MANILA, Philippines – The rhythm game RiBeat! won the Department of Trade and Industry’s Young Creatives Challenge Season 2 under the game development category, the government agency announced in an email on Tuesday, May 20.
The studio behind the game, Sweet Banana, won P1 million for its efforts in a field of a total of 119 winners across other categories including animation, graphic novel, online content creation, and others.
Four in the Sweet Banana team are BS Computer Science alumni from UP Mindanao, including QA and business lead Kaye Maceda, programmer and sound designer Francis Jacinto, and programmer and 3D artist Rhymno Orioque, with Franz Vilela as the project lead and lead programmer — all of whom are from batch 2023, except for Orioque who hails from the 2022 batch.
Other team members are 3D artist and UI designer Mark Bolilan and sound designer Zian Callao.
The game’s description on its site goes, “RiBeat! is a rhythm game where you hop to the beat while avoiding obstacles and solving puzzles. Join Muira and dive into a world of rhythm and challenges!”
In a 2023 Philstar.com report, the game is said to be a swan song for the UP Mindanao students, entering the title in the 2022 Game Jam Plus contest, where it finished as a finalist.
Vilela, the team lead, told Philstar that it was her love for rhythm games that drove her to pitch the game to the team, and called it a “passion project” that they’re striving to make it the “best it can possibly be.”
“As an aspiring game studio from Davao City, it is important for our team to continue our passion for developing games since the game development scene in Mindanao is close to non-existent. Although we may not have the resources nor are we well-known enough to kickstart our local game development scene just yet, our relentless dedication to game development represents a promising stride in the right direction,” she told the site then.
UP Mindanao professor Vic Calag congratulated the team: “Your achievement is a testament to your creativity and excellence. The UPMin community is proud of you!”
On winning, the team said on its Facebook page: This achievement is a huge milestone for our team and gives us even more momentum as we continue building toward the full release of RiBeat!✨”
The game’s Steam page is currently live with the game available for wishlisting. – Rappler.com
