Procreate and Unity combine to turn Afterlove EP into a moving manga-inspired indie game

Upcoming anime-inspired indie game Afterlove EP is a game in which art imitates life in the saddest way possible. There's a tragic irony to its premise, as you play as twenty-something musician Rama trying to move on from the death of his girlfriend Cinta, whose voice he continues to hear, while trying to get ready for an important gig that may make or break his band. The game's original writer and director Fahmi Hasan had suddenly passed away in 2022.

"For a while, it felt like we had no direction and no reason to keep going," says technical artist Maxi. "But after some time, we pushed through even though it was really rough, and I think we did our best to honour what he started."

Indonesia may be the fourth most populous country in the world but it's less known for its contributions to the games industry, being largely a hub for outsourcing, which often happens under the radar. However, original indie games made by Indonesian developers that also reflect Indonesian culture have been emerging in recent years, such as 2020's Coffee Talk and 2023's A Space for the Unbound. The latest is Afterlove EP, which is also set in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Part of that vision was the setting of Jakarta, where the late developer was also based (the remote studio Pikselnesia consists of developers working from across Indonesia). Just as Japanese games like Persona 5 and The World Ends With You are examples of Japanese developers showcasing their trendy contemporary culture to the world, so too does Afterlove EP depict the kind of trendy neighbourhoods that Indonesian youth gravitate towards.

Indeed, Japanese culture is very influential in Indonesian culture, not just in terms of games but visuals, as background artist Pinga mentions to me that the manga Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad was one of Fahmi's inspirations behind the band element of Afterlove EP's story.

"I can’t think about Fahmi without thinking about his endless references, he has lots of it!" Illustrator Soyatu, whose work already garnered a large following prior to joining Pikselnesia, also cites Japanese manga artists Yasuda Suzuhito and Natsujikei Miyazaki as inspirations.

There was nonetheless a challenge of ensuring Soyatu's distinct and minimalist character designs felt a match with the more detailed backdrops. "I remember it took us a couple months and trial and error just to make Rama’s room feel like it belonged to Rama," says Pinga. "As the background artist I cannot be thankful enough for the team’s feedback and push. The key to make it right is to try again and again."

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Despite Japanese influences and an anime style it was also important to authentically depict the diversity of Indonesia, which is a Muslim-majority country. "Indonesia has so many diverse people, so I spent some time researching and trying to discover how Indonesian people might look in an anime-style," Soyatu explains.

"Fahmi really wanted Afterlove EP to feel like Jakarta," Maxi adds. "Not just in how it looks but in the way people act and the overall vibe of the city. One of the comics in the game has an Ondel-Ondel, which is super iconic in Jakarta. We made sure to add little details like that so the city feels alive and true to what it’s actually like."

While the game is presented in 2D format with just a handful of locations, Pinga's backgrounds cover a considerable length, allowing players to traverse them in a side-scrolling fashion rather than just static backdrops you might find in a visual novel. Even then, there's variations to the visuals, such as for longer dialogue scenes or the rhythm game mini-games. "The dialogue comic panel was inspired by Persona 5, but we made it look more like manually drawn comics, which can be seen by the textured and more ‘scratchy’ lines," they explain.

While the game is developed in Unity, the hand-drawn nature of the art means the artists use various other tools. For Soyatu, his illustrations are all done with Procreate, a digital painting app for iPad. Pinga also uses Procreate but admits it has its drawbacks, explaining, "It’s not really capable of very big environment drawings, so I also use Photoshop to merge some assets and Clip Studio Paint for colouring assets."

"Besides Unity, we used Photoshop and Spine for animation," adds Maxi. "To make everything look hand-drawn, we had to do a little bit of game dev shenanigans. Just some tricks here and there to keep things feeling right."

Although the loss of Fahmi had a major impact on the team, everyone decided to pull together to see his vision through to the end, and the result is bittersweet. "We lost our friend, also a leader at the same time, but the show must go on, so we did our best!" Soyatu concludes. "I'm so happy and relieved the game is coming out, but sad at the same time because Fahmi isn't with us now. But we did it. It's for Fahmi, our beloved person."

Afterlove EP releases this Valentine's Day, 14 February 2025. Inspired? Read our guides to the best animation software and the best game development software and start creating.