By my count there are 1732 indie games coming out every day now, making them (for developers) to promote and cover them (for us) almost impossible. One trend I’ve really enjoyed lately is trying to market a game not just by showing the game, but by showing what’s behind it manufacturing the game.
The dungeon experience is a good example of thisbut over the weekend another one popped up for moonlighta “modern take on the 2D cinematic platformer genre” that its developers (mostly just creators John Vinet) mean it’s like in the same way as classics Another world And flashback.
These were two games that were defined not only by their cinematic ambitions, heavy on cutscenes and dramatic framing, but because they achieved much of that through rotoscoping, the technology in which humans act out scenes on film, then animators recreate it in a game/show/movie.
moonlightappropriately does almost the same thing, but what got me so excited over the weekend was the footage behind the animation, showing that for every scene involving a dramatic sci-fi car chase or complex alien machinery, there was… . a guy in his kitchen sitting on a shelf and swinging on some bars in a children’s playground or affectionately touch his floorboards:
If you are interested in what you saw here, tThe official pitch for the game is:
Set in a future where the moon has been transformed into a ship for human survival, LUNARK is a 2D adventure inspired by 90’s classics. Run, jump, hang, climb, roll, and shoot through beautifully animated environments while negotiating traps, solving puzzles, fighting enemy droids, and more! Uncover the dark origins of humanity’s new home in this epic tale of survival, revolution and mystery.
Lunark was released back in March and is available on Steam, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox.
