Luna Light Stitcher is a side-scrolling, story-driven, fantasy-adventure video game.
Game Summary
Nothing is the way she remembers it.
Luna must explore and heal an abandoned world, solving puzzles and facing violent shadow beasts. Spiteful thorns block her way, strangling what little life remains. As she paints the land with her radiant light, Luna revives the last of the mysterious Sentinel Trees.
Through a battleground of space and time, you’ll solve the mysteries of six Lux Beacons and cultivate a balance between peace and combat, meditation and action, destruction and restoration, chaos and creation.
Combining dance, magic, breathwork, and combat, Luna wields beams of light, conjures weapons, and soars through the skies of this darkened world.
Meet the characters.
Go to The Story to learn a bit more about the main characters: Luna, our protagonist, her best friend Saīya, and her spirit-guide, Cora.
Explore the world.
Go to The World to get a [spoiler-free] sneak peek at the many lands that once bustled with life in this now-abandoned world.
Navigating Mental Health in Gaming
By Jeff Tueller, writer and developer of Luna Light Stitcher
In my journey grappling with late-diagnosed ADHD, anxiety, depression, and PTSD, I’ve undergone years of therapy and self-healing in a variety of modalities. This process has provided valuable insights into the types of game-specific activities that I’ve found helpful, versus activities that tend to exacerbate my symptoms and triggers.
Through the lens of my own lived-experience, I’ve purposefully crafted this game to be trauma-informed and anxiety-friendly. The dialogue and combat scenarios are meticulously designed with the well-being of players in mind, particularly those who may be navigating the complexities of brain health and trauma.
Anxiety-friendly & Trauma-informed Gaming
Key features to highlight:
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This game does NOT keep score. No “leveling up” by accumulating points, coins, gems, etc. Instead, new skills and abilities are introduced through the progression of the story.
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Story-driven progress: Along those lines (above) players will never be prompted to make purchases or watch ads in order to progress or gain abilities.
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A safe environment to fail: rather than resulting in death, failure leads to either 1) a brief, healing pause, or 2) the player is warped back to a nearby checkpoint, with a chance to try again.
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Rewards for slowing down: Time slows considerably during combat, hopefully allowing for more precision and less anxious/frustrated button-mashing. While some portions of the game are fast-paced, the tempo allows breathing room, lending itself to natural stopping points. The player can save their progress between action sequences.
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This game does NOT keep score. No “leveling up” by accumulating points, coins, gems, etc. Instead, new skills and abilities are introduced through the progression of the story.
-
Story-driven progress: Along those lines (above) players will never be prompted to make purchases or watch ads in order to progress or gain abilities.
-
A safe environment to fail: rather than resulting in death, failure leads to either 1) a brief, healing pause, or 2) the player is warped back to a nearby checkpoint, with a chance to try again.
-
Rewards for slowing down: Time slows considerably during combat, hopefully allowing for more precision and less anxious/frustrated button-mashing. While some portions of the game are fast-paced, the tempo allows breathing room, lending itself to natural stopping points. The player can save their progress between action sequences.
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Focused Conjuring: As a bonus, the player can engage Luna in breath-work and meditative actions that result in increased health, weapon conjuring, power moves, and other magical payoffs.
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Collecting Loot! Besides a few ancient keys and relics, most collectible loot in the game is magically-organic in nature, and can be produced by reviving the Sentinel Trees, and otherwise spreading Luna’s light magic across the land. See some examples, here.
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Responsible Combat: Defeated enemies DO NOT drop loot or rewards of any kind. And since it’s all light and shadow, there is no blood or gore (read more, below).
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Nothing too creepy (hopefully). No common phobias (e.g. spiders, snakes, tentacles). I actually chose some of my favorite critters to be the shadow beasts.
-
Focused Conjuring: As a bonus, the player can engage Luna in breath-work and meditative actions that result in increased health, weapon conjuring, power moves, and other magical payoffs.
-
Collecting Loot! Besides a few ancient keys and relics, most collectible loot in the game is magically-organic in nature, and can be produced by reviving the Sentinel Trees, and otherwise spreading Luna’s light magic across the land. See some examples, here.
-
Responsible Combat: Defeated enemies DO NOT drop loot or rewards of any kind. And since it’s all light and shadow, there is no blood or gore (read more, below).
-
Nothing too creepy (hopefully). No common phobias (e.g. spiders, snakes, tentacles). I actually chose some of my favorite critters to be the shadow beasts.
Game Development
Take a look at these [spoiler-free] examples of what we’re talking about.
Challenges
Players will encounter a variety of puzzles and challenges. Some are obstacles to clear; often physics-based. Some involve the use of collectible loot, like the Fire Lotus or Lightning Lily.
It is my intention that challenges are not aggravating, and remain fun to work through. The game is story-driven, rather than action-driven.
I’ve played games that require more skill and coordination than I can muster, and I find that to be a recipe for frustration, hyperfocus, fixation, etc. As the designer, I’m trying to avoid that.
Player Health
Luna’s health is tied directly to her light magic, or “Lux Energy.” When she takes damage from an enemy, or overspends her Lux Energy, she will become depleted.
Lux Energy regenerates in several ways:
- Slower: the passing of time
- Faster: breath-work and mediative magic
- Rapid: Lux Fruit (produced by Sentinel Trees)
Responsible Combat
There will, necessarily, be some combat challenges in Luna’s story. The player will sometimes have the option to navigate around dangerous encounters, although not all combat can be avoided.
Story dialogue between Luna and Cora leans heavily on Use of Force concepts common in most of the western world. Rather than mindlessly mowing down zombie hoards, for example, the story explores the moral justification for using violence.
And, again, defeated enemies DO NOT drop loot or rewards of any kind.
Behind the Scenes:
Individual Elements
Take a spoiler-free look at Game Development so far, including Character Creation, Concept Art, Soundtrack Composition, Effects, Philosophy, and more….
