Latest news with #Yee


The Star
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
M'sian studio's debut game explores the eternal goodbye through a child's eyes
If you could go back in time and see that person you loved again, what would you do? What would you say to them? Everything good must come to an end, and all love ends with grief. We've all dealt with loss in our lives, making the central premise of Once Again universally relatable. The young protagonist of this short but sweet visual novel is a boy named Sia, whose mother has passed away. On his 10th birthday, he awakens from a nap to discover a birthday cake in his room. Making a wish, he finds himself mysteriously transported to the past. There, he miraculously encounters his mother as a younger woman, who teaches him to develop photographs. Sia's mother teaches him about photography, and he in turn develops an equally strong interest in the craft. The story is mainly expressed through short sentences, all told from the point of view of the main protagonist Sia. From then on, on each of his birthdays, the boy is transported to the past, reuniting with his departed mother for one precious day each year. The pain of farewell Once Again is the debut game from Malaysian developers RB Wolf Games, and was conceived by producer Yee Weng Hong during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Yee, 36, comes from an advertising background, and this was his first foray into a purely creative project. 'That was a time when I realised how fragile life is,' he says. 'The game's story is also based on a real-life story. One of the main characters is inspired by one of my relatives, a woman who dreamed of becoming a mother, but unfortunately passed away two months after giving birth due to a heart condition called PPCM.' (Also known as peripartum cardiomyopathy, the American Heart Association explains it as an uncommon form of heart failure which can happen during or after pregnancy, when no other cause of heart failure can be found.) 'This story had always been in my mind, and during Covid, I thought I could try to make a video game.' His mind made up, Yee set up RB Wolf Games and managed to win a grant from MDEC (Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation) which really helped the fledgling company during the developmental stage. The melancholic colours and composition of Once Again informs the player of the sentimental tone of this quiet tale of goodbyes and second chances. Throughout the course of the game, Sia repeatedly travels to the past, spending time with his mother, who is revealed to have a strong interest in photography. She teaches Sia about her passion, and he too develops an equally strong interest in the craft. 'I love photography,' Yee says. 'I think it's a beautiful way to freeze time, and turn moments into lasting memories. I think in the game, photography helps to tell the story of the differing perspectives of mother and son.' Artistic influences 'I think the biggest influence on my game was actually music,' Yee shares. 'A lot of inspiration for the story, visuals, and soundtrack came from lo-fi music. It was more about capturing the vibe.' If you have spent any time on YouTube listening to lo-fi music, perhaps that would have conjured up a certain aesthetic. Manga-style, hand drawn character art, combined with soft pastel clouds draped over the sunset. Yee would often play instrumental lo-fi or Ryuichi Sakomoto's piano music while working on the visuals and art direction to infuse his work with the intended feelings. 'Instrumental music only,' Yee says. 'If there's a person singing lyrics it might distract me.' Other than music, the indie game Florence, developed by Mountains and published by Annapurna Interactive was a big influence. Yee says, 'It inspired us in developing the interactive aspect of the game. Interaction is very important because you need it for the player to truly immerse themselves in the story.' Once Again is Yee's first time telling a narrative story. — YEE WENG HONG The gameplay in Once Again, like Florence, is understated and simple. For example, some sequences task the player with adjusting the exposure and focus on a camera to take beautiful shots of the landscape or Sia's mother, much like Florence's gameplay loop of touching certain areas of the screen to perform mundane tasks or convey interactions with the main character's loved ones. Once Again is the first work of fiction Yee has created. 'It was a big personal challenge,' Yee remarked. 'I don't come from a writing background, I worked in advertising. I'm an art person. This is my first full narrative story. It was quite fun!' The text in Once Again is minimalist, unconcerned with using fancy words, instead trusting to the emotions the simple dialogue and narration evokes. The gorgeous visuals combines with the beautiful music to create a truly sentimental and timeless atmosphere, putting one in mind of the idle holidays of one's youth. A chance to say goodbye Yee emphasises the importance of closure in his game. In life, there are a lot of continuous or unresolved experiences, or experiences that are 'commas', as Yee describes. 'When you are able to say goodbye properly, it turns those commas into full stops, full sentences. You need to be able to properly say goodbye to everything, not just people, but memories, relationships, and different phases of your life. The core of this game is exploring the meaning of farewell. How we face it and learn to let go. 'Cherish the moment and appreciate every chance you get to meet the people you love. I hope that's something players can take away from their journey in Once Again.' Indeed, the protagonist Sia has the chance to do something that many people never get to do: say goodbye on his own terms. Photography serves as a gameplay mechanic and vehicle to express the point of view of the characters. — RB Wolf Games As a newcomer to the gaming industry, Yee and his company RB Wolf Games met with their share of challenges. He had no contacts or experience. 'When we started out I watched a lot of case studies, joined some game festivals, and learned from others in the industry,' Yee says. 'I met many developers and producers and they shared their experience.' Yee and his team of four to five people, mostly freelancers, gave their all to make their vision a reality. He employed Chinese and English writers to help finetune and translate his manuscripts as he had no writing experience. The positive response this game has received is a source of motivation for Yee and his team to keep going. 'Sometimes I still receive thank you messages from players,' Yee says. 'It means a lot to us. It has become a strong foundation for us to build something even better in the future.' RB Wolf Games is working on their second project now, with an even bigger scale and emotional story. 'We just kickstarted it this year, so there's nothing much we can show at the moment. I just completed the script end of last year, and now we're working on art direction and characters. One of the many idyllic yet bittersweet panoramas in the game. 'We also plan to enhance the gameplay and make it more engaging, we're in the process of trial and error with the gameplay mechanics. We're trying to get the gameplay rhythm to match the story and make sure the player won't feel bored. Hopefully we will have more to show people early next year.' Once Again is available on Steam for RM11.50, as well as on the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and Nintendo eShop for US$5.99 (RM25).

Leader Live
5 days ago
- Sport
- Leader Live
Alex Yee ‘energised' by London Marathon experience before triathlon return
The Olympic and world champion took time out of his main sport in the spring to fulfil a lifelong ambition by racing around the streets of the capital, and his time of two hours, 11 minutes and eight seconds made him the second fastest British runner. The effort he put into the project left him with peroneal tendinopathy, which causes pain and inflammation of tendons in the foot and ankle, in three places but he is now fully recovered and ready to dip his toe back into triathlon at Saturday's Supertri League race in Toronto. Yee told the PA news agency: 'I feel energised, I feel in a really good place. 'I don't think that necessarily means I'm going to come back in and smash the scene up and be at the front, I'm well aware of that, but I think I've just come back with a really good frame of mind about the sport and about where I want to be and how I want to go about it and improve.' Supertri races feature three fast-paced stages in a team environment, providing Yee with a fun reintroduction to the sport before the more serious business of a first World Triathlon Championship Series race of the year on the French Riviera at the end of August. The injury was a small setback but Yee has no regrets about testing himself in a different sport, and believes it can help take his triathlon racing to a new level. A post shared by supertri (@supertri_) 'There were things which I could probably get away with in triathlon that I couldn't get away with in a marathon, which I can now apply to triathlon and hopefully that will make me a better athlete as a result,' he said. 'It was really interesting to take that small step back. You get so used to training in a certain way so, when you take yourself out of a comfort zone and train a little bit differently and you're a little bit worse at it, it's an exciting thing for me.' Whatever the 27-year-old goes on to achieve, it will be hard for him to top the drama of his Olympic gold last summer, when his hopes appeared over only for him to sensationally reel in rival Hayden Wilde over the final few hundred metres. Yee's victory was one of the standout moments of the Games, and it is one he is continually reminded about. A post shared by Alex Yee (@lixsanyee) 'One moment that really sticks with me is a guy stopped me in Lewisham when I was running for a warm-up to run on – pretty surreal – the track that's now renamed after me,' said Yee. 'He was deleting a load of stuff off his phone to make memory to take a picture and just before he left me he said, 'I really appreciate everything you're doing for Lewisham, watching you was the last memory I have of my dad'. 'It really hit home that that can be such an important moment for somebody in their life. 'I feel like every time I speak to somebody or they stop me on the street, it's such an authentic moment that they're able to talk to me about, a moment of hope or of not giving up, or their children running round the living room or asking for a bike for Christmas because they watched me. 'We live in a tough world at the moment where opportunities are few and far between and our world's becoming a lot more digital so for people to be excited to be outside, to be excited about sport, I think is such a good thing.' Yee, who is already the most successful Olympic triathlete ever, has a third Games in Los Angeles in 2028 very much in his sights – and hopefully another gold in less nail-biting circumstances. 'It was an amazing moment and I would never change the finish but I still feel like I had something within me that could have made that race better,' he said of his Paris triumph. 'I'm not finishing that race thinking, 'I'm done, I've completed it', I'm thinking, 'What can I do to be better'? 'I still feel like I have that energy towards the sport and what's exciting me right now is that internal drive to be the best I can be. I know that each year success is rented and you've got to earn that right to be back at the top.'

Rhyl Journal
5 days ago
- Sport
- Rhyl Journal
Alex Yee ‘energised' by London Marathon experience before triathlon return
The Olympic and world champion took time out of his main sport in the spring to fulfil a lifelong ambition by racing around the streets of the capital, and his time of two hours, 11 minutes and eight seconds made him the second fastest British runner. The effort he put into the project left him with peroneal tendinopathy, which causes pain and inflammation of tendons in the foot and ankle, in three places but he is now fully recovered and ready to dip his toe back into triathlon at Saturday's Supertri League race in Toronto. Yee told the PA news agency: 'I feel energised, I feel in a really good place. 'I don't think that necessarily means I'm going to come back in and smash the scene up and be at the front, I'm well aware of that, but I think I've just come back with a really good frame of mind about the sport and about where I want to be and how I want to go about it and improve.' Supertri races feature three fast-paced stages in a team environment, providing Yee with a fun reintroduction to the sport before the more serious business of a first World Triathlon Championship Series race of the year on the French Riviera at the end of August. The injury was a small setback but Yee has no regrets about testing himself in a different sport, and believes it can help take his triathlon racing to a new level. A post shared by supertri (@supertri_) 'There were things which I could probably get away with in triathlon that I couldn't get away with in a marathon, which I can now apply to triathlon and hopefully that will make me a better athlete as a result,' he said. 'It was really interesting to take that small step back. You get so used to training in a certain way so, when you take yourself out of a comfort zone and train a little bit differently and you're a little bit worse at it, it's an exciting thing for me.' Whatever the 27-year-old goes on to achieve, it will be hard for him to top the drama of his Olympic gold last summer, when his hopes appeared over only for him to sensationally reel in rival Hayden Wilde over the final few hundred metres. Yee's victory was one of the standout moments of the Games, and it is one he is continually reminded about. A post shared by Alex Yee (@lixsanyee) 'One moment that really sticks with me is a guy stopped me in Lewisham when I was running for a warm-up to run on – pretty surreal – the track that's now renamed after me,' said Yee. 'He was deleting a load of stuff off his phone to make memory to take a picture and just before he left me he said, 'I really appreciate everything you're doing for Lewisham, watching you was the last memory I have of my dad'. 'It really hit home that that can be such an important moment for somebody in their life. 'I feel like every time I speak to somebody or they stop me on the street, it's such an authentic moment that they're able to talk to me about, a moment of hope or of not giving up, or their children running round the living room or asking for a bike for Christmas because they watched me. 'We live in a tough world at the moment where opportunities are few and far between and our world's becoming a lot more digital so for people to be excited to be outside, to be excited about sport, I think is such a good thing.' Yee, who is already the most successful Olympic triathlete ever, has a third Games in Los Angeles in 2028 very much in his sights – and hopefully another gold in less nail-biting circumstances. 'It was an amazing moment and I would never change the finish but I still feel like I had something within me that could have made that race better,' he said of his Paris triumph. 'I'm not finishing that race thinking, 'I'm done, I've completed it', I'm thinking, 'What can I do to be better'? 'I still feel like I have that energy towards the sport and what's exciting me right now is that internal drive to be the best I can be. I know that each year success is rented and you've got to earn that right to be back at the top.'


Glasgow Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Glasgow Times
Alex Yee ‘energised' by London Marathon experience before triathlon return
The Olympic and world champion took time out of his main sport in the spring to fulfil a lifelong ambition by racing around the streets of the capital, and his time of two hours, 11 minutes and eight seconds made him the second fastest British runner. The effort he put into the project left him with peroneal tendinopathy, which causes pain and inflammation of tendons in the foot and ankle, in three places but he is now fully recovered and ready to dip his toe back into triathlon at Saturday's Supertri League race in Toronto. Alex Yee approaches the finish line at the London Marathon (John Walton/PA) Yee told the PA news agency: 'I feel energised, I feel in a really good place. 'I don't think that necessarily means I'm going to come back in and smash the scene up and be at the front, I'm well aware of that, but I think I've just come back with a really good frame of mind about the sport and about where I want to be and how I want to go about it and improve.' Supertri races feature three fast-paced stages in a team environment, providing Yee with a fun reintroduction to the sport before the more serious business of a first World Triathlon Championship Series race of the year on the French Riviera at the end of August. The injury was a small setback but Yee has no regrets about testing himself in a different sport, and believes it can help take his triathlon racing to a new level. 'There were things which I could probably get away with in triathlon that I couldn't get away with in a marathon, which I can now apply to triathlon and hopefully that will make me a better athlete as a result,' he said. 'It was really interesting to take that small step back. You get so used to training in a certain way so, when you take yourself out of a comfort zone and train a little bit differently and you're a little bit worse at it, it's an exciting thing for me.' Whatever the 27-year-old goes on to achieve, it will be hard for him to top the drama of his Olympic gold last summer, when his hopes appeared over only for him to sensationally reel in rival Hayden Wilde over the final few hundred metres. Yee's victory was one of the standout moments of the Games, and it is one he is continually reminded about. 'One moment that really sticks with me is a guy stopped me in Lewisham when I was running for a warm-up to run on – pretty surreal – the track that's now renamed after me,' said Yee. 'He was deleting a load of stuff off his phone to make memory to take a picture and just before he left me he said, 'I really appreciate everything you're doing for Lewisham, watching you was the last memory I have of my dad'. 'It really hit home that that can be such an important moment for somebody in their life. 'I feel like every time I speak to somebody or they stop me on the street, it's such an authentic moment that they're able to talk to me about, a moment of hope or of not giving up, or their children running round the living room or asking for a bike for Christmas because they watched me. 'We live in a tough world at the moment where opportunities are few and far between and our world's becoming a lot more digital so for people to be excited to be outside, to be excited about sport, I think is such a good thing.' Yee, right, with rival Hayden Wilde after their dramatic finish in Paris (David Davies/PA) Yee, who is already the most successful Olympic triathlete ever, has a third Games in Los Angeles in 2028 very much in his sights – and hopefully another gold in less nail-biting circumstances. 'It was an amazing moment and I would never change the finish but I still feel like I had something within me that could have made that race better,' he said of his Paris triumph. 'I'm not finishing that race thinking, 'I'm done, I've completed it', I'm thinking, 'What can I do to be better'? 'I still feel like I have that energy towards the sport and what's exciting me right now is that internal drive to be the best I can be. I know that each year success is rented and you've got to earn that right to be back at the top.'


South Wales Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- South Wales Guardian
Alex Yee ‘energised' by London Marathon experience before triathlon return
The Olympic and world champion took time out of his main sport in the spring to fulfil a lifelong ambition by racing around the streets of the capital, and his time of two hours, 11 minutes and eight seconds made him the second fastest British runner. The effort he put into the project left him with peroneal tendinopathy, which causes pain and inflammation of tendons in the foot and ankle, in three places but he is now fully recovered and ready to dip his toe back into triathlon at Saturday's Supertri League race in Toronto. Yee told the PA news agency: 'I feel energised, I feel in a really good place. 'I don't think that necessarily means I'm going to come back in and smash the scene up and be at the front, I'm well aware of that, but I think I've just come back with a really good frame of mind about the sport and about where I want to be and how I want to go about it and improve.' Supertri races feature three fast-paced stages in a team environment, providing Yee with a fun reintroduction to the sport before the more serious business of a first World Triathlon Championship Series race of the year on the French Riviera at the end of August. The injury was a small setback but Yee has no regrets about testing himself in a different sport, and believes it can help take his triathlon racing to a new level. A post shared by supertri (@supertri_) 'There were things which I could probably get away with in triathlon that I couldn't get away with in a marathon, which I can now apply to triathlon and hopefully that will make me a better athlete as a result,' he said. 'It was really interesting to take that small step back. You get so used to training in a certain way so, when you take yourself out of a comfort zone and train a little bit differently and you're a little bit worse at it, it's an exciting thing for me.' Whatever the 27-year-old goes on to achieve, it will be hard for him to top the drama of his Olympic gold last summer, when his hopes appeared over only for him to sensationally reel in rival Hayden Wilde over the final few hundred metres. Yee's victory was one of the standout moments of the Games, and it is one he is continually reminded about. A post shared by Alex Yee (@lixsanyee) 'One moment that really sticks with me is a guy stopped me in Lewisham when I was running for a warm-up to run on – pretty surreal – the track that's now renamed after me,' said Yee. 'He was deleting a load of stuff off his phone to make memory to take a picture and just before he left me he said, 'I really appreciate everything you're doing for Lewisham, watching you was the last memory I have of my dad'. 'It really hit home that that can be such an important moment for somebody in their life. 'I feel like every time I speak to somebody or they stop me on the street, it's such an authentic moment that they're able to talk to me about, a moment of hope or of not giving up, or their children running round the living room or asking for a bike for Christmas because they watched me. 'We live in a tough world at the moment where opportunities are few and far between and our world's becoming a lot more digital so for people to be excited to be outside, to be excited about sport, I think is such a good thing.' Yee, who is already the most successful Olympic triathlete ever, has a third Games in Los Angeles in 2028 very much in his sights – and hopefully another gold in less nail-biting circumstances. 'It was an amazing moment and I would never change the finish but I still feel like I had something within me that could have made that race better,' he said of his Paris triumph. 'I'm not finishing that race thinking, 'I'm done, I've completed it', I'm thinking, 'What can I do to be better'? 'I still feel like I have that energy towards the sport and what's exciting me right now is that internal drive to be the best I can be. I know that each year success is rented and you've got to earn that right to be back at the top.'