The memory of a Mexico frozen in time fuels the imagination of Arturo Borja, also known as Inubass, who left Aztec lands more than 20 years ago to cross the sea in search of adventures in the country where Nintendo was born: Japan. A developer and programmer, he managed to establish a small video game development studio in Tokyo called Sketchy Ceviche.
Through the “El Panadero” (The Baker) game, this Mexican offers to the ancient Japanese culture a surreal gaze of icons of Mexican bakery culture such as conchas, orejas, and the delicious piloncillo piglets.
Originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, Arturo studied at a Center for Industrial, Technology and Service Studies (CETIS) and completed his training with Japanese classes at the University of Guanajuato. Since then, he had his eyes and ambitions set on the land of the rising sun. With his programming degree, he landed a job as a “Code Monkey, a dreamer of the IT… a classic techie,” he said in an interview with MxPA.
“I had the opportunity to learn how a normal, middle-class Japanese person works,” he said.
Arturo also told us that this meant missing out on opportunities in Japan because he’s a foreigner. Being bilingual is appreciated by the locals, and the Mexican regrets having missed out on that opportunity by entering the programming field from the start.
The call of his homeland is strong, but Inubass found in traditions like the celebration of Obon a sweet parallel with the Day of the Dead that helps him overcome nostalgia. Obon is a day to remember departed loved ones and offer them food, offerings, lanterns, and altars.
“In some ways, we are so different and in others so similar that there are places where the gears fit together,” the programmer shared.
The Development of The Baker, a Labor of Love
For Inubass, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic became the perfect opportunity to invest his free time in something constructive and forget about the tragedies unfolding around the world. So, together with his father, he began developing his first video game, El Minero.
“There is no way to make something without making mistakes,” Arturo commented about his most recent game, The Baker. The path independent developers must travel to realize their art is very complicated and fraught with difficulties that they often have to overcome with limited help and resources.
In an interesting coincidence, a producer and musician who calls himself ghostpops became interested in his work and offered to collaborate. Of South African origin, ghostpops has a music studio in Japan and contributed a unique interpretation of Mexican music to The Baker game.
The task of making video games is an enormous challenge; some developers even call completing a video game “a miracle.” For those of us who have had the privilege of seeing behind the curtains of the digital entertainment industry, it’s obvious that independent developers can’t compare themselves to the industry giants. However, they compete for the same space, for the same money, and consumers often look down on independent video games. Arturo is aware of the criticisms of his work and has learned to separate constructive criticism from attacks.
“What really bothers me—I’m not saying it hurts me, but it does bother me—is when people say, ‘I’m not going to buy a Mexican game just because it’s Mexican,’” the developer expressed.
Making games is a very risky business; even in countries with government support, there’s no guarantee that the game will recoup its investment and generate profits.
So why make independent video games? “One, because we want to, and two, because there are many things that indie games (independent games) can offer you that AAA games won’t,” the Mexican developer said with ironclad conviction.
Perhaps that’s the secret to the charm of independent games: they’re made out of the simple impulse to create, to accomplish something, and to give the world something that didn’t exist before. The pleasure of sharing your culture, your thoughts, or your fears is the driving force behind honest art that has given us works like El Panadero, and that is priceless.
You can find Arturo Borja’s game on Switch and on Steam at this link:
El Panadero -The Baker- on Steam
Related: 200 Mexican video games are getting ready to celebrate May 5
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
