The Jataka Tales

Abstract: 'The Jataka Tales' is a prototype game designed for a kids tablet that would teach them about Buddhism through retelling the original Jataka Tales.

In buddhism the original Jataka Tales chronicle the Bodhisattva's journey to enlightenment, each one illustrating a key value of the religion.

My prototype focuses on tale #162 Santhava Jataka. In this story the Boddhisatva (the Buddah before he became enlightened) goes to the forest to worship his birth fire in honour of the fire god. He builds a hut of branches and leaves to live in while there. One day he receives an offering of rice and ghee from the local village. He decides to give it to the birth fire, but the added fuel to the fire makes the flames shoot up and engulf his hut. At that point he declares the fire god as wicked and renounces his worship to go into the mountains to become an ascetic.

The player plays as the Boddhisatva, meeting Agni, the fire god, towards the end of the demo. The style is a cartooned style of Thangka (pronounced tahn-kuh) paintings to appeal to a young audience while still referencing traditional Buddhist culture. Additionally included in the game are references to the eight auspicious symbols. The lotus was used as an interactable object.

In creating this, the largest challenge was being culturally sensitive while still marketing it to a modern-day western audience. There was a lot of research that needed to be done into everything, from the tales themselves, to specific designs of clothing.

My design iteration process for the character Agni based off the Buddhist fire god of the same name. He was created as a character for 'The Jataka Tales', a children's point-and-click adventure game about the Buddhist Jataka Tales. I started with silhouettes before moving to more detailed designs. Finally, I translated the final design into a kid-targeted style. His depiction is based off traditional Thangka paintings. Typically, Agni has several key features including red skin, a crown of fire on his head, four arms, and a strong physique with larger belly to symbolise the strength of fire and how it consumes everything. All these I made sure to include in my character design. I chose to dress him in Dhoti pants; a traditional Indian garment worn during the time period of the Jataka Tales. In my last iteration at the top you can see the more accurate version of the pants. My final design shows how I simplified them for a more cartoon style.