As a younger woman rising up in East Harlem, I didn’t see many examples of kickass Latina ladies in popular culture, nor had issues improved as soon as I grew to become a profitable tv and film actress in Hollywood touchdown roles in properties like “Harold and Kumar” and “Devious Maids.” In 2007 I used to be shopping the aisles at San Diego Comedian-Con when it dawned on me that in sales space after sales space, nobody was representing feminine or minority characters. The few occasions I’d see them, they’d be both unhealthy guys or half-naked feminine vampires. Nevertheless, whenever you take take a look at the crowds at this occasion, you’ll be able to’t assist however discover that the attendees will not be simply white folks, however each kind of human on the planet! An enormous variety of the folks shopping for these comics aren’t being represented in any respect within the leisure they’re consuming.
Borrowing on my Colombian heritage, I made a decision to do one thing about it, and together with my husband Antonio Hernandez, we created the character Aluna, a spirited younger 16th Century Spanish princess who’s accused of witchcraft and despatched again to her native Colombia from the place she was taken as a child. There she learns the reality of her future: to defend the paranormal shard stated to comprise the center of her goddess mom, Pachamama.
The purpose was to organically create a hero that represented a feminine with ethnic roots that everybody would get pleasure from, however who doesn’t belong to only one group. We selected the sixteenth Century, earlier than Western colonizers created borders between international locations like Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Peru. After in depth analysis on the indigenous tribes of South America, we established that Aluna’s mom can be the Incan goddess of the earth, Pachamama. Within the 1500’s, Spanish conquistadors have been conquering and plundering native peoples for gold and land, so we solid a Spanish sailor as Aluna’s father to symbolize a mixture of the pure world and the extra brutish, colonizing world of humankind. We created a demigod heroine that isn’t the same old demigod of Western and Japanese cultures seen in so many video games and comics.
With a worldwide viewers hungry for extra Aluna, I partnered with my husband’s improvement firm Digiarts and N-Fusion Interactive to translate the journey right into a videogame. Heroes of Newerth made us a fan of top-down gameplay, shifting the character round a map to struggle creatures and acquire loot. I discovered Diablo and had a lot enjoyable taking part in for hours that knew this was the course for the videogame incarnation of Aluna.
In Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards, gamers tackle the character of Aluna as she defends her powers from the evils that search to destroy her in a sixteenth Century New World primarily based on indigenous lore and the colonization of South America by Spain. Gamers discover a wild setting of dense jungles, towering beachside cliffs and volcanic canyons whereas encountering creatures and executives impressed by Incan mythology. Weaponry is modeled on historic South American and Spanish conquistador arms of the period. The true world is aided by the paranormal as gamers can customise Aluna’s preventing model by unlocking highly effective magical skills throughout three colleges of magic.
Latin American tradition has a lot selection and depth, there are tons of of thrilling tales to inform. We hope gamers have as a lot enjoyable taking part in Aluna and exploring her world as we did in creating it.
Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards
Digiart Interactive LLC
$19.99
From the heavens, mystic shards rain down upon the earth defying each time and house. Superstition, mysticism and worry of the unknown gave life to a path that went past the land of its beginning. We meet our heroine Aluna, who as a toddler has was given probably the most highly effective of those shards that’s stated to comprise the center of her mom, the goddess of Earth Pachamama. By a collection of circumstances, Aluna should depart her dwelling and journey to the brand new world. Aluna is fulfilling her future, however so is the evil that seeks to meet theirs. Aluna’s previous guides her future and her enemies will cease at nothing to steal the shard and take management of the world…
