By Beidi Guo
Back in 2006, during the last year of my University, I was working day and night restlessly on the final project, a short animation film called "The Plenilune" . A story about a man who piloted the moon as a spacecraft and the long distance relationship between him and his family because of this special duty. ( see screenshots below )
Almost a decade later, I find myself still often thinking about that film, or more precisely , thinking about that world. Although it was a student film, it still attracted me with its mundane and also mysterious atmosphere. I felt it was a job uncompleted. Seemed like it had a great potential to become something much more than that. I felt like something was already there, I just happen to discover it. And questions just keep popping out, like: Who build this tower? Who lived there before? Why are they able to control the moon? What does the moon mean to the people there? What is the history or legend of this world? .... The more I think the more I realized the possibility behind that simple idea.
Mean while as a gamer who specially like puzzle game , sometimes I enjoy just doodling some puzzle ideas myself. One day after some draft sketch ( see image blow) I suddenly thought " What if I try to make a game based in that unfinished world that I was longing to develop for years, how about that? " Because every time I played a great games such as : Machinearum, Gorogoa, Year walk, Limbo etc. (Oh, can't forget to mention my all time favorite "The Neverhood" by dreamworks from the 90's, also my first computer game experience ever) The desire of making my own game just grown a bit stronger. So now I know where the story gonna take place, why not turn it into a proper project?
Early game concept art & Character design
So I shared my thoughts with my game developer friends Fox and Guan and they both showed strong interest in it. Then half year later, while the story and research almost completed, followed by the joining of the 4th member , Qian the sound artist, the production of the game officially stated. Now we are 5 months into the production, we are hitting the first quarter mile stone and thinking to launch a kickstater campaign to make it go further.
However I still often be amazed how that little idea has grown, the story has become so complicated. Now we even have some charming characters who wonders in the game just like they have always belong there. Seems like it's not us who created the world, rather we are just lucky to help the world reveal itself.