#01 - Writing Process and Release

I have been more consistently working on Lua for the past couple of weeks and I feel ready to share the overall outline of the game with you.

The process has been a bit difficult, especially as the most mundane needs and obligations such as job and bills consume so much of my productive time, especially lately when things have been pretty lean.

In a certain way, that realization - that mundane things were taking away from things that give me joy, such as creating and playing, or doing nothing - was the spark that I was missing to nail one of the themes of the game.

Let’s get to it.

Themes and Setting

Lua is a game about mundane people, common people like you and I, finding a moment of Awakening, a kind of mystical epiphany in an otherwise mundane moment such as riding the bus or grinding at work.

It is in such a moment of awakening that we can realize the subtle, intangible things that surround us, in a kind of literal and metaphorical way.

This Awakening brings us closer to the Moon, which is the closest cosmic entity we have around us and that quite literally can move and influence us with its gravitas.

This gravitas also tends to pull others like us close together.

The main themes and tensions are in balancing mundane and fantastical, tangible and intangible, and making sense of the egg and chicken paradox of the Trauma that is fed by our overall disconnect with the world around us and that also harms our connection with it.

Gameplay in a Nutshell

Two of the core elements of the game are the Memory mini game and the narrative split in phases.

There are two main game phases, one of build up, where characters investigate and collaboratively set up the main event of the session, and the other phase where the characters engage this main event directly. Let’s call them phase A and B for now.

In phase A, each character will reveal tiles of the memory game, the Oracle, in order to advance the narrative, create and learn about their world, and piece together the Omen that they must engage in phase B.

In this phase of the game stakes are low, although the results of the Oracle will provide prompts in the style of the traditional cycle of the hero’s journey. It is through these prompts that the Main Event will be construed.

In phase B, the characters will directly engage this Main event, usually directly or indirectly related to a common Trauma the community is experiencing.

Here, there are many ways the narrative can go, but the idea is that the characters will be acting towards healing, restoration, or otherwise supporting the community somehow.

The conclusion of phase B is a phase of resolution, when the outcome of phase B has repercussions that can be explored and engaged in further sessions, or that otherwise spring changes in the world around the characters, or even the characters themselves.

The Moon

The Moon is one of the main things in the game. The real life moon, that is.

At the start of every session, the players must look outside (or use an online tool) to find out which of the Moon phases mentioned below the moon is closest to now.

The Memory Game

A set of memory game tiles is used to drive the narrative forwards. The tiles depict six lunar phases: Black Moon, 1st Quarter, Full Moon, 3rd Quarter, Blue Moon, and Blood Moon.

Whenever the outcome of the character’s actions is in question, a player will flip a tile.

During phase A, if that tile matches their inner Moon or the current Moon phase, the player gets to describe how the outcome was decided through things within their control, or through outside influences respectively. Both can overlap, mind you.

In case there is no mach, the players will refer to the prompt that builds the Omen.

During Phase B, the players are trying to match pairs in the more traditional form of the Memory game. Whenever they find a match, they get to steer the narrative towards their desired outcome. Whenever they don’t, a complication, setback, or twist is created.

Upon resolving the main event of Phase B, the players will figure out its overall conclusion.

Development and Release

I am hoping to have the playable 1st version released still in December (yep, within less than 2 weeks), together with the Storysynth version, at most one week later. I have already received a grant from the Storysynth grant program and I am quite late in delivery for that, plus the page has been on itch for a long while already.

With this project I have also learned to not commit to a project without a solid, mostly finished write up. I will learn from this experience and be more mindful for future releases. I have other two items that also need finishing and delivery, similar situation, but I am committed to deliver them through January and February respectively.

See you all soon with a release!