Vlad Bunoan

Article (news)

video games

ABS-CBN News Digital Intern

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758535760661viber_image_2025-09-22_18-04-56-575.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Screenshot from the mobile game &#x27;Super B.&#x27;</div>Artists will always find new avenues through which they can express their creativity, and for these Filipino college students, it was pixels.What started as academic requirements eventually brought pride to their schools, as their games showcased Philippine culture and their own advocacies.Drawing inspiration from a local church’s deaf ministry, Fine Arts students Franchesca Del Mundo and Rylle Villamater of Eulogio &quot;Amang&quot; Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) ventured into game development to champion inclusivity and empower those with disabilities for their thesis.They created “Super B,” a mobile game about a deaf child who wants to be a superhero, which eventually grabbed their school’s best thesis title and the attention of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST).“Super B is designed for the speech-impaired and deaf community, but it&#x27;s not really excluding the normal kids. So, it&#x27;s more on that you can do everything that you want regardless of your situation,” Villamater, who handled research and thesis writing, told ABS-CBN News.The game opens with a brief lesson on Philippine history, and its levels start from the Spanish colonization up to modern times. It introduces different rounds that tackle financial literacy and challenge cognitive skills, such as matching card games, puzzles, and object hunts, all of which are accompanied by Filipino sign language and subtitles.Seeing a lack of gaming apps that catered to those who are deaf and mute, Del Mundo and Villamater aspired to not only pull off their major project but also dedicate it to a community close to them.“Language is very powerful [and] language could be of different forms or means. So, parang ayun po yung inspiration na rin namin na i-include yung mga hindi madalas na-iinclude in games,” (So, that was sort of our inspiration to include the things that are not usually included in games) Villamater said.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758535939464455029642_969724048292837_2423221225941804252_n.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Screenshots from the mobile game &#x27;Super B.&#x27;</div>The EARIST students sought to make a product that could continue to benefit others even after they graduate to “leave it as a legacy.”“Nagkasundo din kami ni Ry na ‘yung project sana na magagawa namin after ng thesis namin, is yung hindi lang maiiwan sa school, kundi yung magagamit din ng ibang tao after namin mag-aral,” Del Mundo, the game’s scriptwriter and artist, said.(Ry and I agreed that the thesis project we create will not be simply left in school, but will be used even after we have graduated.)They opted for an educational and inclusive game to stand out from their peers who were preparing tangible objects for their theses.As working students, Del Mundo and Villamater also wanted a project that did not require as many in-person meetups. With the money they earned from their jobs, the two funded their endeavor and enlisted the help of their programmer friends from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).After clinching best thesis, not just within their faculty, but in their entire school, their game was picked up by one of the judges who was a DOST representative.Del Mundo and Villamater later got to participate in the government agency’s regional event held last October 2024 in Quezon City. There, the duo saw their dream come to fruition as children and even educators sat down to play “Super B.”This gave them the final push to publish their app on the Play Store, where it is currently free to download.After finishing their studies, the creators continue to inch toward their goal as they look for possible partner companies to expand the game, noting their struggles in marketing it to the masses.“Parang nagiging personal project na ‘to since naka-graduate na kami. We don&#x27;t know where to start, siguro ‘yun &#x27;yung pinakamalaking roadlock. Ang hirap niyang i-market sa mga tao kasi hindi naman kami established game developers,” Del Mundo said.(This is kind of becoming a personal project since we have already graduated. We don’t know where to start, so that’s our biggest roadblock. It’s (Super B) is hard to market to the public because we are not established game developers.)<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758536515545viber_image_2025-09-22_18-04-09-820.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Screengrab from Felix’s YouTube channel Radeekaru</div><div>From class requirement to international awardee</div>Meanwhile, a virtual reality (VR) game created by college students that explores grief and trauma claimed bronze in the International Indigo Awards held in Bangkok, Thailand, last June.With less than two months to develop a game for their elective course, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde students Katrina Santos, Kyle Correa, and Dian Felix hoped that their submission titled “The Wish Granter” would hold its own on the global stage.“By the time na natapos namin, which was a very complicated process, we decided na, okay, there&#x27;s nothing to lose naman if we do enter,” Felix, the game’s 3D modeler and audio editor, told ABS-CBN News.Players explore the game through the perspective of a witch who grants wishes by going back in time using her clients’ memories to retrieve sentimental objects, helping them make peace with past losses.The game’s storyline was conceived after the Multimedia Arts students had watched “Earwig and the Witch,” which is the first 3D computer graphics animated film from Studio Ghibli.“All three of us really like the idea of magic and thought na why not incorporate this into our game?” Santos, the game writer and concept artist, told ABS-CBN News.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758536886142viber_image_2025-09-22_18-09-25-219.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-dragging"/>Screengrabbed from Felix’s YouTube channel Radeekaru</div>Set during a post-war medieval era, the game shows the witch encounter two customers: a war veteran who asks her to retrieve a family photo of his deceased wife and son, and a young orphan who thought her parents had abandoned her and was seeking clarification.“Our idea is to just make sure na people will feel very personal towards the game. Kasi, syempre, we all handle grief differently, and this is how we chose to portray it,” Felix said.(Our idea is to just make sure that people will feel very personal towards the game. Because of course, we all handle grief differently, and this is how we chose to portray it.)The Wish Granter packs intriguing world-building and characters with rich backgrounds into a 10-minute gameplay, tackling heavy themes packaged in a cozy aesthetic, which was achieved through low-poly animation.Like the central witch character, the trio had to cope with the constraints of time in their journey of bringing the game to life.“We don&#x27;t know if we can even finish this on time for the deadline mismo nung class. So, ba&#x27;t pa namin na-enter sa contest?” Felix said.“As a 3D modeler, I had to think smart about what will deliver the message properly while also meeting the deadline,” she added.The group did not launch the game, having explored different paths post-graduation, but a video showing its entire gameplay is available on YouTube.Felix, who now works in marketing, emphasized the role of creative work in society and its youth, noting the country’s underdeveloped yet growing art and game development industry.&quot;‘Yung mga mas passionate, mga mas creative na industries, they&#x27;re still not very alive right now but they&#x27;re getting there. We are all fortunate to be studying art in this time and age,” she said. “Lahat ng prejudice about being an art student nandun pa rin. Pero as I graduated, parang, there&#x27;s a better life for us creatives out there. Kasi mas kailangan na tayo ng tao eh.”

Artists will always find new avenues through which they can express their creativity, and for these Filipino college students, it was pixels.

Artists will always find new avenues through which they can express their creativity, and for these Filipino college students, it was pixels.

Student developers feted for games spotlighting culture, advocacy

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Student developers feted for games spotlighting culture, advocacy

ABS-CBN News Digital Intern,

Mei Lin Weng

Published Sep 23, 2025 08:00 AM PHT

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games

Super B

The Wish Granter

mobile games

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