionally animated and one of the game's big selling points; and one of its most limiting factors. "Everything that's there looks amazing, but takes a long time," Silva said. Its style pulls heavily from classic JRPGs and Shonen manga/anime, plus cartoons including Samurai Jack and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Villarreal had no video game experience before Cris Tales, according to Silva, and they aimed to use that background to design something unique for the genre.
Every locale in Cris Tales has "mountains of references" to Colombia. St. Clarity is based on cities like Santa Marta; Neva Tulira has a take on the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira, a Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine; and an egg-shaped mountain set in the lava lakes of Cinder is a visual homage to El Penon de Guatape.
"We were inspired by our travels and everyday life here. We wanted people to notice that part of how we saw the world was through these fantasy lenses. It's a little trip to Colombia in a romanticized and fantastic way."
Building Cris Tales' Characters and Fantasy Races
As Cris Tales is a game concerned with time that asks players to, "Learn from the past, act in the present, create your future," one idea Silva had was showing the same primal animals evolve into anthropomorphic races. Humans largely populate Narim and St. Clarity, but Tulira is the home of avian people as Cinder is for goblin folk. A museum in Tulira depicts different stages of evolution building their common ancestors into "more rational, thinking societies."
Silva said Cinder's people were not specifically inspired by Colombia, they were the result of Cris Tales' Volcano Sisters becoming "as beloved as they could," leading the developer to give them a bigger spotlight. However, Tulira's residents were defined using various bird species native to Colombia. Rysa, heir of the Oroitz family who suspects foul play in her mother's death, comes from Chlorochrysa nitidissima. Rhallus, the estranged aunt who aims to take over that family, comes from Rallus semiplumbeus.
More characters can be traced back to Colombian wildlife, such as Crisbell's talking, top hat-wearing frog partner Matias being a Phyllobates terribilis - also known as the golden poison frog. At the same time, nearly every NPC in Cris Tales is unique with three artistic renders that tell stories over time, and talking to them reveals "a lot of their perspectives are shared with Colombians," according to Silva. The team wanted to show Colombia has more than just indigenous people, or the kind of "violence" popularized in media by figures like Pablo Escobar. In fact, the deceased matriarch of the Oroitz family, Gladys, is named after Silva's grandmother.
Social Commentary in Cris Tales
Through Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK aimed to share the beauty of Colombia with the world, Cris Tales is also intentionally designed to reflect the injustices its creators have grown up witnessing. St. Clarity is a particular hotbed, with its storyline revolving around poor folks trapped in the slums of the Floodside District as the elite live in a Walled City high above. The overflowing water that gives Floodside its name is based on coastal cities in Colombia with faulty sewer systems that back up in the rain.
Cris Tales releasing in 2021 meant the revolutionary themes in St. Clarity coincided with mass protests that broke out across Colombia in response to a tax overhaul proposed by President Ivan Duque that "would be negative for everyone," Silva said. According to a New York Times article last updated June 6, 2021, 46 people died amid these protests, largely as a result of police abuses which led to Duque announcing national police reform.
The inequality that sparked protests this year is nothing new, Silva said. He pointed to Colombian businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo, who died the same year as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and "had almost the same fortune." Still, while he said it was important to highlight these issues, Cris Tales tried to not take the same "social commentary" approach as others. The developers' aim also focused on Colombia's patriarchal society by creating a world led by matriarchs like Mother Superiors for the Church of the Lady.
"The hardest part was not to touch upon the usual things, and I didn't want to touch on poverty in the same way others do. We call it misery porn, and we didn't want that. We didn't want to feel exotic because of how poor we are."
Taking both the good and the bad was part of the devs' drive to "show the world that here in Colombia we can make wonderful games with very unique takes on genres," Silva said. Cris Tales features a rich, nuanced world thanks to its "Colombian flavor," and Silva hopes the homeland he loves can offer even more to culture at large. He said their team is excited for Disney's Encanto to focus on entirely different aspects when it releases this November, standing alongside Crisbell's own Disney-inspired fairy tale.
Cris Tales is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: New York Times