Date the Monsters of Your Dreams - Moonlight Peaks Gamescom Interview

Audio transcription

"Hello everyone, I'm Alex here with Gamereactor.
We are live at Gamescom, I'm here with Janis and Mir.
We're checking out, as you can see here, Moonlight Peaks."

"Janis, Mir, tell me a little bit about Moonlight Peaks.
Why should people be excited for it?
What can they expect when they're playing it?
So Moonlight Peaks is a vampire-themed live sim."

"So what players can expect is a game, I guess in the same vein as Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, but in this case you're a vampire.
So expect lots of supernatural twists on things you're used to seeing in those kind of games.
And everything will be very purple and very cozy looking."

"But I think, from our point of view, it's a kind of new twist or take on the supernatural live sim.
The supernatural live sim is what we call it.
It's almost like a gothic Stardew Valley, I guess, if you want to go down that line, with the purple and the very night theme."

"You said before that it's focused on vampires.
We are playing the daughter of Dracula, correct me if I'm wrong.
Yeah, sort of.
Well, it's up to the players to decide whether it's a son or daughter or something else."

"You're the descendant of Dracula.
You ran away from home because you were in a fight with your dad.
Your dad is the famous Dracula who kills people and drinks their blood.
And you pretty much want to show to the world, or prove to the world, that you can do it differently while still being a vampire."

"So you move to Moonlight Peaks, you run away from home, move to Moonlight Peaks, and find this town filled with supernaturals, which is sort of like a safe haven for them, I would say.
You find all these families.
So you have werewolves in there, witches, mermaids, seers, also humans."

"And they're all sort of, yeah, not really at war, but they're sort of disagreeing with one another, also caused by your dad.
And it's up to you to sort of repair the relationships.
And because of that, get to know the town, get all kinds of abilities, and sort of become a more supernatural farmer, and build a new legacy as the new Dracula, pretty much."

"As you say, it's got that cozy vibe, and it's sort of building those relationships.
How will players build those relationships within the game, and sort of be able to upgrade them over time, as well as their farming capabilities?
Sure."

"Yeah, there's a whole cast of characters that you can interact with.
And yeah, one of the things, I guess, is that you can have different dialogue with them every day.
You can give them stuff.
You can also go on specific dates."

"Like one of them we have, which is really cute, is you can go marshmallow roasting in the forest, if you want.
But you just have to make sure to show up on time, so they don't get hurt.
And then, of course, there are specific characters that have really specific preferences."

"Like, they want a specific gift every day, or they have a specific preference in terms of where they want to go on a date.
And then that date can either go really well, or not so well.
And then, depending on that, you get a different outcome."

"Tell me a little bit about the visual style that you guys have gone for here.
It's got this sort of very unique look to it.
I like the character designs, especially that disgruntled-looking werewolf man over there.
I feel like he's a bit of all of us, you know."

"Yeah, just talk to us about that.
Yeah, just talk to me about the ideas behind the character designs that you went for, and the art style overall.
I'll start with the characters, and then hand it to Mia for the art style."

"Mia's the art director for the project, so she would know most about that.
I did some of the character designs, and for that we usually just try to stick with characters that still look attractive enough to date.
Because you're dating most of these characters."

"To be a wide enough range for everyone to have something of their liking.
And I guess to have interesting, memorable characters.
So, they have to have a certain thing that you can remember, something that stands out.
If it's, for example, also the witch on there has a bit of a twist, at least in our point of view, that makes it a bit more unique, more memorable."

"And so we try to give it that twist, and then add a hopefully unique storyline to it that keeps people wanting to engage with them.
And the art style, the purple, it's all Mia.
Yeah, I think also for the characters it's important to know that we really want to go for a really diverse cast."

"So we really want a character there for everyone.
The general art style, I guess the thing that stands out most is that everyone keeps saying how purple it is.
Which is sort of like a running joke at this point, but I think very early on, of course, because you're a vampire, the game takes place at night."

"And I really wanted to go for this very pastel, really easy to look at, cozy vibe.
So everything is really also cute and chunky.
And yeah, just cozy lighting, easy for the eyes.
And yeah, with this whole purple haze on top, also to show that the game actually takes place at night."

"I guess I would say, or add to that, it's very comforting.
I think one of our deliberate choices was to make this game without any combat, violence, shooting, scoring, stuff like that.
But mostly, I can imagine that most of our players would be, after a long day at work or school or whatever, would come home and would just want to relax with this game."

"Just sit down and have a good time.
There's not going to be any stress.
There's not going to be any harsh time limits.
It's mostly, yeah, some farming, some decorating, some lovely mini games that help you engage with the characters."

"So mostly there to have a really good, relaxing time.
And I think the art style fits with that perfectly.
Like on top of that, like everything that we add to the game, we really want to give it a supernatural twist."

"So even like a regular crate in our game is like a living crate.
I think that also really adds to the overall atmosphere of the game.
As well, just then you talked about the farming and the live sim aspect of it.
Farming specifically, typically something that usually doesn't happen that much at night."

"How have you changed sort of traditional elements?
You touched on it there with the supernatural.
Have you changed traditional elements of like a live sim to fit that nighttime vibe?
So, well, we sort of leave in the middle when the crops do their best growing, because obviously you sleep during the day."

"I would assume the crops will grow then.
But it's not so much about the night cycle for us as it is for adding, yeah, I guess, a spooky or supernatural or weird take on farming."

"So, for example, you have some weird crops that you might have to feed with other plants or you have crying plants that you have to comfort.
You have weird sticky plants."

"You have a whole bunch of magical crops that help you get actual sustenance because you're not drinking blood.
And on top of that, I think, because we have this magical world, we do all the automation within the farming with magic."

"So you don't get sprinklers.
You get a magical watering can that will go around and water your crops for you.
I feel like you covered it."

"I covered it.
Well done. Very nice.
So, yeah, building on top of that with the sort of things that you talked about before, especially on the relationships and the dating, I guess the one when you said about time limits before, I guess there is one if you miss a date."

"And to some people who are, you know, very into their live sims, that's almost as crushing as losing any sort of competitive game.
But yeah, with that, is there also this overarching narrative with the sort of relationship between yourself and your father Dracula?
And how does that play out?
So the overall theme, I guess, would be family relations because, I mean, most people can relate to that, right?
They each have their own little complicated relationships going on at home."

"And I think the different families there each have different things that they struggle with and that hopefully players can sort of recognize and that resonates with them and maybe find ways because of that to sort of solve that because I guess the main narrative is about helping all the families in town solve their internal problems, whatever that may be, ranging from they cannot find a place in Moonlight Peaks to live in or the kids have a dad who is never there because he's always working so hard."

"He's a drunk vampire.
And all those things, as a player, you can engage with and over time help heal.
And then obviously, in the end, it's your own family."

"You ran away from home.
You're disagreeing or fighting with dad.
Mom is stuck in the middle.
That's the sort of the final thing you have to solve and then hopefully the story will conclude itself."

"Talk a bit more, if you could, about Moonlight Peaks as a setting.
How does it sort of act as its own character within that sort of overarching story and how will we see it develop over the game?
Okay. You want to have a go?
Yeah, I think it's a bit like what we mentioned with every single thing that we add to the game."

"We're trying to add something like a new take on it or a supernatural take on it.
And if we have a lamb, it's a Dracula lamb.
All the farm animals have their own little spooky supernatural twist."

"And I think even in the most mundane objects in the game, that's something that we're trying to do.
And it really makes the whole environment also feel, I think, a lot more alive."

"There are so many things that you can stumble into that are little surprises in the game.
Just a little series of supernatural distractions somehow.
I guess on top of that, it's really nice to, when you look at something, which is indeed a very mundane thing, to just see how you can give some life to it or make something for players to discover."

"Because I think the thing that I still like when going around, also in other games, but in our game also, is that you just go around and discover things or find new stories or make up stories because you see certain things there."

"I think the chest where you normally sell your crops to, yeah, it's a thing that's alive.
We actually had it moving around at one point, but it was a bit annoying because it got lost all the time."

"But these weird little skulls that you have to catch, which is sort of reminiscent of catching bugs and all the other things, of course, but they all have a name."

"They have a cause of death because they're lost souls, and actually they're there because Death, who's also a character in The Grim Reaper, he's on holiday."

"So the souls, you're actually helping him out, collecting souls that he's at this point too lazy to catch.
So everything has a bit of a backstory and a supernatural take, which makes it fun to come up with, I guess."

"I love the supernatural element, especially when it comes to the relationships and the dating.
Could you come up with any examples of how that can make a date sort of quite weird?
As we can see here with our two characters, they have the witch vibe and the werewolf vibe, but they look..."

"You know, I could see people going out with them, you know, walking the halls.
So is there anything sort of that pushes that boat out a bit further perhaps?
Do you want to have a go?
Can you think of anything?
No."

"I was about to think about the post-marriage event, but that's not really part of dating, like the fact that you can at some point turn your spouse into a vampire if you want to."

"So, yeah, at some point we did have biting, but now it's only consensual biting.
I think that's one twist that's really different from other live sims, and then you want to be together forever."

"So that's...
I don't know, that was the first thing that popped into my mind.
I think that's a good example, and I think also what we'll see is that the different things you have to do for these characters in order for them to like you might be different depending on their inclination."

"So, for example, the witches will...
Yeah, if you give them something magical, they'll not be as impressed if you give them something which is totally out of their worldview, so to say."

"So you have to sort of think about that.
I think the thing that will also tie it in with, we're in the middle of doing this, by the way, is what kind of dates they prefer."

"They'll let you know in their storylines, because we have these heart events that play out as a cut scene.
They'll let you know like, hey, I really like looking at, I don't know, the stars, for example."

"Well, so might take them on a stargazing date, which is not necessarily tied to their supernatural being, but it will tell you a bit about it.
And also you have characters that are werewolves, of course."

"You notice in their storyline as you date them that they're struggling with turning into a wolf every month.
Stuff like that.
Okay, guys, just one more question."

"When can people expect to see more of Moonlight Peaks and what can they see it on?
So I guess seeing more of Moonlight Peaks is definitely an ongoing thing."

"I think one thing we started doing really early on is just sharing a lot online, involving the community.
So that's something that we'll definitely keep doing.
There's a demo out right now, pretty much because of Gamescom."

"And very likely that we'll have more demos in the future, because we're still a long way out for the game to come out.
It's early 2006, 26, sorry.
So it's nice, sorry, 2026."

"And in the meantime, I mean, we can't be certain yet, but it's very likely that we want to show or showcase other parts of the game to sort of tie over that spot."

"Yeah, I think you already mentioned that we share a lot with the community.
And I think specifically also on our Discord, we share every Wednesday."

"We have Work in Progress Wednesday.
So if you're interested, you can definitely join there and then you can see what we're currently developing or working on."

"We share a lot of things.
And we also explicitly say some things might not make it in, but we enjoy getting the feedback and seeing people react to that."

"That's really cool.
And actually, that's all maybe a nice little detail how we like the community in general.
We had some mods who helped us out on Discord."

"They became a flower in the game.
So you can now have the flower named after our mods.
And yeah, we're going to do the same with all kinds of things.
So just, yeah, give everything a bit of texture."

"Yannis Mir, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you."