Pamali

Pamali is a horror adventure game developed by StoryTale Studios, a studio based in Bandung, Indonesia. The game takes place from various cities in Indonesia such as Bandung and Bali. Pamali follows a story of forbidden knowledge and mythical legends, myths, taboos, and culture in Indonesia.

The game obtained multiple awards as part of Official Selection in Game Prime Awards 2018 and Most Favorite Local Game by Kincir - Game & Movie Awards 2018 .

## Story

To investigate strange cases happened in Indonesia, Mira must find clues and sort them out in four folklore cases, The White Lady, The Tied Corpse, The Little Devil, and The Hungry Witch. The cases will be used for her game as she needed research and time to get the perfect setting.

### The White Lady

Around the year 1990s, Jaka Sunarya is the second child in the Sunarya family, has a sister named Nenden Endah Sunarya . During Jaka's absence from his hometown, his sister became pregnant with the man she married Hendra Setiawan and delivered her first child. Unfortunately, the baby's life was short-lived due to unusual incidents. This leaves Nenden in depressed state and to cope with the death of her first child, she creates a doll to accompany her as her own child. Nenden was not satisfied with the condition she lived in and her health deteriorates over time and not long after she was passed away.

The death of Nenden marks the born of entity called The White Lady. In an effort to protect against paranormal occurrences in the house, the mother acquired sacred and prohibited objects for protection. Regrettably, they were unaware that this would lead to a tragic fate, as they later perished in a car accident.

Years have passed, and Jaka, who has become a journalist, is faced with selling his old family house. During the process of cleaning and renovating the house, he stumbled upon forgotten family possessions that left him feeling disregard. Unbeknownst to Jaka, the house is inhabited by the spirit of Nenden, known as The White Lady. As time goes on, Jaka begins to experience hard choices, grappling with the decision to sell the house, leave it behind, or seek the assistance of a *dukun* to dispel the ghost.

In the true ending (Rest in Peace: The White Lady) , Jaka performs a ritual offering to bring peace to Nenden's spirit, ensuring it no longer lingers in the house. This allows him to move on from the memories of his family. Following the house cleaning, it remains uncertain whether Jaka sold or abandoned the house.

### The Tied Corpse

The story takes place in 2002. Cecep, who serves as a grave keeper under the guidance of Mang Ujang. Cecep is infamous for always being willing to follow instructions exactly as they are given, even if it's not part of the usual procedure. This behavior is commonly known as a "yes-man." However, being a yes-man is problematic for Cecep, as it prevents him from refusing tasks, which can lead to significant repercussions, particularly when dealing situations involving with the deceased.

A man by the name of Indra Koswara rested in an abandoned room waiting for burial. According to *Pak Kades*, Indra was disowned by his family due to his involvement in usurious activities and a propensity for creating problems. The cause of death was due to traffic accident as Indra was intoxicated while driving the car.

In the true ending (A Mistake has been Rectified) , With the assistance of a handbook and under the guidance of Mang Ujang, Cecep successfully untangled the knots and bury the deceased. To ensure that the spirits wouldn't linger, Cecep discovered a note in the guidebook suggesting that lingering souls could be laid to rest by planting beans, signaling the conclusion of their presence.

### The Little Devil

In 2012, a man by the name of Gatot Kuncoro was admitted to a hospital due to his illness. The illness made him to stay in the hospital. Putri, who was in her early twenties, asked if she can pay the medical expenses in order to get him free from medical debt. The bill turns out is off her reach. In a desperate attempt to pay the bill Putri had an idea to sell her grandfather's inheritance. Her father became aware of her intentions and advised her against selling her grandfather's property, contrary to his wishes. Despite this, Putri chose to visit her grandfather's house. What she discovered exceeded her expectations.

The house was glittering with valuables that beyond the average price, Putri has a brilliant idea to bring the inheritance and sell them to pawn shops. Prior to retrieving the valuables, she found a strange creature roaming around the house. She soon realize her grandfather was rich because of owning a *Tuyul*.

In the true ending (Money isn't the Last Resort) , Putri realized the valuable she plan to sell on pawn shops are worthless and considered a sin. In order to prevent calamities happen to her family, she grabs empty bottle and starts a ritual trapping *Tuyul* and bury it under mango tree. It is unknown the fate of her father but Putri realized she can get money in more honest way.

### The Hungry Witch

In 2018, Kirana got a phone call informing her about the death of her mother, Ratih. Distressed by this news, she travelled to her hometown Bali to make arrangements for her mother's funeral. She led the burial ceremony, not realizing that the town she was in was under the influence of a Leak. Suksmi is a woman tempted by the greed of her own humanity after hearing the thoughts of Ratih. Ratih was unaware the influence she made creates a monster of a living human. In order to achieve powerful status Suksmi removes her humanity and becoming the creature known as Leak.

An ambush attempt was made during Kirana stay where a fireball will try to catch Kirana, While hiding from the presence of Leak, she realized she was one of gifted to banish Leak. Throughout the journey Kirana prepares her arsenal and learning what it takes to kill Leak. Calamities soon starts appearing and causing Kirana to flee and find the body of Suksmi. To banish the evil Kirana must stab Suksmi to end all misery and evil in the neck.

## Gameplay

Pamali strictly follows a first-person perspective of different protagonists. Walking can be accessed with keyboard along with interact an object. Most of the time the game sticks to interacting and completing certain task to meet the requirement for variety of endings.

## Characters

Many characters appeared in the game and serve as supporting roles for the main character. The supporting character consists of people supporting the character throughout the story.

* **Mira** is the main investigator of all Pamali's folklore, she plan to make use of her research to develop a game based on the folklore.
* **Jaka** is a journalists and part of Sunarya family, he decided to sell his old family house after both of his parents passed away.
* **Rika** is supporting friend for Jaka throughout the journey of selling the house.
* **Cecep** is a grave keeper with the knowledge only for burying the deceased, unbeknownst to him a deceased came to the graveyard and must be buried as soon as possible.
* **Mang Ujang** is supporting character for Cecep, guiding on how to untie knots of the decease.
* **Putri** is a young girl needed for money to pay off her father medical bills, she goes to sell property of her grandfather's inheritance to pay the bills however she is unaware of the consequences.
* **Kiki** is a friend of Putri and helping her throughout the story and deciding what's right or wrong.
* **Kirana** is a mother of single child from a marriage with Mahesa, she traveled back to her hometown Bali to attend funeral of her mother Ratih.
* **Mahesa** is supporting character for Kirana aiding her through the journey.

## Development

### Project Uji Nyali

The development of Pamali starts as a project called Uji Nyali where the game's concept involves exploring eerie locations and enduring a specific duration in order to achieve the ultimate objective. In the initial phase of the prototype development, the team proposes adding Kuntilanak as it is one of the most prevalent myths in Indonesia. The level is set within a museum filled with supernatural artifacts. However according to writer of Storytale Studios Mira Wardhaningsih and Aulia Khairunnisa the scope development of the project considered too high and beyond the team skill then the project revamped into Pamali . The word Pamali comes from the Sundanese word meaning taboo or prohibition .

### Pamali & The First Chapter

Not all of the contents were scrap, as certain elements of the game were eventually added at the start of the chapter. The original game, now recognized as the first chapter was crafted using pre-existing content from past project. The level is set abandoned house owned by Jaka's family. As mentioned by Andreas Andika, the head of StoryTale Studios, the house was modeled after a typical Indonesian home, inspired by one of the team members' grandparents' houses. Due to budget constraints, the team was in a financially tight situation , prompting StoryTale Studios to launch a Kickstarter campaign to secure additional funding. Remarkably, the campaign surpassed its funding goal. . The team also released a demo of the game on Itch.io and Gamejolt. The demo garnered an overwhelmingly positive response with numerous players expressing that the ambiance is quite eerie. On 28 December 2018 the game fully released on Steam and leaving positive reviews from countless players .

### The Subsequent Chapter

Following the success of The White Lady, StoryTale Studios creates three more chapters based on supernatural entity in Indonesia, one being Pocong, Tuyul, and Leak. This creates more budget needed to develop next chapter and the team decided to reopen the kickstater campaign. The campaign managed to target only for The Tied Corpse. Despite the limited budget, the team successfully produced the game, and the campaign was eventually launched after numerous delays on July 12, 2019.

The inspiration for The Little Devil stemmed from the idea of using a mythical creature called Tuyul to acquire wealth, but with significant negative outcomes. This chapter broaden its scope and makes it more simpler by collecting items and sell them with certain procedure. The level design in the third chapter was enhanced, introducing features like a maze and a mansion setting. As mentioned in "The Art of Pamali," players encountered puzzles in the chapter that drew from the story of Ramayana. The development of these puzzles and the maze underwent multiple iterations due to the vast size of the bunker setting. The bunker underwent numerous adjustments because many playtesters faced issues like going out-of-bounds or getting lost within the maze-like bunker. Eventually, The Little Devil was released on January 16 2020, and it became a favorite among the community, alongside the "White Lady" chapter.

The final chapter or The Hungry Witch is one of the last chapter the team working on. The chapter is based on banishing evil entity called Leak with a sacred keris. Lacking documentation of Leak, the team took liberties in creating Leak and according to the team it is based on Kuyang or Palasik while adding hands as Leak can leave claw scars to the victims. While developing the final chapter the team face many challenge and issue as soon they realized the scope of the final chapter is too big. The development soon tone down its production after pandemic hits Indonesia in 2020 and many contents were scrapped such as cave, cliff, and jungle. However the story received major changes that fitting for smaller level. The chapter later released on steam on 1st October 2020 and receiving critics that the story is far different than prior chapters.

## Trivia

* According to The Art of Pamali, the game was initially called Project Uji Nyali
* During the development of The White Lady, the team experienced supernatural phenomena.
	+ in some instance the writer of Storytale Studios heard a soft cry of woman while working late at night.

* There are numerous easter eggs and pop culture references in Pamali.
	+ Four photos of developer team can be found scattered in the first chapter / The White Lady.
	+ "Nukieu" phone brand is directly homage to Nokia phone. It can be also translated from Sundanese into "like this".
	+ A poster can be found in the investigation room referencing to buy original games and support local developer.
	+ Nina Bobo, Lingsir Wengi, and Gundul-gundul pacul is a popular traditional song in Indonesia.
	+ The name Mira and her likeness is direct inspiration to the writer of Storytale Studios Mira Wardhaningsih.
* Many of the folklore takes inspiration from spiritual entity (Kuntilanak, Pocong, Tuyul), however Leak/Leyak is based on forbidden deeds from a living person to received higher power.

## Official Links

* Pamali Official Website
* Pamali Steam Page
* StoryTale Studios YouTube
* StoryTale Studios Twitter

## Gallery

House of Jaka's old familyThe mosque where Indra was being prayedThe house in Bali, a place where Kirana residesA house full of golds and trinkets, where Putri tries to find fortune
## References

1. ↑ [1] Pamali : Indonesian Folklore Horror Awards on Steam
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 [2] The Art of Pamali. Published by StoryTale Studios
3. ↑ [3] Scribd.com document "Pamali Full Endings (1-35)", Written by Nz
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 [4] Pamali All Endings (Chatpers 1-2) on Steam
5. ↑ Trattner, Kathrin. 2018. *Game Review PAMALI: INDONESIAN FOLKLORE HORROR.* Marburg: Journal for Religion, and Media.
6. ↑ [5] Pamali Presskit on StoryTale Studios.com (Archived 25 June 2020)
7. ↑ [6] Pamali: Indonesian Folklore Horror Video Game (Relaunched!) on Kickstarter.com
8. ↑ [7] Pamali press kit on StoryTale Studios.com (Archived 12 June 2020)