So I'm Katharina Beler. I'm CEO and game designer of the game development studio, Sapta Studio.

My name is Een FTE. I'm a creative producer, currently also a research fellow at the Norwegian uh film school. Uh And I have my personal production company called Techno Plot. So, Katrina and I, we come from two different companies with a different uh skill sets. And we've been working together for six years now in this way on a very demanding project. And one of the reasons it's demanding is because of the topic and we'll show a short video where Norwegian Lady Gad Fleischer introduces this studio,

Craig. A re oh, I'm a product. A Craig. So is a gift barn. Come of the for the sin of the address from the address in there, all the band called it Craig. Um But for Shannon Paul, Paul Barney Creek, they called that B and C Men's Creek and ST po or the, the NC A and then also banner of, of occupant occupy they had but to be a notion of trade and commerce or the boot on the day for she had special, special. So a na a historian or this moni for this Monique from or for would share so bleed your body. W Mo House set in vista.

Sorry about the audio for some reason, it started to have an echo, but I guess you were reading the, the subtitles anyway. So hopefully it wasn't too bad. So this was Greiser and some of the other lovely ladies. Uh they are among the Lebensborn Children who were born in Norway during World War Two, with German fathers as uh German soldiers, as fathers and occupied Norwegian women as mothers. Uh And uh these Children after the war was over, they were seen as symbols of the enemy and were punished for it and they were free game for abuse in uh the local communities because of having the wrong blood of this uh inheritance of hatred. So uh I was working on a documentary film about these Children in 2014 and this was uh a very strong experience for me meeting these because um I'm a Norwegian artist, Katrina. And we hadn't really heard about this story from World War Two. And we think it's really, really, really important that we know our history that we know that innocent Children were made uh to be war victims after the war was over. And it isn't true that good guys win the war. There is a hatred uh remains and hatred creates for war victims of the uh uh weakest among us. So I decided that this message really needed to get out. And I decided trans media strategy uh which is here in this trans media flower.

Uh I had, I was working on the documentary but I also wanted to reach uh 1314 year olds, the young adults so that they could be better than us and they are on their mobile phones. So how could I get this story out to them on the mobile in uh an engaging and meaningful way so that they were reflect on this and um, uh don't repeat these mistakes. Um uh And also I wanted a campaign element so that the engagement and informing people could actually lead to some actual help for the Children of today because Children are born of enemy soldiers and local women in all conflicts all around the world. So I found out I needed a mobile game, but I'm not a game developer. So how to go about this. And I was so lucky that I met Katrina at this point in 2014. And Katrina, what was that meeting like?

Well, I mean, it was quite special because um it turned out that this was actually a topic I hadn't heard that much about and being a Norwegian, that kind of really surprised me. Um So, I mean, we had a strong connection and, and being able to talk a lot about these topics and, and had a strong connection to the topic as well. Um and you asked if, well, is it possible to make a game out of this type of this type of story and this type of topic? Because, I mean, games are usually seen as something very upbeat and, and, and happy and fun. Um and maybe even silly and not so serious. But um to me, uh games, games have always been a source to create empathy. Uh And I've always been interested in games that go a little bit further than just that typical slice of fun. Um And in games you are there and this is happening to you, there's no turning away, there's no being passive, you push the story forward and your actions have consequences. So I thought that yes, this could definitely be turned into a game. Um And it was a really fun but also an incredibly demanding process. Uh Of course, needing to learn more about um Ellen's point of view and, and Ellen's standpoints, but also having to delve into this type of topic that I hadn't really thought of before.

Um So we decided to create a parent simulation game and the game it's set in Norway after the Second World War. And it was very important that it would be a documentary game. So you are a parent that adopts a Le's born child. So kin or Klaus and your goal as a parent is to take care of your child's mental and physical well being and normally in this type of game where you just have, you know, someone you need to take care of. It's usually very light and you just focus on feeding and bathing. But in this story, you also have this mental aspect of what's going on with kid in society because they're not accepted. Um And you get some really difficult uh questions that you need to ask. How much do you share? What kind of explanations do you have and anger others. Uh It's up to you to decide how to handle these situations and have help your child cope and your choices will shape the child and their view on the world. Of course, the people that were part of this documentary that you saw, they were also helping us. So the stories that they were telling and the things that they went through was put into the game and the game is representative of their experiences. This did create a challenge for us because it gets very heavy, but we did agree very early on that we would not hold back and we would tell everything even including in some very traumatizing stories of abuse.

Yes,

the game needed it, it needed to be representative. This is a documentary for change project after all. That's the core motivation for both of us. But this how do you, how did we do this? Two different companies uh with what is a very experimental high risk project, this kind of game a sad mobile game, sad but engaging hadn't really been made before. Uh It's very sensitive documentary concept we needed to get it right. Also, in respect for the very vulnerable group of Lebanon Children. Uh They showed immense courage, trusting us to make their stories justice with a mobile game. They were in their seventies. So this was a challenge to them. Um And it was a very commercial um looking idea for the boards to consider. But we had a very strongly motivated development team and we had a gut feeling that there was something there and that it was worth really trying to get this right and trying to get this balance right. So uh both our companies went all in and we had one tool that helped us survive this development, fouryear development uh process. And that was uh that we agreed on some uh mutual goals, Katrina.

So there are four goals, one is to create visibility for the Lebanon Children so that uh people in Norway at least or anyone who'd listen would know about them and also to tell their stories so that the story of what happened in Norway after World War Two would exist out there and have visibility.

And then we wanted to create ethical reflection and empathy so that the players would maybe uh be able to take better choices than people had done before them. And the, the fourth goal was to create change for Children born of war of today, the campaign, a campaign ailment. So when we disagree and we did disagree uh relatively frequently, um this is we went back to these goals. OK. This is what we have to live, live up to. What is the conflict and how can these goals pull us through? And uh yeah, Katrina, how would you characterize our differences?

Yeah, I would say it got pretty heated many times but I think that there was also a really good strength of our collaboration because uh you actually sat down and played games and actually sat down and, and read documentaries or read uh you know, the information about the topics and sat down with documentaries and really trying to understand each other but not being afraid to kind of stand our ground and, and, and saying that OK, no, this is not good enough.

I, I need some of these needs met. And uh yeah, I, I think walking into our rooms, our, our workshop rooms were probably just like left in fear but, but I felt like we still managed to, to have the right amount of stubbornness to yeah each other. And I think it really improved our product

and we had to teach each other because there were times when you said no, we need to have this interaction because of the gameplay, this needs to be engaging to play. And then other times, I would say that no, this isn't representative of their story. And sometimes I would say that. No, no, no, no, no, go further even more because what they experience is so horrendous that we shouldn't pull punches, we shouldn't hold back. Uh So we had many um discussions, often, we would disagree, we would leave it there. We would come back the next morning and find a third way of doing it which often showed to be even better than that. Our conflict had uh revealed an interesting point in the game story. Um So, um that was four years and then we've had two years of launch. Uh And now Katrina can put through the results quickly.

Yeah, so the game was finished in 2018 and we found out really early that it does work. This crazy idea works. Um We were able to create, got people to reflect on their own experiences, uh got people to feel definitely. Um And in the end, we were really blown away by how powerful this game could be and how people didn't just react to the historical topic, but also all the different subtopics there, which is are about bullying and feeling out. And there were so many people actually sharing their own experiences as well. So this wasn't just in Europe either. It was in the US, it was in Asia, South America and it was eye opening to see that even that this topic is European, the scene is universal and people just cared and it got us a lot of attention. Uh We got press, we won several awards and we did anticipate that such a powerful story would get some attention. But I don't think we ever would have dared to dream that it would get so much praise and, and, and so much support um being called the Best Game of 2018 by The New Yorker and winning a bafta.

I, I don't know about you, about you Ellen, but I did not expect that.

No, we didn't. And as we've shown you, this was a very experimental project from the beginning. Uh uh uh pushed by this urge, this motivation that we, we had to do this. It's uh our Norwegian history. And um uh if I can uh point back to the trans media flower, I showed you with the initial motivation. Uh We're so proud now that we are actually in the process of establishing a new NGO uh the Children Board of War project. We're donating 10% of the net profit from the game because we want the enthusiasm and engagement from the players to actually make it different for the chil difference for the Children today. So we've been able to befriend and hook up with the uh globally leading researchers into the Children, uh Children border war topic. Uh None of these, uh none of the established NGO S are focusing on these Children because it's they're invisible post war. So that's why we had to create our own NGO for them. Uh And uh it's really full circle um when it comes to the value of uh the goals we set as for the trans media project. But it's also uh turned out to be very valuable for our two companies.

Yeah, even though the concept was not commercially predictable enough to get our board of directors to see like, well, how much are we gonna earn from this? They still decided to support the production because we believed so much in it. And now it's actually sold over 1 million copies on mobile alone. It just launched for console and PC worldwide. So my board of directors are pretty happy with that choice. Uh Not only is the game still profitable. Three years later, we've also built a strong brand recognition and we've grown as developers like for the next games that we're making where we wanna try to focus and continue down this road of, of focusing on fortunately engaging games. We'll definitely keep working with amazing partners like Ellen.

Um and, and doing our proper research to make sure that we can let our game development be inspired by true stories.

And it's so nice to see how my background in journalism makes means that Creta is now including that in the future development process. And I've learned so much about game development from Katrina. So right now I'm doing my research fellowship in emotionally charged interactions in VR uh doing a phd on that and focusing on interactive storytelling in VR, also working on a new VR piece, which is a um uh a different uh adaption of the Children born of war topic. So this has been life changing for us and delivered value in so many ways. And, um, although it's taken six years, we're still at it and we're actually gonna make a follow up to uh to the Michael Lemons Bond game as well starting now soon. So thank you very much. And uh we try to be efficient with time. We have three minutes left and let's see what you've said in the chat. Um uh Thank you aa. Um Did we create multiple story streams for the outcomes? We did not because uh that would be saying that if you played well, the child wouldn't be as bullied or unmolested and that that would be to blame the parents saying that, oh, you did a poor job looking after your le born child. Uh So it's the same outcome but the way you care for the child, the the emotional well being of the child will be different.

Uh and the connection will be different

and the way that the child decides to cope and the way that the child sees the world at the end will change based on how you decide to parent them.

Yes. And uh thank you Ines and Aa and Gabriel. Um a timely message when we started. Uh this was totally unknown story and now in Europe especially. But I guess in most of the world we have the, the, the, the tragic fates of the Children who were, uh, were born by is soldiers. Uh, and, uh, uh, and, uh, um, uh, we have mothers from Norway who went to the IRS controlled areas and, uh, uh, and many of the comments that these, uh, Children get are scaring similar to in 1945. 0, they'll grow up to be enemies among us and spies. It's very tragic. These Children haven't done anything wrong and we need to accept and embrace them as uh our Children, which is what they are. Thank you, Gabriel. Yes, it is. It is tragic. This is actually um the Children born of war uh are found after in all conflict areas. Also, Children born of un peacekeeping forces uh are often um experiencing the same fate because uh in a nation, a nation doesn't want to be occupied. And when occupation is over, uh the nation wants to regain its uh pride by pushing the foreigners away the the others, the enemy. And uh sadly, the Children uh get to bear the brunt of this. Are there any more questions?

It would be lovely if you want to play the game. It's called My Child Elevens Born. It's on uh uh mobile and now also on console and PC. And to join our community, we have a fantastic community where they are translating the game for free for different uh countries uh creating uh uh artwork. Uh Katrina, you said a song, someone in China had written a song, a song for us. Yeah. Yeah. So there's so much love. Um And it's so heartwarming to see how this story it touches people all over the globe. We're all humans, although we live in different cultures. So um it's been a very, very rewarding project for us in all ways. I think our time is up.

Yeah, I do want to mention that. I think this project does show that even though maybe you don't necessarily have the traditional framework of where you think you can make a difference. I'm a game developer and still we've done things that where I can actually feel like, wow, we're making a difference. So I think thinking in very different ways of how can you use your skills to create positive impacts

and you will uh hang out here until we're thrown out, I guess. Are we thrown out moderators? Um Maybe we are anyway. Thank you very much.

Yep. Thank you so much.

Uh Atia. Uh How did we find each other as collaborators? We were actually at uh uh a conference in London called Power to the Pixel uh which was um going on a trip with which was arranged by a local film center. Um So um uh lucky timing. So I can say, uh but I often say to people go out and hug a game developer because you need them. Yeah, turn up today really. Um uh it's uh interactive storytelling is so amazing and you have to build a skill set and uh game developers, anyone who can work in a game engine, find them befriend them. That's uh a top tip.

Yeah. And I think, yeah, it was a no film center that actually set up this uh event and they had film people and game people. And I think I was the only game developer that was actually there. Uh And uh yeah, just going to these, these mixture events, there's usually a lot of game jam events where people just sit together and they sit down and they make games. And if you, if you're not a game developer, you could still come in and join and just see the process and talk to people and people will welcome you with open arms. Um So game Jams could be a really good platform as well.

But yeah, you really should animators. I've been to Game Jams. Uh uh Although I didn't have any game dev uh um uh skills, but I ended up writing structuring, organizing, creating a pitch. There's always something you can contribute with and it's such a new uh fresh industry as well that uh uh any skill set is welcome. And then uh you have to be open to how you can apply it. But I really um uh recommend them and just after uh a weekend, you've been part of creating a game. How great is that perfect. So I put my email in the chat. You can see it also, Katrina and mine on the, the file. So, um, I guess this will be shut down sooner or later. Uh But then you can reach us, uh, if there's anything, um any additional questions? Definitely. You're welcome. I

thank you so much for watching and coming with questions,

I think maybe we'll end it here. Yeah. And um thank you for all your uh good wishes and uh hope this was inspiring that uh strong gut feeling, a crazy project it might still be worth doing. Yeah. Bye bye

bye.