Guardian Maia is a Māori video game heroine who will soon be the subject of a feature film. She's the brainchild of game designer Maru Nihoniho, who wants more female game characters that save the world and save humanity.
“What we’ve done is set Guardian Maia in the future and we wanted to do that to explore an indigenous future. What do Māori look like a thousand years from now? Is our culture still alive, is it thriving? What are the elements we’ve brought from the past and the present into the future?,” Metia Interactive chief executive Maru Nihoniho says.
Nihoniho has included elements from Māori mythology that include Māori deity, moa, hōkioi and patupaiarehe. In the game, these characters either help or restrict Guardian Maia’s journey.
“Guardian Maia is set around Te Ao Māori, so it was really important that we talk with our moko artists, our weapon specialist and everyone that we could involve in the game on te ao Māori. It’s going to be one of those big console games for the PC, Play station, Xbox and all those sorts of platforms.”
The inspiration for the main character came from within her own whānau.
"The inspiration behind Guardian Maia really has been from all the women in my life from my nanny to my mother, to my aunties. They’ve all been strong-willed people. It was only a couple of years ago when I was watching my daughter and I thought 'you would make a good look for Maia'."
If Guardian Maia is successful, she hopes the game will branch out to other genres.
“The script for the story is for gaming at the moment but it is very easily adapted to lend itself to a movie or a mini-series which I would love for it to be.
Episode two for Guardian Maia will be released in October.