LunarLuxis a turn-based RPG currently hosting its first playtest on Steam with a release scheduled for late 2023. The game follows Lunex Warrior Bella and her sidekick Tetra as they explore the moon to protect it from a comet that could cause devastating extinction. The game aims to be a welcoming, but challengingturn-based RPG for playersof all ages.
Game Rant talked to CosmicNobab, the head developer of the upcoming indie game onSteam, about its inspirations and the direction this title took throughout its development. Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Q: How long have you guys been working onLunarLux?
A: Well, there’s a whole history to this. Okay, so. The concept of a game that takes place on the moon with a colorful cast of anime-like characters has always been with me since I was a kid. But it really formed in my mind when I was in college five years ago. I would just doodle all of my characters on my notes. This made me think, you know, I’ve always wanted to create a game and a story and get it out there in the world, so I decided to take up programming.
So I initially started working onLunarLuxoff of the RPG Maker engine. That was back in I think 2019. Two years after that thought came into my head. We used RPG Maker to do a lot of experimenting; creating the proof of concept, the story, and the characters. And here we are now in 2022. I was able to find an amazing opportunity with Freedom Games to bringLunarLuxas a full game into reality.
Q: So it was a solo project at first?
A: Yeah, definitely. It was a solo project. Just to give you a little background about myself, I’ve been making ROM hacks since middle school. I was always trying to fiddle around and make games. I would say I’m an okay programmer, but I’m more of an artist. I started off as an artist and that’s what helped me visualize all my ideas and create all of my characters.
Back then, I was the only artist, the only programmer… I was handling all of it. I was solo deving for a long time, but I’m grateful to have had some opportunities in the last two years to meet some amazing people and make some great connections to finally build a team. SoLunarLuxstarted off as a one-man show, but nowCosmicNobab Gamesis a group of dedicated artists and programmers who enjoy making games, and we’re ready to bringLunarLuxto the world.
Q: How has work on the game changed from being just a solo project to having an entire team involved?
A: I would say it has helped keep things very organized. When I was first starting out on the RPG Maker version, I was a full-time electrical engineer. Game development was my dream job, though, and I wanted to take the leap into that field someday. I set myself a sort of five-year plan to get into game design when I was 21, and I’m 26 now.
Over those years, I was able to make a lot of connections. I feel like my background in engineering was what gave me the team-building, communication, and collaborative skills that helped me use these connections and makeLunarLux’sdevelopment way more organized. That helped improve the quality of development drastically once I was able to work on it full-time.
Q: So since you went from handling it all by yourself to having an entire team, has the scope ofLunarLuxchanged with that adjustment?
A: Yeah, definitely. When we first started off, we’ve always had a vision for the game, or, I’ve had several ideas that I’ve always wanted to do. It’s just that my programming knowledge was rather limited. Istarted off with RPG Maker, but it can only do so much. Let’s say I wanna do a cool world map system that implements some 3D effects. I was looking into a bunch of different techniques I could use to pull that off, like sprite stacking, but a lot of it I couldn’t do in RPG Maker.
So about two years ago, I spent one month, every single day, learning something new in GameMaker Studio 2. That time I spent learning eventually made me proficient enough to rewrite the entire game in GameMaker. This really opened up our possibilities, and I feel like they’re limitless now. Like I can try to learn whatever I can to achieve the vision that I initially had. I feel like the dreams I’ve had forLunarLuxcan be fully realized now.
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Q: What inspired you to makeLunarLuxitself beyond your idea to make a game that takes place on the moon?
CosmicNobab:Let me start off by sayingLunarLuxis a game that encourages curiosity and excitement for the future of humanity and technology. I hope through the story and the world-building that players of all ages begin to look forward to a world where humans have become a multi-planet species. These are the kind of ideas that I personally really latch onto. Certain people, like Elon Musk, are huge inspirations for me. His forward thinking on trying to save humanity and on advancing technology is something that inspires me. There are also concepts like antimatter black holes, wormholes, and others that add a fantastical, sci-fi flavor to things likeLunarLux.
I honestly really, really like science. I always try to include some sort of real-world science into level designs and missions. For example, in the chapter one demo, Bella is trying to collect something called a “lunar panel,” which is sort of like the opposite of a solar panel. Instead of absorbing light, it absorbs darkness. Players may look at that and go “whoa, is that a real thing?” While lunar panels aren’t real, they might instead find something called “radiative cooling” and learn about it.
There are a bunch of other nods to science inLunarLux. There are characters in these areas as well that might be able to explain it to you further if you want to know that information. you’re able to probably tell I’m very passionate about the science aspect.LunarLuxgoes into plenty of important topics in its story, like evolution and the sustainability of human life in outer space.
Q: Doesn’t the game’s plot summary mention something about how humans had to leave Earth because the planet’s resources had become unsustainable, so they had to live on the moon?
A: Yeah. There was a catastrophe that happened. I can’t say anything about that, though. It’s a spoiler.
With a setting such as a society on the moon, I like to think of things like, “If we are on the moon, what would we do? How would we actually survive?” Obviously, in a situation like that, sustainable technologies like nature preserves and farms are going to be very important. When it comes to figuring things like that out, my engineering background really helps. I’m hopingLunarLuxcan help capture the feeling of a bright future where we explore our universe and learn more about it.
Q: What hasLunarLuxtaught you as a game developer, and how has it broadened your horizons in that aspect?
A: I’ve learned, most importantly, to persevere. And no matter how hard something might seem, try to learn how to overcome it. The more I learn, the more my skills will grow, and I’ll be able to problem-solve easier. So always persevere.
I’ve had peers that I’ve always tried to encourage to chase their dreams, flesh out their ideas, and stick to them because, in a way, it’s an investment. You’re putting all that time and creative effort into it, so if you persevere, you’ll see the rewards of your efforts. I tried to live with that philosophy and I would say it helped me get to where I am today.
Q: The trailer for the game promises a strong cast of characters. What can fans expect from the cast found inLunarLux?
A:I would say that the cast is really quirky which is one of my favorite aspects about them. You have a wide variety of characters that I wouldn’t say fit specific archetypes. I would just say that they have their own unique qualities that make you feel like you’re playing an anime RPG. I’m very inspired by anime, but I can’t really animate even though I can draw. So I feel like making a game is the next best thing, you know? It’s like I’m creating my own interactive anime.
I even designed these characters with inspiration from some of my favorite characters in anime. I really likedTengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, that’s one of my favorites, and it always hypes me up. The media I consume definitely helps inspire the games that I create. SoLunarLux’scharacters kind of take that very anime “never give up” mentality with them as well. That’s another thing I like about them. Along with the fact that they’re very cute, likable, and marketable.
Q: You’ve said that the game is anime-inspired. Which anime would you say is the most influential toLunarLux?
A:I’d sayTengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.That anime, to me, is pure adrenaline. I’ve watched it countless numbers of times. Its messages and themes really resonate with me, and I hope to create a story that has the same ups and downs and is just as inspiring and resonating for players asGurren Lagannis for me.
Q: Regarding the characters, Bella seems to be the only one with voice acting during battles. What led to Bella having fighting dialogue?
A: Actually, back in 2020, to my surprise, Lizzie Freeman foundLunarLuxand reached out to me. She’s Bella’s voice actress, and she’s amazing at what she does. She’s been in many anime and games likeSword Art Online,JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, andGenshin Impactjust to name a few.
So she was like “your game is really cool, I would love to be a part of it,” and I was so humbled and honored. So we collaborated and now, Bella names out attacks and has battle system dialogue thanks to her. I did not initially have plans to include voice acting because the game was much smaller in scope back in the RPG Maker days.
This is what surprises me, you know. The game has improved in quality so much compared to back then, and I’m amazed that even then we were able to garner an audience of people who are interested and really like the game. At the moment, Lizzie’s only done battle system dialogue. We’ll see what happens in the future. Very excited about the future.
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Q: What can you tell us regardingLunarLux’sstory? Is it going to be a story that takes you through different avenues and emotions or is it just going to be a fun adventure with tons of discovery? What’s the scope of its story? Without going too much into spoilers, of course.
A: Yeah, what can I say? I have to be very careful with spoilers because another thing I’ve learned is it’s all in my head and not the audience’s. So I need to remind myself what the fans know and what I know.
LunarLux’sstory will have the fun and adventure. Definitely. But it also has depth to it in that it’ll explore equality through our protagonist. Bella struggles with how she’s an egalitarian as well as a soldier. So she ends up struggling with her duty versus ideals.LunarLuxwill also explore themes of truth, justice, and trust as well. There’s a character players will meet when they play the chapter one demo on Steam who distrusts authority.
This character kind of like a foil to Bella in many ways. She’s part of the authority group, the Lunex Force, and yet she has to build upon trusting this character who rebels back against them. Seeking justice is going to be an important theme in the story as well.
Q: When it comes to fighting and how the battle dynamics work in the game, there seems to be some influence fromMega Man Battle Networkin it. What did those games teach you that you wanted to put intoLunarLux?
A:Mega Man Battle Networkis one of my favorite childhood games. I really channeled a fair bit of it when I was creating art forLunarLux. As aBattle Networkfan, I’d really love a legacy collection or some kind of new release. I’ve been yearning for more of it, so I guess you could say I’m vicariously living by making my ownMega Man Battle Network-esque feeling. You know. The vibe.
I really like the deck-building aspect of that game.LunarLux’sskill art is inspired by the Battle Chip artwork. It would be easy for us to just have a list of skill names. I could have made it as simple as that, but I didn’t wanna settle for that. I wanted to make something that made each skill memorable and have a visual connection players could make with each skill also. It helps make it stand out in players’ minds.
Q: The “Network Dive” with Tetra seems very inspired byBattle Network’sexploration mechanics.
A: Oh, yeah, that’s one of my favorite new additions. Remember how I mentioned that there were certain things that I couldn’t do during the RPG Maker version? Moving into GameMaker has helped me create that. Tetra is like your sidekick. You’re able to interact with her, talk to her… she follows you and everything. I wanted to make sure she truly lives up to her role as a sidekick, so we gave her what I think is a very fun mini-game.
It’s called Network Dive. During your adventure, there are going to be certain computers or networks that malfunction that block progression. You’re going to utilize Tetra to restore and reboot the system to you’re able to progress. It ended up making Tetra more involved in the story, which works well. It’s definitely inspired byMega Man Battle Network; I loved going into the internet and walking around and exploring with your NetNavi. Network Dive is sort of my way of achieving that inLunarLux, but we also made it have some unique twists to it, too.
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Q: Are you aiming to makeLunarLuxinto a sort of spiritual successor toBattle Networkor are you just wanting to take inspiration from it?
A:Even though there are many aspects in the game that was inspired byMega Man Battle Network, there’s more to it than justBattle Network. We have a few other inspirations.Undertaleis one of them. I feel likeToby Fox’sUndertaleis one of the factors that pushed me to achieve my own dream of getting a game out there. He was a solo developer, too, and he did almost all the game by himself with some help. He’s also got a team now.
I wouldn’t callLunarLuxa spiritual successor, but more like a game inspired by elements found inBattle Networkand other games that I really loved to play.LunarLuxis like I took all of my favorite games and blended them together into a game that I would absolutely love to play myself.
Q: Back to the fighting, Bella seems to have a fair bit of attacks. Can fans look forward to unlocking new moves as a sign of their progression through the game?
A:Yeah, definitely. Almost every area has some kind of new attack for Bella to unlock, which is something players can look forward to every time they travel to a new one. They’re gonna be like “oh, man, I’m excited to try out the new attack. Where’s the skill? I need to find it.”
Every attack has its own unique mechanic, which is one of the things aboutLunarLuxthat’s really fun to program. It’s a challenge that keeps me on my toes. I’m looking forward to players seeing all the moves Bella can learn.
Q: With the anime influence, can fans look forward to maybe unlocking anime-like finishers the farther they go or is that something you can’t reveal yet?
A: We’ll see.
Q: In the gameplay of the fights shared so far, there’s a sort of “support system” in play. Can you talk about how the support system works?
A: The support system is one of my favorite aspects of the battle system. It’s another feature inspired byMega Man Battle Networkin a way. When you get your chip select screen inBattle Network, you select your attack as you would in any other RPG, then the support skills come up. It’s three randomly generated skills from what’s like your deck of skills. You can equip and unequip your support skills and there are certain rules you follow and strategize with regarding that inLunarLux.
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Q: I noticed a red “x” over some skills in the trailers that are out. Are those the rules in action? In some situations, you’re able to use these skills but in other situations, you can’t?
A: So that red “x” that appears is actually the option to skip using a support skill. I think that allowing players to add bonuses to their attacks like that is cool, but having the option to not do that is also really good. It makes it so that way players can either do challenge runs or work through certain playthroughs differently. We’re going to haveachievements on Steam, so that might play a role with these options, as well.
Q: Now that has me wondering. Where do you thinkLunarLuxis going to sit with difficulty options?
A:When players start playingLunarLux, it’s going to be on normal difficulty. There are no difficulty options from the start. I want players to enjoy the story. I reinforce that by how, for example, turn-based RPGs have random encounters usually. InLunarLux, there are actually story-related encounters, but for random encounters, the players have a choice on when they want to do those.
So, for example, if you want to train, get more experience, or currency, you can go seek out things called “Murk Spots” where they can easily grind. But if people don’t want to do that, they don’t have to. InLunarLux, you can be at the lowest level possible and still beat the game without getting hit a single time. That’s one thing that we’re really proud of.
Q: Speaking of your players,LunarLuxseems to have a bit of a following already. Have these fans offered feedback and has that feedback helped shape the game into what it is today?
A:Oh, definitely. When the first RPG Maker demo came out back in March of 2020, we received a huge pool of feedback from players with all sorts of suggestions on how to improve the game. This has helped me guideLunarLuxto the quality and direction that it is right now. It’s been very helpful. We love our fans and all the members on our Discord server and on Twitter. They’ve been very supportive since day one. We just want to make a game that they will enjoy.
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Q: WithLunarLuxbeing an RPG, what specific RPG elements did you want the game to have?
A: So, when I first thought of creating a game, I had these characters, I had these ideas, but where did I want to start? What base did I want for it? I decided RPG was the way to go because I’ve been playing RPGs all my life. I really enjoy being able to really delve into a world and fully immerse myself in it. Exploring worlds like the ones found in those games is one of my favorite aspects of them.
One of the biggest things I want to emphasize is that exploration is very important in RPGs. I want to explore a world with lots of detail myself when I play them. Interactivity in these games is very important as well. In some RPGs, you go up to an interesting rock, and you don’t think you’re able to interact with it sometimes. InLunarLux, though, you can. You can talk to the rock and get some interesting dialogue, and then maybe talk to it some more and see what else happens. There are all kinds of cool things you can do.
As for the battle system, that was purely me wanting to make an RPG that wasn’t simply turn-based.Pokemonis one of my favorite games, but it’s purely turn-based back and forth. There are strategic elements to it, but when I playedMario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story… I really loved the turn-based combat there.
I loved how inMario & Luigi, you do an attack on your turn, and then the game has you still interact with it through quick-time events. It was so creative that I definitely took that as inspiration forLunarLux’sbattle system. I wanted to make sure that players felt rewarded for interacting during turn-based combat. I want players to get that encouragement to interact with the game more because it’s fun. Turn-based RPGs are fun, and I want to make sure that my game brings more people into the genre because I think turn-based games are very, very fun.
There’s a person on theLunarLuxDiscord server who said that he did not like turn-based RPGs at all, and somehowLunarLuxwas able to inspire him to try out more turn-based RPGs. And it was with theRPG Makerversion which isn’t as polished as the version we have now. Knowing that I inspired someone to give these games another shot was like the best feeling in the world.
Q: You recently showed off a rather interesting world map for the game. Far as that goes, how much of the moon can players look forward to exploring?
A: There are many story-related areas. I love it when an RPG isn’t just linear. You have optional areas to explore where you can find some amazing rewards you wouldn’t have if you didn’t go out of your way. This is another reason why exploration is so important inLunarLux.
We believe that players will be able to explore just the right amount for this game. We’re excited to showcase all the ideas that we have for all the sectors on the moon. Just as an example, did you know there are lunar ice caps on our actual, real-life moon? Let’s say we, the human race, somehow melt that in the future. With all the craters, you could easily have some sort of ocean on the moon. This leads into a water-themed area that players could expect to see.
Our moon is beautiful, you know? It’s not just as simple as a barren wasteland with craters, in my opinion. If you actually do a bit of research, the moon has so many interesting things to it. It’s our closest satellite that we can study, so there’s plenty of mystery around it. Plenty of stuff to learn. There are mountains, and if you fill the moon with enough water, you’d have rivers and all kinds of things. There are lots of cool things about the moon, and I’m really proud to be able to create a game that explores that.
Q: So would you say thatLunarLuxis kind of, at least a small portion, an educational game?
A: Not quite. Even though I’m very motivated by the science aspect,LunarLuxis not an educational game. There are a lot of science fiction elements to it as well, like the magic system that revolves around antimatter. That’s completely within the universe ofLunarLux. It works differently than what happens in real life.
But for players who really like exploring and interacting with things, they’ll be able to talk to NPCs that shed some light on the science that goes behind the scenes of the game. How things work, why certain things are there. It’s more of a sci-fi adventure with real scientific foundation that inspired these ideas more than anything.
Q: One of the biggest news regarding LunarLux is that you guys got picked up by your publisher Freedom Games. Tell us a bit about that partnership and how it affects LunarLux going forward.
A: So around January, I was sort of in a transitional period of my life. I was ready and serious to make the leap into game development by taking all the skills I learned in engineering and pursue my dream. So I sought out a publisher for support, and when I found out about Freedom Games through one of my game developer friends, I instantly wanted to work with them.
Not only do I love their lineup of games, but I love their message and vision. Freedom Games is an amazing company and publisher, and working with them has been a blast, to be honest. They’ve been nothing but supportive. They’ve helped me personally as an aspiring game developer as I’ve learned the ropes. It’s also weird to say that I’m also like the CEO of my own company now, but this project has grown a lot in the last five years.
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Q: The CEO of the game development team kind of?
A:Yeah. I had to set up a lot of things to get this far and having Freedom Games helping and supporting us in the way that they have has been a blessing. Our team can truly focus on making the game the best it can be because of them, and we’re really grateful for that.
Q: I think to wrap this up, what would you like to say, overall, to the fans looking forward to LunarLux and potential players that may pick up the game once it’s released?
A: Well, we’ve finally released our new chapter one demo, which is the upgraded version of the one we made in RPG Maker back in 2020. This is the version we’ve been showing off in trailers and screenshots. It’s strictly chapter one, but players will be able to see all the quality of life improvements and story improvements for themselves with this demo.
This demo presents the standard and quality that I want players to experience with the full game. I want players to escape into the sci-fi fantasy world to imagine that they’re living on the moon, thousands and thousands of years in the future, and just immerse themselves in a really fun story. I’m really looking forward to players exploring this universe that enriches human curiosity by playing this game. I hopeLunarLuxcan capture the feeling of a bright future where we explore our universe and learn more about it.
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LunarLuxis scheduled to release in late 2023 for PC, with a demo available now on Steam.
