Diving into the World of A Space of the Unbound
Summary
- A slice-of-life adventure game that follows the story of high school sweethearts Atma and Raya.
- Explore and investigate a town inspired by the real life location of Surabaya, Indonesia.
- Follow Atma and Raya on a journey of self-discovery at the end of high school, whilst trying to save the world along the way.
- The development journey – a story about struggling to connect.
We are finally happy to announce that A Space for the Unbound is available for purchase on Xbox! It has been a very long journey and we are very excited that the game is now available for everyone to enjoy.
Mojiken Studio is a game studio based in Surabaya, Indonesia. We’ve been established since 2013, making games such as Ultra Space Battle Brawl, When the Past Was Around, and the recently released A Space for the Unbound. Because we’re a team of artists, we made a program called MojikenCamp to challenge our team into learning the development aspects of game production. A Space for the Unbound was created in one of these MojikenCamp sessions in 2015.
A Space for the Unbound follows the story of high school sweethearts Atma and Raya as they are going through the end of their high school years. In the midst of growing up and trying to navigate through life, their world is turned upside down when a mysterious supernatural power is suddenly unleashed in their little town. The two must now explore and investigate their hometown and interact with its townsfolk to save the world, while trying to learn a little bit about each other along the way.
In the first four years, the development of A Space for the Unbound was on and off. The game’s core narrative had been decided but finding the right formula was a tough struggle. Several prototypes had been made but none of them really had the qualities to deliver the narrative and experience we wanted to make. In 2019, we finally found the core formula and finished the prologue chapter. In 2020, we released the prologue to the public and were very happy with the reception.
Originally, the main topic of the game narrative was being lost and lonely in an unfamiliar world. The feeling of whatever you think you know about the world no longer applies or works anymore, thus making you feel very nostalgic, alienated, and disassociated with the world. We thought this topic was quite fascinating to bring up, how the world rapidly changes and can become more overwhelming. In a world where we can be more connected to each other than ever before and how knowledge and entertainment have been really opened up to us, we can become overwhelmed by what we can do, who to connect with, and what to consume. It can be paralyzing. The consequences of these challenges may lead somebody to mental health problems such as anxiety and loneliness, and it can lead to depression.
In A Space for the Unbound, the town feels festive but the hiding dread behind it is unnerving to some characters. In the game, players will witness many problems that the townsfolk are having, ranging from being indecisive on what to do, forgetting what’s important in their life, and also becoming overwhelmed by their day to day lives. The contrast between festive and loneliness is something that the game wants to bring to the table, and hopefully, it is interesting enough for the players and players can connect to some of the topics it brings.
A Space for the Unbound is trying to bring a unique perspective on how to view and approach a person’s struggle. In A Space for the Unbound, players will be gifted a magical power called “Spacedive”, a power that enables players to enter a person’s heart. It allows the player to observe slowly the problem they are currently facing and helps them understand it better.
The world of inner thoughts can sometimes be bizarre yet also very lonely. It is difficult to describe and convey properly through words what sort of inner struggle or mental condition we are currently having and the road to properly describing a feeling is a long one. That’s why sometimes, it is really hard for us to understand our mental state and the mental state of others. We hope this game might give players a perspective on what kind of things are happening in their inner thoughts and how other people are also going through their own individual struggles, and facilitates a more open conversation about mental health.
The game has been made to give tribute to our growing years in Indonesia in the 90s and early 2000s. The process of making A Space for the Unbound has been a lot of fun since we discussed so many things that happened in our school days, we exchanged stories about what happened and some of them we even added to the game! We hope that as players play A Space for the Unbound, they may even learn a little bit about themselves through Atma and Raya’s story!
A Space for the Unbound
Chorus Worldwide Games