Drawing came easily for Alika Spahn Naihe, who started sketching at around the age of three. As he grew, his love for drawing focused on characters from Mortal Kombat or Batman, along with cars and trucks. That changed when he came across a magazine article about Native Hawaiian artist Solomon Enos.
“I had seen his Kamapuaʻa series on a flight to Maui to go spend time with my family one summer when I was 15. It just blew my mind, and I loved it,” said Naihe. From that moment on, Naihe, now 39, drew art that reflected Hawaiian culture and dove into written resources to inform his drawings.
Years later, in 2018, his art caught the attention of Jeffrey Vierra who had been teaching a Place-based Afterschool Literacy Support (PALS) course at Nānākuli High School. Vierra, who is experienced in game design, asked Naihe to join him in the PALS program to add an artistic touch. Both were driven to create games that reflect Hawaiian cultural values.
Vierra and Naihe brought in a former student, 2020 Nānākuli High School graduate Jack Hobbs, and together they co-founded a gaming business called TheoryCraftist Games.
“Usually, the games that we create address some kind of a social issue that’s happening in the community,” noted Vierra.
They wanted to create something fun from their collective imagination. In the summer of 2022, they finally got to work.
“I started creating art first and then I showed them the art and then they’re like, ʻoh yeah let’s make a Hawaiian war game, let’s do that,’ so I was excited to get into it,” Naihe recalled.
After extensive research and several prototypes, TheoryCraftist Games successfully created Hoa Kauā, a competitive two-player card game inspired by the battles of Kalaniʻōpuʻu of Hawaiʻi Island and Kahekili of Maui.
In a world where digital gaming seems to dominate, TheoryCraftist Games is not deterred. In fact, they have risen to the occasion to meet what Vierra calls, “board game fanaticism.”
“In the last 15 years, these analysts have been saying that the bubble is going to break, but board game sales have far surpassed video game sales year after year,” explained Vierra. “And it’s this massive market.”
While Hoa Kauā began as a side project, it quickly gained interest from local board game enthusiasts and those seeking something different. At the Hula ‘Oni E craft fair in August, TheoryCraftist Games was among the featured local vendors. The vibrant game drew attention from players of all ages, and interested customers got the chance to play on its custom-designed play mat.
Coincidentally, interest was heightened by the release of the Apple TV series Chief of War.
“We were developed around the same time that Chief of War started filming,” said Naihe. “So, it was really interesting”
In October, TheoryCraftist Games took Hoa Kauā to the Kauaʻi Comic Convention where attendees eagerly tested their knowledge of historic chiefly wars.
“When we got the right answer, you know, it was like we were legit, so we earned their respect,” added Vierra.
The day-to-day business of TheoryCraftist Games is to develop games that educate and entertain. They don’t advertise but have a steady clientele seeking purpose- driven designs. In all the company’s projects, Hawaiian culture remains at the center.
“Nobody is doing the type of wellness games that we focus on, especially integrating Hawaiian culture,” said Vierra. “That’s what we’re interested in.”
One ongoing project involves working with the Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive Health Center which sought to expand the Kamehameha Schools’ Lōkahi Wheel, a model that defines six areas of health to progress to wellness.
Dr. May Okihiro of the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine learned about Theorycraftist Games through a contact at PALS, reached out, and began the creative discussions.
“We decided instead of trying to just straight up teach them about the Lōkahi Wheel, what we would do instead is take a full game immersion approach, and we broke those six aspects of the Lōkahi Wheel into an RPG, or a role-playing game,” said Naihe.
The result is an app called Kaona, accessible for those 17 and older.
Said Okihiro, “While gaming and games are often thought of in a negative light, they are engaging and fun. TheoryCraftist is taking this strategy and using it to provide youth an immersive, captivating, fun experience that enables the participant to think about and learn new perspectives at the same time.”
She emphasized the importance of recognizing the strengths, assets, and deep knowledge that already exist within communities and among new partners to advance health and wellbeing.
“It has been an honor and pleasure to work with them,” added Okihiro. “They have taken the challenge on to create an engaging game, grounded in community and ʻāina, that promotes lōkahi along with so much more.”
TheoryCraftist is not threatened by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), even as models become better at generating art, textures, animations, and level design.
“I’m not against AI at all. I see it as another tool, a groundbreaking historical tool,” added Naihe. “I love all the possibilities that come out of it. And at the same time, I also see its limitations. Like, you really can’t rely on AI for anything Hawaiian culture. You really can’t.”
While AI reshapes creative industries, TheoryCraftist Games is charting a path grounded in research, cultural integrity, and imagination rooted in place. Their success shows that even in a rapidly changing world, authenticity and purpose can be the strongest competitive edge.
This article is reprinted with permission from Donalyn Dela Cruz, “Culture and imagination at play," OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper, December 2025, Vol. 42 No. 12. Read more at kawaiola.news.
