Towards a "Filipino" Video Game: Teaching Filipino Identity and Culture for Video Game Development
This paper aims to outline the challenges of teaching Filipino identity and culture in the creation of Filipino video games. In mainstream games, Filipinoness is used to cater to an international audience while the dominance of foreign made games and the limitations of the Philippine market creates a difficult situation for Filipino developers to make Filipino video games for Filipinos. Using a method based on teaching literature and creative writing, four Filipino video games is discussed in the classroom to show students how these games use Filipino history, culture, and politics as source material for their narrative and design. The paper ends with a discussion of a student made game and how the academe can contribute in the critical understanding about Filipino video games and in defining Filipino identity and culture.