712123, 1801 Literature Wales: exploring the potential fora video game based on Welsh myths and legends | Clwstwr
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hitpssitvstwr org. uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-anc-legends, ano712123, 15:01 Literature Wales: exploring the potential fora video game based on Welsh myths and legends | Clwstwr
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> Literature wales exploring potential video game
based welsh myths and legends
Literature
Wales:
. exploring the
potential for
: a video game
; based on
: Welsh myths
and legends
website with Visit Wales called Lana or Legenas
The website was part of Visit Wales’ Year of Legends
campaign, which celebrated Welsh legends of many
shapes and forms, from literary legends to legendary
landscapes. Our website, which still exists, focuses on
the literary legends of Wales. It features an interactive
map that, when clicked, shows you local Welsh myths,
folklore and legends related to that geographical point
It shares myths and legends, such as the Lady of the
Lake at Llyn Y Fan Fach, and things or places to do
with writers from Wales, such as Dylan Thomas!
boathouse.
hitpsiiewstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-ane-legends 20712123, 15:01
Lira Wal: explrng he polenta fra vito gare based on Waih mye an ages | Chater
We wanted to do more with Welsh legends, possibly
by making a video game
In big fantasy properties, there's a lot of Celtic
influence. However, there aren't necessarily associated
back to the original sources, whether those are Welsh
or Irish myths, literature or similar. We were thinking
about how to get people to engage with those myths,
and we thought video games would be an interesting
place to explore that we hadn't worked in before.
Video gaming is a huge, growing medium that
intersects with literature. There's a lot of writing within
video games; they involve telling stories, even though
they're interactive and told very differently. There are
already big fantasy video games like The Witcher,
which includes Eastern European myths and legends,
so we felt that having a game directly inspired by
Welsh legends would be a natural overlap.
Before we considered building a game, we wanted to
do research
We felt that we needed to find out more about how
games development works, how developers tell stories
through games, how they come up with ideas for
games based on stories and where storytelling fits
within the video game development pipeline.
We also wanted to find out more about the audiences
that play fantasy video games, including international
audiences; we wanted to know what they are
interested in, which elements of a game are most
important to them and how much the storytelling
matters. We wanted to find out what awareness they
had of Welsh myths or things inspired by Welsh myths,
and whether they made the association with Wales.
hitpsiielwstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-ane-legends 30712123, 15:01
Literature Wales: exploring the potential fora video game based on Welsh myths and legends | Clwstwr
Initially, we wanted to do a second phase, too
We had plans to actually create assets for a video
game based on Land of Legends. This might have
involved drawing out characters, objects, or the digital
environments and landscapes and so on.
We applied for both phases at the same time:
research and build
We ended up getting the funding for the first phase,
which was around £13,000. This focused our sights on
the research. At first it seemed a shame to not have the
second phase lined up, but over the duration of our
project we realised that it wouldn't have been the right
thing for us to do. Most game developers like to either
design their own characters and assets or personalise
freely available assets to make them suit the game.
At the time we started our Clwstwr project, we had
three strategic priorities
These priorities were things that we tried to tie into
everything we did, including the research we went on
to do. They were: representation and equality (which
involves improving access to creative writing and
reading across the population), health and wellbeing
(which involves using creative writing as a tool to
improve people's wellbeing and mental health), and
children and young people (which involves trying to
increase accessibility among children and young
people for future generations of writers). Informed by
our priorities, we split the project into two main strands
and a small strand.
The first strand involved quantitative research
hitpsiiewstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-ane-legends ano712123, 15:01
Lira Wal: explrng he polenta fra vito gare based on Waih mye an ages | Chater
We wanted to survey lots of international players of
video games to try to understand that audience. We
worked with a company called Strategic Research and
Insight, based in Cardiff. We surveyed about 1000
people, focusing on four markets: UK, USA, Germany,
and Japan. The only qualifying criteria was that they
had played a fantasy themed video game in the past
two years. We asked a lot of questions and had them
choose answers from lots of options.
We found out so much
Our research showed that people were familiar with
some of the key Welsh myths and legends, such as
King Arthur and Merlin, People were also familiar with
things inspired by Welsh myths, such as things from
The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and How's
Moving Castle, but only 25 people surveyed associated
any of them with Wales. There was an interest there,
but not an association with Wales, which showed us
that there is an opportunity to do something.
Those surveyed said that characters are the most
important thing in fantasy games, even more so than
graphics and gameplay. This was very encouraging,
because it shows that if we were to develop strong
characters it would appeal to the target audience.
There were also other story elements that were
important to people, things like the lore and narrative.
In terms of themes, characters and objects, many
people said they like magic, spells, relics, curses, saints,
banshees, war and weaponry, castles and towers - all
of which feature in Welsh myths and legends.
The research results resonated with our priorities
hitpsiielwstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-ane-legends 5110712123, 15:01
Literature Wales: exploring the potential fora video game based on Welsh myths and legends | Ciwstwr
One of the key reasons why we were doing this project
was that we wanted to reach new audiences, people
who might not necessarily be reading or be reading
books from Welsh writers and publishers. We wanted
to see if using a different medium - video games -
would work, but we had to also think about how it'd fit
into our priorities. For example, we needed to consider
if it could lead to engagement with a more diverse
audience or an audience who don't typically engage
with literature much. Around half of the people we
could potentially reach with a game would fall into one
of our target client characteristics, which is great.
We also asked people to identify some of the effects of
playing fantasy video games, to see if there was an
overlap with our health and wellbeing priority. Many
said that playing games helps them feel happier, helps
them learn new skills and develop existing ones and it
inspires some people to write their own stories or fan
fiction. That suggested we're on the right track with
using video games to engage people with creative
writing and literature. 27% said they'd be inspired to
visit a culture that inspired a video game, which is
interesting from a literary tourism standpoint.
The second strand focused on games development
We spoke to developers from the video game industry,
ranging from small Welsh developers to much larger
developers, such as Epic Games (Unreal Engine,
Fortnite, Rocket League). We also spoke to academics
who taught video game development and design in
universities.
The conversations helped us see how we might
progress if we were to make a video game
hitpsiielwstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-and-legends ano712123, 15:01
Lira Wal: explrng he polenta fra vito gare based on Waih mye an ages | Chater
We understood more about the technical process of
video game development, storytelling and how the two
processes work together. The story is a really
important part of the development process, particularly
with smaller developers. It's often the first thing they
look at.
Welsh mythology was of interest, especially amongst
Welsh developers but not exclusively. But, people said
that they didn't know where to find the myths and how
to engage with them. One developer told us about how
they draw from lots of different folk laws, including
ones from UAE, Siberia and Arabic texts, but they
didn't draw from Welsh myths despite being based in
Wales. They might have done, if there were more
resources and support.
Welsh university courses in game development and
Wales’ independent developers are highly regarded
However, because Wales doesn't have any big game
developers that can hire lots of people, graduates don't
necessarily stay in Wales; they leave to go to the
bigger studios. It's a big problem here. This led to us
thinking that, if we were to develop a game, we could
possibly offer funding to someone from one of those
courses to develop a prototype based around Welsh
myths and legends, killing two birds with one stone.
The final strand involved secondary research into
how myths and legends are used in games to reach
certain audiences
We looked at existing fantasy video games, how
successful they were and how they drew from myths
and legends. Many games drew from different folklore
- including small amounts from Welsh myths, folklore
and culture in a subtle way. For example, some
hitpsiielwstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-ane-legends 70712123, 15:01
Lira Wal: explrng he polenta fra vito gare based on Waih mye an ages | Chater
characters in The Witcher have names that draw on
Welsh language, while Assassin's Creed: Valhalla has
some Welsh dialogue and references Mari Lwyd. They
are derivatives of Wales, but the roots are not
necessarily obvious to players.
On finishing our project, we looked for further
funding
We applied for second phase funding from Clwstwr,
with the idea of creating opportunities for emerging
Welsh developers who could help build our prototype,
but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. After
struggling to find funding opportunities elsewhere, we
decided to park the idea. Being Literature Wales, we
still don't know much about game development. We
wondered if we weren't the people that should be
trying to do this.
This doesn't mean the Clwstwr research we did was a
waste of time, though. We now have a deeper
understanding of Welsh myths and legends, as well as
lots of audience insights.
The whole project has given us confidence that Land
of Legends is something that's worth doing more
with
We have a broader awareness of how people can
engage with Welsh myths and legends, and how that
connects with more recognisable things within culture.
It taps into our goal of encouraging more people to try
creative writing and the broader interests we have at
Literature Wales.
We're still interested in doing something with video
games when the opportunity emerges. We have a
better understanding of how video games relate to
hitpsiielwstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-and-legends ano7223, 1501 Lira Wal: explrng he polenta fra vito gare based on Waih mye an ages | Chater
literature and storytelling, It's opened doors to new
activities for us.
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hitpsiielwstwr org.uk/iterature-wales-exploring-potentil-video-game-based-welsh-myths-and-legends sno712123, 15:01 Literature Wales: exploring the potential fora video game based on Welsh myths and legends | Clwstwr
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