Moonlight Peaks Will Make Your Gothic Cozy Dreams Into a Reality – Interview With Little Chicken’s CEO
Vampiric farming at night seems cozy to me.
Moonlight Peaks is one of the most eye-catching farming simulators that popped onto my radar this year. While I am a fan of life and farming sims, there are so many out now. What got me interested in the game is a mix of its aesthetics and overall gothic theme featuring vampires and witchcraft.
After poking around a bit, I was lucky enough to get a hands-on preview of the game, including a short interview with the developer’s CEO, Yannis Bolman of Little Chicken, and here’s how it went.
Interview with Moonlight Peaks’ Game Director, Yannis Bolman
In most cozy life sims, the story always feels a bit cliché nowadays, where the main
character always gets sent to “X” location to start a new life. It is a formula that isn’t
really broken, but how do you come up with something unique for Moonlight Peaks’
introduction?
Yannis Bolman (CEO at Little Chicken & Moonlight Peaks Game Director): Ha, that’s a tough one. In a life sim, you always need an excuse for a blank slate, so players can start from scratch and build from there. In these cases, moving to a new town is usually a given, so the goal is to mix in elements that make those tropes more interesting. Another challenge is that game openings are often heavy on tutorials for various controls and mechanics. With our supernatural take and the “running away from home” angle, we added elements to make those opening beats feel more surprising and original. For instance, we have a message exchange with your mom in the opening sequence that provides exposition on why you left, leading up to the moment you find a strange vampire sleeping on your porch, setting you up with your first quest. We also laced in supernatural details to set the stage: Dracula’s castle, the arrival with your floating coffin, and the three-eyed cat that accompanies you. In the end, it’s a variation on a theme, but it gives the genre its own unique twist.
With Moonlight Peaks’ theme centered on vampires and witchcraft, how do you think of
ways to innovate on the ever-popular, saturated life-sim genre around this theme?
Yannis Bolman (CEO at Little Chicken & Moonlight Peaks Game Director): Pretty early on, we picked a few features to really set us apart. The first one was a no-brainer: since you’re a vampire who isn’t a fan of the sun, we shifted the gameplay cycle to the night. Visually, it defined the unique look of the game. It gives the world a lovely, soft purple look, and it fits perfectly with the schedules of other nocturnal creatures. We also came up with shapeshifting, which gives players all sorts of perks as they unlock new forms. This gave us a chance to try out fresh mechanics while still keeping the “tried-and-true” elements fans love. Plus, the things you can do with shapeshifting tie back into the main questline and are a great help with expanding your farming and decorating options in some really cool ways!
After playing several cozy life sims, I’m always curious about the reason behind a
stamina system, limiting players’ actions on top of the time system, and how you work
around these limitations with Moonlight Peaks?
Yannis Bolman (CEO at Little Chicken & Moonlight Peaks Game Director): The stamina system emerges naturally as a core mechanic because it gives players a reason to seek out food and other items to replenish their energy. It also helps pace activities over time. If a player were able to clear their entire plot in a single day, it would be much harder to balance the game’s progression and would diminish the sense of accomplishment that comes from working toward long-term goals. By requiring players to manage their stamina to maximize their night, we can introduce various activities that actually make the overall experience more enjoyable. It really helps in giving the things you do more meaning.
If you were to name some inspirations that helped Moonlight Peaks become what it is
today, what are the biggest ones?
Yannis Bolman (CEO at Little Chicken & Moonlight Peaks Game Director): We studied many life sims during the development of Moonlight Peaks. While no single title served as our sole inspiration, most farming sims share common features that players have come to love, so it was natural to incorporate those core elements. That being said, Stardew Valley is a benchmark for the genre. It’s such a complete experience in every respect that it would be a mistake not to dissect what makes it tick so well. Additionally, we were heavily influenced by the visual fidelity of Animal Crossing, and we’ve worked hard to bring that same level of polish and charm to our own world.
