Indie Game Spotlight: Mineko’s Night Market
Hold on to your kittens! This Indie Game Spotlight is the cat’s meow. We’re talking Mineko’s Night Market; a whimsical, story-driven, life/merchant simulation game in which you play as Mineko, a curious girl who has just arrived at her new home on a peculiar Japanese island overrun with cats. In the game, you explore a large handcrafted world with four distinct regions that offer unique resources, diverse townsfolk to meet, quests to take, and activities to join. It’s where you can discover the secrets behind the myth (or what was always believed to be a myth) of the giant cat, Abe.
We spoke to Brent, Design/Developer/Artist/Writer and Brandi, Design/Writer/Producer, all about Mineko’s Night Market…and cats, lots of cats.
We have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of cats. Has the team counted how many cats have been designed?
If we started counting the cats, we’ll never finish development!
Who are some of the characters we can expect to meet?
There are dozens of characters to befriend including Mineko’s childhood friend, Bobo, an eager little boy who is set on finding the sun-cat, Abe, with you. But not everyone is of the friendly sort. You’ll also come across mysterious agents bent on hiding secrets about the island.
In which ways can players interact with the characters?
You can talk to them, gift them items, receive gifts from friends, and hope they show up at the Night Market to buy goods from you.
How does the market system work?
The Night Market runs in-game every Saturday night, where the player can sell almost anything they’ve crafted or found in the world. So players can choose to specialize in selling the type of objects they find the most entertaining to accrue with their playing style. Each week’s Night Market is also themed and features vendors and a main event based on the week’s theme.
Is merch for Mineko’s Night Market available to buy?
Absolutely! We have a shop on TheYetee and we occasionally have handmade Mineko goods in our Etsy shop.
Ready to get your paws on Mineko’s Night Market? The game will launch soon on Nintendo Switch and is currently available for wishlisting on Steam and Humble for PC/Mac.
(This interview was edited for clarity.)
