WORDS TO THE WISE

This exciting new business makes interactive multiple choice gaming stories set in a fantasy world full of LGBTQIA+ characters. Voice caught up with the young entrepreneur to tell us more about the business. Here’s what Kris had to say:

Last we saw you, you were working for Tiny Rebel in Rogerstone when we hosted the V Awards there in 2017, what have you been up to since?

I left Tiny Rebel in May this year after feeling a little stifled and the game was beginning to take off, so it really just felt like fate and like a good chance for a fresh start! Ever since then I’ve been writing and developing both the game and the company, as well as doing lots of travelling.

How did you come to be a founder and narrative designer at Lunaris Games?

Back in summer of 2018 a few artist friends and I found some inspiration in a few games that we liked, but we felt like we wanted to put our own spin on it. What started out as a hobby that we were genuinely just doing as a passion project, which began to grow legs, and people really seemed to resonate with the world we’d created. I saw the potential and just took my shot and ran with it, and we really haven’t slowed down since.

Where is the company based?

Right here in Newport! I work from my home office but will very likely need to expand to somewhere a little bigger soon. The rest of the team are spread all over the globe in Greece, Russia, Seattle and Texas.

Tell us more about When the Night Comes?

WTNC is a dark fantasy murder mystery “visual novel” which is basically a visual version of the choose your own adventure books or games you used to get back in the 80s/90s with a little romance thrown in. We drew inspiration from a host of our favourite “culty” shows and videogames like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Witcher and Bloodborne. Although romance is optional, there’s not a lot of material out there that really explores that marriage of dark fantasy and romance with grace, so it was something we collectively wanted to expand upon.

How many chapters are there?

Ten full chapters and a bonus winter special which is integrated into the main game, so essentially eleven in total! It comes out at about 12 hours worth of game play per character route, and there are six of those.

What platforms can you play the game on?

At the moment we’re just available on PC and Mac, but we have some exciting things happening behind the scenes which we’ll hopefully be able to talk about soon, which will see our games reaching a much wider audience.

As your games are LGBTQIA+ orientated, with the intention of everyone being able to play them and being able to relate with the characters or story, no matter how they identify as a person, how hard is it to make content that appeals to everyone?

Myself and the team have always been frustrated to find that a lot of visual novels all had a set female protagonist, and more often than not you could only romance male love interests. In reality, the world doesn’t look that way, and making something “unrestricted” and inclusive to absolutely everyone, where there’s no preconception of gender roles and sexuality, seemed so obvious. The LGBTQIA+ community is vastly underrepresented in basically all forms of media and the excuse is often that it would be “too hard” to convey, but we’ve actually had a lot of fun in ensuring we’re doing it thoughtfully and respectfully, and the reception has proven that people really are starved for this kind of inclusion.

What age demographic are you aiming the stories at?

Our games are strictly 18+ due to there being a fair bit of horror/violence and a lot of bad language.

Apart from yourselves, what other LGBTQIA+ friendly sci-fi and fantasy based content would you recommend, or isn’t there that much out there, hence the reason why you started to make the games you do?

The Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises have a few LGBTQIA+ romance options, and there are a few games coming out like The Outer Worlds that have good representation, but I do think we still have a long way to go when it comes to full inclusivity.

You’ve showcased Lunaris Games at conventions across the world, what’s it like meeting your fans?

Incredibly surreal because going from sitting behind your computer in Newport to meeting people who are so genuinely in love with and appreciative of what we’ve created is such a bizarre experience. Attending PAX West in Seattle this past September was the opportunity of a lifetime and we had hundreds and hundreds of people stop by to talk to us and play the demo for our new game, Errant Kingdom.

Is it true that your fans have cosplayed as characters from When the Night Comes?

We have seen a number of people creating gorgeous cosplays of our characters, and it’s surreal to see them brought to life!

How has the game been received within the gaming world?

The indie gaming community is wonderful and everyone we’ve met along the way has been really kind and receptive. It’s pretty hard to break into and we don’t take our luck for granted at all, and it’s really nice to be able to interact with people who are going through the same things as us and trying to get the same message across in their games.

Are you up for any awards?

We’re currently #2 on itch.io’s top-rated games out of about 48,000+ titles which is a pretty big deal, and we’re also #1 in horror which we hit on Halloween! We haven’t been nominated for any formal awards yet but neversay never.

What are you currently working on?

Having just finished WTNC, we’re now working on our next title, Errant Kingdom; a high-fantasy adventure. Our Kickstarter campaign for the game was successfully funded in September and we’re due to release the prologue very soon on lunarisgames.itch.io/errantkingdom

What’s the best bit about your new job?

Just finally getting to do something I really love and being nerdy and creative for a living. It hasn’t been easy but when you’re passionate about something you just have to keep at it. I really love creating characters and building fantastical worlds, and also creating merchandise has always been a big passion of mine. We have a successful merch store where our fans purchase artwork from the games and a host of other fun items we’ve created. Having the opportunity to travel is also a huge bonus, and we already have a few conventions in mind for next year!

We see that you have a bit of a Funko Pop collection, have you always been a bit of a geek?

Literally forever. I used to sit and watch Buffy when I was about seven and I haven’t looked back since. What’s your top five all-time favourite sci-fi and fantasy characters? Buffy, Loki, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Spike Spiegel and Roy Mustang.

What’s your favourite film or TV show?

I can’t pick a favourite as I have so many, but Castlevania and Cowboy Bebop are probably my number ones at the moment.

What comics or books are you reading at the moment?

I’ve been reading the new Harley Quinn Harleen series by Stjepan Sejic.

Finally, why should people play Lunaris Games?

People should play our games if they want a little bit of diversity, humour, romance, and fantasy in their lives. They’re an excellent escape from reality where you can save a creepy little town from murderous monsters or help to start a revolution in a Kingdom.

If you like to find out more about Lunaris Games, simply visit the website below. And don’t forget, When the Night Comes is available to download, just go to the link above www.wtncgame.com