Latest news with #AfterloveEP
The Star
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
'Afterlove EP': A game about music, grief, and new beginnings
In numerous conversations, you choose between different dialogue options, thus influencing the course of the game. — Fellow Traveller BERLIN: Dealing with the loss of a loved one isn't easy. Rama, a young musician from Jakarta and the protagonist in the visual novel game Afterlove EP , experiences this after the death of his girlfriend Cinta. He's at a low point and he can't get her voice out of his head. While he continues to struggle after a year of mourning, an important performance is coming up. His band finally wants to release their first major EP. Time is running out and Rama wants to overcome his personal crisis and become the band's frontman again. After the indie games Coffee Talk and What Comes After , Afterlove EP is the final work of video game designer Mohammad Fahmi, who passed away in 2022. It tells a quiet and sensitive story of grief, new beginnings, and the power of music. The focus is not on action, but rather on an emotional journey. In numerous conversations, you choose between different dialogue options, thus influencing the course of the game. There's also time to explore the Indonesian capital and there are repeated short rhythmic passages where you play guitar riffs in the style of Guitar Hero . These usually sound melancholic, fitting the mood of this indie game. The visuals of Afterlove EP can best be described as a hand-drawn 2D look in a manga style. While the animations are sometimes simple, they still appear very lively and create a special atmosphere. The whole thing is accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack that perfectly underscores Rama's personal journey. Afterlove EP is available starting at around €20/US$20/RM49 on Steam for the PlayStation 4/5, the Xbox One/Series, the Nintendo Switch and PCs. The age rating is 12 years. – dpa/Tribune News Service
South China Morning Post
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Afterlove EP, an indie Indonesian visual novel game, tells a sensitive story
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is not easy. Rama, a young musician from the Indonesian capital Jakarta and the protagonist in the visual novel game Afterlove EP, experiences this after the death of his girlfriend Cinta. He is at a low point and he cannot get her voice out of his head. Advertisement While he continues to struggle after a year of mourning, an important performance is coming up. His band finally wants to release their first major EP. Time is running out and Rama wants to overcome his personal crisis and become the band's frontman again. Afterlove EP is the final work of video game designer Mohammad Fahmi, who died in 2022. Fahmi also made the indie games Coffee Talk and What Comes After, both released in 2020. It tells a quiet and sensitive story of grief, new beginnings and the power of music. The focus is not on action, but rather on an emotional journey. In numerous conversations you choose between different dialogue options, thus influencing the course of the game.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This indie game feels like a living manga - thanks to an unlikely workflow
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Upcoming anime-inspired indie game Afterlove EP is a game in which art imitates life in the saddest way possible. There's a tragic irony to its premise, as you play as twenty-something musician Rama trying to move on from the death of his girlfriend Cinta, whose voice he continues to hear, while trying to get ready for an important gig that may make or break his band. The game's original writer and director Fahmi Hasan had suddenly passed away in 2022. "For a while, it felt like we had no direction and no reason to keep going," says technical artist Maxi. "But after some time, we pushed through even though it was really rough, and I think we did our best to honour what he started." Indonesia may be the fourth most populous country in the world but it's less known for its contributions to the games industry, being largely a hub for outsourcing, which often happens under the radar. However, original indie games made by Indonesian developers that also reflect Indonesian culture have been emerging in recent years, such as 2020's Coffee Talk and 2023's A Space for the Unbound. The latest is Afterlove EP, which is also set in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Part of that vision was the setting of Jakarta, where the late developer was also based (the remote studio Pikselnesia consists of developers working from across Indonesia). Just as Japanese games like Persona 5 and The World Ends With You are examples of Japanese developers showcasing their trendy contemporary culture to the world, so too does Afterlove EP depict the kind of trendy neighbourhoods that Indonesian youth gravitate towards. Indeed, Japanese culture is very influential in Indonesian culture, not just in terms of games but visuals, as background artist Pinga mentions to me that the manga Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad was one of Fahmi's inspirations behind the band element of Afterlove EP's story. "I can't think about Fahmi without thinking about his endless references, he has lots of it!" Illustrator Soyatu, whose work already garnered a large following prior to joining Pikselnesia, also cites Japanese manga artists Yasuda Suzuhito and Natsujikei Miyazaki as inspirations. There was nonetheless a challenge of ensuring Soyatu's distinct and minimalist character designs felt a match with the more detailed backdrops. "I remember it took us a couple months and trial and error just to make Rama's room feel like it belonged to Rama," says Pinga. "As the background artist I cannot be thankful enough for the team's feedback and push. The key to make it right is to try again and again." Image 1 of 6 Image 2 of 6 Image 3 of 6 Image 4 of 6 Image 5 of 6 Image 6 of 6 Despite Japanese influences and an anime style it was also important to authentically depict the diversity of Indonesia, which is a Muslim-majority country. "Indonesia has so many diverse people, so I spent some time researching and trying to discover how Indonesian people might look in an anime-style," Soyatu explains. "Fahmi really wanted Afterlove EP to feel like Jakarta," Maxi adds. "Not just in how it looks but in the way people act and the overall vibe of the city. One of the comics in the game has an Ondel-Ondel, which is super iconic in Jakarta. We made sure to add little details like that so the city feels alive and true to what it's actually like." While the game is presented in 2D format with just a handful of locations, Pinga's backgrounds cover a considerable length, allowing players to traverse them in a side-scrolling fashion rather than just static backdrops you might find in a visual novel. Even then, there's variations to the visuals, such as for longer dialogue scenes or the rhythm game mini-games. "The dialogue comic panel was inspired by Persona 5, but we made it look more like manually drawn comics, which can be seen by the textured and more 'scratchy' lines," they explain. While the game is developed in Unity, the hand-drawn nature of the art means the artists use various other tools. For Soyatu, his illustrations are all done with Procreate, a digital painting app for iPad. Pinga also uses Procreate but admits it has its drawbacks, explaining, "It's not really capable of very big environment drawings, so I also use Photoshop to merge some assets and Clip Studio Paint for colouring assets." "Besides Unity, we used Photoshop and Spine for animation," adds Maxi. "To make everything look hand-drawn, we had to do a little bit of game dev shenanigans. Just some tricks here and there to keep things feeling right." Although the loss of Fahmi had a major impact on the team, everyone decided to pull together to see his vision through to the end, and the result is bittersweet. "We lost our friend, also a leader at the same time, but the show must go on, so we did our best!" Soyatu concludes. "I'm so happy and relieved the game is coming out, but sad at the same time because Fahmi isn't with us now. But we did it. It's for Fahmi, our beloved person." Afterlove EP releases this Valentine's Day, 14 February 2025. Inspired? Read our guides to the best animation software and the best game development software and start creating.
