Agenda
A Framework for Building Cultural Authenticity: 'Hope in the City' Case Study
Masha Loftus (Writer, Art Director, Co-founder, Lofty Sky Games)
Judith Cheung (Creative & Marketing Director, Lofty Sky Games)
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Hot Topics:
International
Track:
Design, Production & Team Leadership
Audience Level:
All
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Judith Cheung (Creative Director) and Masha Loftus (Writer/) present a concrete production case study from Hope in the City, a narrative mystery investigation game set in Northeast China. Rather than framing authenticity as a value, this session breaks down the specific creative decisions that shaped every layer of the game: a core mechanic rooted in lived social reality, hand-drawn visuals developed with a single Asian artist whose personal practice defines the protagonist's inner world, environments grounded by regional collaborators, and a fully voiced all-Asian cast with actors from the story's own city. Attendees leave with a transferable framework for building cultural specificity into a production pipeline — from early collaborator selection through casting, art direction, and narrative design — applicable to any team working with cultural material that demands more than surface-level representation.
Takeaway
Attendees gain a practical framework for making cultural authenticity a production principle rather than a final review: how to identify whose lived experience is load-bearing for a story, when to bring them in, and how decisions made early in art direction, casting, and narrative design produce measurable differences in player response.
Intended Audience
This session is intended for narrative designers, creative directors, producers, art directors and other game developers who want to represent culture authentically in their work. No prerequisite knowledge is required, though familiarity with narrative game production pipelines will help attendees apply the framework directly to their own projects.