MoaCube

MoaCube is a small collective of indie game developers, started by two game industry vets: Tom Grochowiak and Gracjana Zielinska. We have simple goals. We make games. We want them to be good.

[moacube]

Cinders just went live on Xbox and PS4, which means it’s now available on all the “big” home consoles for all your fairytale trope-breaking needs!

Switch | Playstation 4 | Xbox One

The PC version launched in 2012, and if someone back then told me that in 8 years we’ll be still working on it and I’ll get to see it on my Switch or PS4 dashboard, I’d be like Pshhhh!

Expect news on Solstice to follow soon!

[moacube]

Hitting the desk in frustration until things start working (a.k.a. the porting & certification process) is finally over and Cinders is coming to the “big” consoles later this month!

The game launches August 25th for the PS4 and 26th for XBOX ONE & Microsoft Store at the price of $19.99.

Solstice may or may not follow soon!

[moacube]

Bonfire is finally out and available on Steam!

It’s a delightfully gloomy tactical RPG about journey and failure, with a rapid turn-based battle system and heroes who care a little too much.

I’m finding it hard to put into words how awesome it feels to finally have it go live! The game went through so many iterations since its initial alpha launch, evolving from a cool turn-based combat prototype into a full-on tactical RPG, but also becoming strangely personal along the way.

We're really proud of how it turned out, and we hope you're going to love it too!

[moacube]

Bonfire is finally done and launches on March 26th! You can wishlist it here. There’s also a playable demo available on Steam if you’re interested.

[sakevisual]

All my VNs on itch are pay-what-you-can for the next 24 hours.

I’m kind of in a weird spot right now. On the one hand, I only just decided to rely on making VNs as an actual source of income, and now con cancelations are stopping me at the starting line. On the other hand, I make VNs because I like to share stories and art with people. And right now feels like an especially important time to share stories and art with people. So it’s free for today if you want it. Or you can pay money if you want and are able to do so responsibly. I look forward to sharing more stories and art in the future.

[moacube]

Hey, we usually don’t post anything other than our games stuff here, but global pandemic isn’t exactly normal circumstances, so I’m wondering how’s everyone doing? Are you able to stay and work from home? Had to cancel any major plans? Stocked up on groceries before the panic-buying started in the earnest or are you still out there fighting the Great Toilet Paper Battle of 2020? We’re in a pretty privileged position as indie devs who work from home anyway, and Polish government proved to be surprisingly decisive in their response, but the boredom of social distancing already starts to sink in and I miss our team meetings. I guess it’s a good time to catch up on books and overly long jRPGs, watch that 7-seasons show you’ve never had time for, or go down the memory lane with your all-time favourite guilty pleasures (I’m about to watch Hackers). Stay safe, everyone! -MoaCube 

[moacube]

Steam is running a huge sale for games with LGBTQ+ themes! <3 Most folks here probably already own our Solstice, but there’re so many other great titles in there! 

[moacube]

Bonfire’s main theme by Arek Reikowski. 

WARNING: May cause sad!

[moacube]

So, uh, after that last post about Bonfire I’ve realised that:

a) I haven’t been active here since forever.

b) Most of you follow us for our visual novels and not some roguelike we’ve barely even mentioned.

I guess I should say a bit more about the game then. Especially as it has quite the history.

Six years ago I’ve made a promising RPG prototype on a local game jam. The deadline was 8 hours, and my idea was to extract the tactical fun of jRPG battle systems but drop all the menu navigation and make it a rapid, clickety-click game to be played with a mouse.

It turned out pretty fun, so my partner and I started working on it in our free time. For a while it served as our sanity side-project for when Solstice was going sideways (which means about 60% of its development). We even released it at some point, but quickly realised it still feels too much like a prototype and needs to be reworked if we’re to ask money for it. So we started over.

Somewhere along the line Bonfire became oddly personal for both of us. A lot was happening in our lives at that time and I think it started sipping into the game. I mean, you can put whatever in there if it’s just a hobby, right? It also evolved into a pretty sizeable tactical RPG about journey and failure. With tight battles that all feel like a puzzle, creative builds and strats, and a storyline so depressing that it’s cute how depressing it is!

This year we’ve finally had the opportunity to work on it full-time and bring it close to a Steam release! All in all, it’s been the longest I have ever worked on a project, but also the most fun I’ve had since my first indie release over a decade ago. Seriously. It just doesn’t get much better than making a game with your loved one. Even if doesn’t exactly come from the best place in your lives (or maybe it’s because of it?).

So hopefully that gives your a bit more context. You can check the trailer above to see how it all turned out. The Steam store page I’ve already linked, but here it is again. Hope you like it! 

Cheers!

[moacube]

Bonfire, our cute-sad tactical rogue-lite about journey, failure, and heroes who care a little too much, finally has a Steam store page!

Feel free to wishlist it if you enjoy this type of games! It helps a lot with the dreaded Steam algos too!

[moacube]

Cinders patch 1.2.7 brings full gamepad support from the recent Switch release to the PC version of the game (which is incidentally 20% off on Steam right now).

[moacube]

Cinders Switch review - "A classic fairy tale made better"

Cinders is a magnificent example of how to update an old story for a modern age, and visual novel fans should pick it up immediately

"With a mix of clever, interesting writing and gorgeous artwork, it avoids the usual dark fantasy pitfalls and makes for a wonderful, witty, and smart story about women and power."

The coolest part about releasing your game on a new console is getting reviews like this again. (That and getting paid is nice too.)

[moacube]

Break the fairy tale on that cool new console that clickety-clicks!  https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/cinders-switch There’s so much I want to say about never expecting our little experiment with untangling fairy tale tropes to have such a long life, actual fans, and launch on a Nintendo console. I’ve been in video games for over 10 years now and it still feels completely surreal. Thanks for being with us all this time and we hope you’ll enjoy this version of Cinders. Frankly, it feels right at home on a console that you can take to bed – like an actual book!

[moacube]

Break the fairy tale on that cool new console that clickety-clicks!  https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/cinders-switch There’s so much I want to say about never expecting our little experiment with untangling fairy tale tropes to have such a long life, actual fans, and launch on a Nintendo console. I’ve been in video games for over 10 years now and it still feels completely surreal. Thanks for being with us all this time and we hope you’ll enjoy this version of Cinders. Frankly, it feels right at home on a console that you can take to bed -- like an actual book!

[moacube]

Sooooo watcha doin' on Valentine's Day?

[moacube]

As promised, Cinders is coming to devices. The coolest one first!

We’re teaming up with Crunching Koalas for this one and are absolutely ecstatic pretty cool with launching on a console by a company that shaped our childhood. No big deal.

The game comes out on Valentine’s Day and that’s great — Cinders is a perfect date. Unless she ditches you for the belt-positive Captain of the Guard. ‘Cause, you know, choices.

[celiannac]

What otome players really want

As the result of my otome survey with 800 respondents, here is an in-depth analysis of the results, comparing and finding common links between players.

Survey Results

It seems the biggest two groups in otome are those that self-insert and those that don’t. Then there’s the groups who enjoy more focus on story, and those that enjoy more focus on romance.

Basically, otome players have a variety of likes and needs. Any otome developer will find it useful to read through this article!

Please share so that more indie devs can find this article and better understand their players :)

[englishotomegames]

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A great survey for those who want to read about the gaming preferences of those who play otome games!