CREATIONS SHOWCASE
7th Gen Character Design
Pencil and Paper
Procreate
(Digital Painting)
3D models & prints
Video game
twine - interactive
web stories
bitsy - pixel games
UNity - 3D worldbuilding
Machinima
Avatar design
machinima
SKINS INTENSIVE VIDEO GAME WORKSHOPS
Participants of these intensive workshops became a team, taking on game-industry roles to turn some of our stories into a playable video game. Our intensive workshops last between 3-5 weeks, and each begins with traditional storytelling and proceeds to teach participants how to tell their stories in a very new way –through virtual environments and video games.
Skins 2.0 - The Adventure of Skahiòn:hati: Legend of the Stone Giants (2011)
Skins Arcade at AbTeC Island
In 2008, AbTeC bought an island in the massively multi-player online world, Second Life. Our purpose for this Aboriginal territory in cyberspace was to teach courses in experimental digital storytelling, produce machinimas, and offer a safe on-line community space. AbTeC Island is now also a place for us to create and showcase some of our creations.
That’s where our beautiful Skins Arcade is found. There, you can sample each game from the Skins Intensive Video Game Workshops by watching short, edited play-throughs on virtual, old-school video game consoles. Follow up by busting a few moves on our DDR machine and enjoying a virtual snack.
Create your own avatar and explore our games
See Instructions here on how to visit
Wao Kanaka (2018) by He Au Hou 2
Wao Kanaka is a first-person, exploration and puzzle game. The gameplay is based on Kānaka Maoli stories and knowledge and focuses on the central concept of aloha ‘aina (“love of the land”) as a guide for shaping both narrative and gameplay. The game is set in contemporary Hawai‘i, yet is directly linked to past and future Kānaka Maoli relationalities to Hawaiian lands and waters.
Synopsis
You have always listened to the captivating stories that your Tūtū (grandmother) has told, but you know that this story isn’t like other others she has told before. Humanity is forgetting our responsibility to uphold aloha ‘aina to ensure the health and safety of our future generations. As you grow older, Tūtū leaves Wao Kanaka and now you must explore the world to learn from the mo‘olelo told by members of your community to rewrite Tūtū’s story of the future. You then use the knowledge entrusted to you to irrigate the lo‘i kalo (taro fields), fish sustainably at the loko i‘a (fish pond), and practice your ‘oli (chanting) from the newspaper. Only once you have listened to the teachings of your community and put them into practice will your dream for the future be revealed.
He Ao Hou (2017) by He Au Hou
He Ao Hou is a point-and-click adventure game. Based on Kānaka Maoli stories and knowledge, the game playfully explores the uses of the Hawaiian kukui nut, itself a symbol of knowledge. It is set in the far future, when Kānaka Maoli have attained the next level of navigation: space travel.
Synopsis
While your grandfather, a great navigator, is on his deathbed, your sister goes missing. Entrusted with your grandfather’s space canoe, you set out to find her, along the way meeting interesting individuals and learning about their relationships to their planets. On the Wai (water) planet you learn that you can use the kukui to clarify water that is cloudy, thus finding a helpful shark. On the Pele (lava) planet, you learn how hula dancing is used to make kukui plants grow. On the Ahupua’a (plant) planet, you use the kukui as a projectile, hitting the boar-like, eight-eyed demi-god, Kamapua’a, to wake him up. Finally, you unlock enough knowledge to find your sister—but she is now much more than she ever was before.
Ienién:te and the Peacemaker’s Wampum by Skins Collection 2.0
This Summer Institute on Aboriginal Storytelling and Game Design took place at Concordia University. Over three weeks, participants form Kahnawake, Akwesasne and the NWT of this three-week workshop collaboratively created a 3D top-down adventure game.
Synopsis
Ienién:te and the Peacemaker’s Wampum follows our heroine, Ienién:te (yeh-YAWN-day), home from university with her brand-new Archeology degree, as she is visited in a dream by a bear spirit. The spirit tells her of evil wrongdoings nearby–which only she can set right. Using a combination of her school smarts and the traditional knowledge that she learns from her grandmother in the game, Ienién:te avoids security guards’ flashlights and solves increasingly difficult puzzles to reach an ancient, sacred and powerful artifact–the Peacemaker’s original wampum. Only by rediscovering her culture and returning the artifacts can she foil the corporate aspirations of world domination and protect humanity from the powerful ancient evils they had carelessly unleashed.
Skahiòn:hati: Rise of Kanien’kehá:ka Legends by Skins Summer Institute
In Extended Play, our third intensive Skins workshop, participants of our first two video game workshops came together at Concordia University to develop and refine the previous two games.
Synopsis
Skahiòn:hati: Rise of the Kanien’kehá:ka Legends tells the story of a youth who grows to become a warrior, along the way fighting both legendary and newer Kanienkehaka bosses: the mighty Stone Giant, the creepy Tree People and the terrifying Flying Head
The Adventure of Skahiòn:hati: Legend of the Stone Giants by Skins Summer
The Skins Summer Institute (SSI) took place over an intense 14 days at Concordia University’s Hexagram Research Institute. The workshop began with storytelling by both the mentors and participants, and a selection of which story would become the game. It then progressed to hands-on, technical lessons that taught them the skills required to produce video games in virtual environments, such as game design, art direction, 3D modeling and animation, sound, and computer programming.
Synopsis
This game follows the brash youth, Skahiòn:hati, who must fight the Stone Giant to protect his village, learning a valuable teaching in doing so.
Otsì: Rise of the Kanien'keha:ka Legends by Kahnawake Survival School
Our very workshop was a year-long series that took place at Kahnawake Survival School in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. The student-participants chose their own roles based on the game industry, such as “writer”, “artist”, “level designer” and set to work creating a game based on stories and histories from their community. Through directed storytelling, concept mapmaking, and technical lessons they produced an exciting “vertical slice” with three rich levels populated by unique Indigenous characters
Synopsis
This game follows the story of a hunter who must save his village from a terrible monster, the Flying Head. Fighting his way across a landscape based on the countryside around Kahnawake, creatures from other Mohawk stories such as Hoof Lady, Monkey Dog and the Tree People interrupt the journey.