Atuatanga at Māoriland
Aotearoa’s first full-scale te reo Māori virtual reality game launches at Māoriland festival on 20 March. In a world first, Atuatanga VR combines high performance virtual reality gameplay with Indigenous knowledge to tackle the climate crisis.
Director and Writer Wiremu Grace says “Atuatanga explores a post-apocalypse world where our environment has been decimated. Players connect with the atua (Māori guardians) to help reverse this destruction.
“I’m excited to have been able to merge the unique immersive qualities of VR with traditional Māori storytelling to push the boundaries of how Māori stories can be experienced and told.
“Māori knowledge is at the forefront of caring for our whenua and moana – our land and our oceans – and VR is a new tool to impart that knowledge to our communities and those around the world.
“The original idea for Atuatanga came from the stories my father, Waiariki Grace, told me as a child. The journey of creating a narrative-based game that encompassed VR technology and these stories was difficult at first. The traditional means of linear storytelling didn’t quite work for VR but we soon found ways to use the opportunity that VR technology brings to create a unique and compelling narrative-based game.”
Atuatanga was produced by a highly skilled team of creatives with support from the New Zealand Film Commission, Creative New Zealand and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.
Producers Ruth Korver and Vanessa Patea say “virtual reality is an exhilarating resource for creatives to use in Aotearoa. We are just starting to see the potential for it to tell our stories in completely new ways.”
With cutting edge technology that uses the Oculus 2 VR headset and Meta Quest and Unreal Engine software, Atuatanga combines intuitive game play with Māori audio and visual storytelling.
Creative and Technical Director Hayden Steedman says “the great thing about using VR is it lets you see, hear and feel the story of Atuatanga. We’ve got lots of exciting tricks in the game that really allow the player to feel present amongst the atua.”
Atuatanga continues the creative work of the team behind Whakakitenga VR, the first Māori cinematic VR story. There are very few examples of VR works created by
Indigenous storytellers worldwide. Atuantanga is pioneering in its use of this technology and its commitment to upholding Māori creativity.
————————-
The world premier for Atuatanga VR will be at Māoriland festival in Ōtaki on 20 March.
The team are working on an international distribution plan as well as how to take Atuatanga into schools and community learning hubs.
