Submerged below the surface of pirate history on the South China Sea lies a deeply emotional and captivating tale of survival. Cheng Shih, a woman seemingly forgotten by history, lived on these tropical and often tempestuous waters, using her intelligence and cunningness to become one of the greatest leaders in this part of the world. Her story is one of progression, succession, and courage, which is inspiring in the face of a brutal and often violent portion of the 19th century.
The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is a VR title that has taken her narrative and challenged gamers to discover the mostly unknown pieces. It is a first release for Singer Studios and features the incredibly talented Lucy Liu in the role of Cheng Shih. FandomWire (FW) had the pleasure of speaking with Liu along with visionary director of the game, Eloise Singer, in a round table setting.
The two artists discussed this project and the significance of such a work in their own lives. It is clear that The Pirate Queen was not just a job to them, but a way to inspire empowerment in others and promote women in a noticeably male-dominated industry. It was an exciting conversation and I certainly look forward to seeing where Singer Studios will go next. Please enjoy as these two creators dive into the world of pirates and storytelling.
The Pirate Queen is a Project Built on the Vision of Eloise Singer and Lucy Liu
FW: Hey, guys, thank you so much for answering our questions, some really great ones so far. My first question is for Eloise. I’m wondering what is your perspective when you’re directing in the virtual world compared to other mediums? And especially thinking about how you get the player to sort of see what you want them to see?
Eloise: That’s a really good question. Directing in VR is very different to directing in flat screen because you have to anticipate what the player is going to do at any one time and that’s like 3D chess. You can’t play it yourself. You can’t know what people are going to do. And it’s fascinating and really quite exciting to see when people do things that you just don’t expect. But I think we work very collaboratively.
So it’s very much a team effort of everyone coming together and creating the experience together. And what we did that was very unique to VR was we created a writer’s room, which is a model that we have in film and TV, but you don’t have it in games. And so, we sort of built this writer’s room, which was myself, our writer, our game designer, our producer, our lead artist, and we all got together and set out what the game was going to be and what the narrative was going to be in conjunction with what the mechanics were going to be.
And because we did that really, really early on, that was sort of our effective guiding light for then creating the whole experience. And that was very different.
So, I think it was really interesting coming from the film world and bringing that into VR. And in terms of what the players will get out of it, and what I hope they will get out of it and guiding them, we also have a literal guide in the game as well. So, if at any point you get stuck, we have Orion Lee, who’s an amazing actor who plays Cheung Po Tsai and his voice is the guiding voice in the game.
But for me, sometimes you don’t know why you choose something. For this one, it was really obvious why.
So, we tried to anticipate what players might do or where they might get lost. And we have a bell system, which means that you can ring a bell and that will then give you a hint. And we learned very much from showing the experience at festivals that sometimes you can have players who want a really challenging experience and they don’t want any help whatsoever.
Or you can have players who want to be guided through it. So having a bell system where you can either choose to get a hint or choose not to works really well for different players who want different levels of the challenge.
FW: Lucy, my question for you is, I noticed the last time you did a video game was Sleeping Dogs and that was 12 years ago. How would you compare that with The Pirate Queen? And is there a reason why it has been so long since you did a video game?
Lucy: I think it’s just what comes in, to be honest. And technology changes not every 10 years, but really every 10 seconds now. I mean, you look at AI and the idea that people are afraid they can’t even keep up with AI is the same with technology. And so they didn’t really have this kind of, I mean, even when I’ve done animated movies, like Kung Fu Panda, the first one, they had never had anything like the snakes move.
That was like a big deal. And I mean, you think about that compared to what’s happening now for a regular animated series, things have changed so rapidly. So being a part of something like this for me, based on a real-life character, a person that existed in the world at that time, was exciting. It kind of brings history forward with technology. I think there’s so many games that are more about war and shooting and weapons and explosions and damage. And I think it’s a very, it could keep going down that road, and it obviously has.
But this is a very different thing to be a part of because it is not oriented towards violence. It’s more oriented towards history and learning, but without it being so obvious. And I think I can appreciate that because I don’t think kids often want to know that they’re learning.
So, if at any point you get stuck, we have Orion Lee, who’s an amazing actor who plays Cheung Po Tsai and his voice is the guiding voice in the game.
I think they just want to be doing something active. And then after the fact, if you ask them a question, they won’t even know that it was based in history. You know, being immersed in that historical environment, to have it be so specific and detailed.
I think these are nice things that we can take away from it as a player or understanding how cinematic it is to be in that. But for me, sometimes you don’t know why you choose something. For this one, it was really obvious why. I was really discovering something brand new. And I was so surprised that she was a real pirate and that she was the most powerful. I mean, I thought it was kind of a joke at first.
And then when I did the research on my own, I was so shocked and kind of embarrassed that I didn’t know more or that this was introduced to me for the first time, via this VR game. So, I have Eloise to thank for that. But, you know, your life is so limited in how you live because of the things that you’re presented with. And to be, have your eyes open to something like that was really refreshing and wonderful.
The Pirate Queen is now available on PCVR, as well as Meta Quest 2 and 3. Be sure to check out FandomWire’s review of the title, to see what we thought of the first Singer Studios game.
What are your thoughts on this interview with Lucy Liu and Eloise Singer? Will you be checking out The Pirate Queen? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
