Ina’s Tale: How a Brazilian Poet Launched His First Game at 70 – 12/18/2021

Like many other Brazilians, Luis Sampaio tried something different during the pandemic. Louis has always considered himself a poet, although he paid many bills as an astronomer. Now he will devote himself to something unimaginable: his first game.

With only one difference: Louis is 70 years old. Without any experience in this field. He didn’t even play video games.

Result Aspiration: Ina’s Talewhich arrived this friday (17) for pc (via Steam), Xbox one e Nintendo switch… This is the magical adventure of a girl who wakes up trapped in a tower. But the building is a living monument, and Ina not only needs to find a way out – she also needs to find out why she was imprisoned.

“It was a challenge! I really immersed myself in the magical world of the Tower, I lived with the characters, and I hope I was able to convey feelings and teachings, ”he says.

This is a very poetic story, so it is clear from where Sampaio showed his talent. But if he took care of the metaphors … WHO did you take care of the code?

Meeting at karaoke

In 2019, on one of the busiest karaoke nights in the Liberdade district of São Paulo (São Paulo), Sampaio met Nicolas Jacques and Pablo Abraham.

As part of one of those extraordinary partnerships that only bohemians are capable of, the duo agreed to help Luis get his poems across social media. After that, the “collaboration” did not stop.

“Our success in distributing poetry led us to a big dream: to create a game studio, which was Pablo’s passion,” explains Sampaio. “We wanted to develop poetic, aesthetic games that would lead the player to enrich the experience and develop it as a person.”

Abraham is now the CEO of Wondernaut Studio and Jacques was the sound engineer for Aspire: Ina’s Tale. Sampaio became CFO.

“It was a magical and inexplicable night, any action other than what was done would certainly not have led to what we have created today – Wondernaut.” Pablo Abraham, CEO and Director of Wondernaut

Jimi Hendrix, Alice and Chihiro

To get out of prison, Ina needs to acquire new abilities along the way. But, in line with the higher expectations of Abraham and Sampaio, these skills aren’t just pragmatic as they are in most games.

“They can be both for overcoming physical space, and for the development of your soul and essence,” explains Abraham.

Sampaio’s four poems inspire the central moments of the story. V the team also contributed a lot of their feelings and influences, both in aesthetics and in Music and in the gameplay, according to Abraham.

One of the seeds of this idea was Jimi Hendrix’s song “All Along the Watchtower”. But this broth also included animations like A Viagem de Chihiro, Alice in Wonderland, Gris and INSIDE.

Everyone brings it to the table … practically

Like many typical pandemic projects, the Aspire was carried out collectively, but at a distance, with everyone in the home office.

Sampaio, who is at risk of covid-19, participated remotely in meetings, giving ideas, opinions and advice (“the good side of being more experienced, but not necessarily older,” he says, laughing).

“The team insisted that Luis show up periodically to talk to everyone, and these meetings were always very positive,” says Abraham.

“We believe that together we are building more than a studio, we talk a lot about the values ​​that allowed us to build a loving family.” Paul Abraham

Luis also had an unexpected key collaboration: As he also worked with other businesses, he used his negotiating experience to partner with the Polish publishing house Untold Stories, which is helping launch Aspire: Ina’s Tale.

“They clearly admire Louis’s trajectory and his courage to invest in something completely new and innovative, like games,” Abraham analyzes.

Poetry everywhere

The unknown executives aren’t the only fans Sampaio has acquired. As he learned a little about modeling and programming, his colleagues also began to show more interest in poetry.

“I speak suspiciously, but actually Louis is my favorite writer,” says Abraham. “Poems are ‘easy’ to read and usually talk about the everyday things that everyone lives, lived or will live by.”

On the other hand, Sampaio says that he still cannot pass on his passion for games to other people in his love life, but he still received a lot of support and “positive energy” in this turn.

“Thank God I am in excellent health and fully focused on the future. The past is really what happened. Every morning I immerse myself in the present and positively predispose myself to the good that will happen, ”he said. summarizes.

And now Ina will poetically teach the same lesson to players around the world.

SUBSCRIBE TO START ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/start_uol
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/start_uol/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startuol/
TEC So: https://www.tiktok.com/@start_uol?
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/startuol