San Fernando

**San Fernando** is a choice-driven narrative game developed by Makiling InterArts - studio from Philippines. The game tells a story of The Anthropologist steps into the shoes of an anthropologist studying and documenting the culture of this titular town from the Philippines before it completely disappears. In his journey, he learns more than he set out to, forms deep relationships with the townsfolk, and comes across a revelation that derails his scholarly pursuits.

## Story

Arriving in a village of San Fernando, you eager to see the village with your guide Maria. Along the way you learn that many cultures and community strong up until the day you arrived. Explore the world and engage in relationships with the townsfolk.

## Gameplay

As a choice-driven narrative game, the game serves as a story between players and the community of San Fernando. Each interaction from San Fernando townsfolk will be vary depending on player's choice of dialogue.

### Map

Map consist of accessible place in San Fernando. In the demo, players can choose between mango tree where Tonyo resides, the house, and its interior.

### Notes

Notes is a description about the culture in San Fernando, ranging from their diets to common food production.

### People

People is a selected lists of individuals that the players had interact throughout their journey on San Fernando.

## Characters

The primary focus of the game revolves around The Main Character engaging with the residents of San Fernando. The central characters of the narrative are individuals who are part of The Main Character's social network.

* **The** **Anthropologist** is main character in the story serving as a research to social study of San Fernando.
* **Maria** is a friendly townsfolk from San Fernando guiding the player throughout his stay.
* **Tonyo** is a farmer from San Fernando known for talk-active and friendly to newcomers.

## Development

Prior to San Fernando development, a group of team consisting Kate Clarise de Leon, Matt Limbaga, Manuel Joseph Urbano, and Jeremiah Reyna formed an indie game development group named Makiling InterArts . Their primary focus of the game is to explore the potential of games in storytelling as their medium. The story can be based on Philippines culture. Originally, the team was inspired by resource from Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) where they given access to Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (EPA). On 24 April 2023 Makiling InterArts released a teaser to San Fernando on YouTube. According to the description of the video the game will set on fictional town of San Fernando where an anthropologist tasked to research about the town's culture. However The Anthropologist did not realized the town has a sinister secret hiding in the darkness .

According to The developer of Makiling InterArts Matt Limbaga the reason they chose Fernando Armosolo's painting is because it invokes the sense of nostalgia . The team also received funding from Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)'s Animation, Comics, and Computer Grants Program under the category of Computer Games (Independent) . A demo of San Fernando released on Steam on 8 August 2023 as part of Steam Visual Novel Fest 2023 .

## Trivia

* The game received funding from Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)'s Animation, Comics, and Computer Grants Program equal to $5,000.
* The visual of the game is used many artworks from Fernando Armosolo's painting.
* According to the description of San Fernando trailer, the game is implied to have dark stories throughout the player's journey.
* Although in the game San Fernando is fictional town, the town is existed under the same name located in California, United States and Pampanga, Philippines.

## Official Links

* San Fernando Steam Page
* San Fernando Official Twitter
* San Fernando Official Facebook
* Makiling InterArts Official Website
* Makiling InterArts Official Twitter

## Gallery

The townsfolk in the fieldsMaria prepares mangoThe house where The Anthropologist rests
## References

1. ↑ [1] San Fernando Press Kit
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 [2] Esquiremag.ph article "This Video Game Designed by Filipino Developers in Their 20s Uses Fernando Amorsolo's Paintings" written by Nick Aguila
3. ↑ [3] San Fernando - Teaser on YouTube.com
4. ↑ [4] ABS-CBN.com article "CCP announces winners of content creation grants" written by ABS-CBN News.
5. ↑ [5] Astig.ph article "CCP Presents Grants Projects at CINEMALAYA 19" written by AkoSiMARS
6. ↑ [6] Demo live announcement via @SanFernandoGame on Twitter.com