The Playism Spotlight is back this month for a game that is well loved within the team. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a true gem that we are super excited to share with this world. For the whole of March, we had an ongoing interview being posted regularly on our Facebook. Now as the next month has begun, we bring our interview with rdein to you.

 

 

Hi rdein. Thank you for talking with us today. To start with, could you please introduce yourself and the Bombservice team for those who are reading this?

Hello! I'm rdein, and I'm the lead developer of the Momodora games. I'm part of the Bombservice team, where I do art, programming, design, and sounds. We currently have three other members who worked on the new Momodora game: Hernan, who did animation and some programming; PKBT, who did programming; and notoriousKnave, who worked on the soundtrack.

 

 

The Momodora games are quite challenging, especially the higher difficulty levels of Reverie Under the Moonlight. Could you tell us a little about your history with difficult games?

I play (and have always played) a lot of old games, so it's just something I inherited from them. I don't make them difficult for the sake of being difficult. My goal is always to make games that are fun to play.

 

 

Speaking of difficult games, on Twitter you seem to talk a good deal about From Software’s Souls games. Which was your first one? What about it hooked you in the first place?

I do talk a lot about Dark Souls, don't I? The first one I played was the PC port of Dark Souls. It caught my eye because of its attention to detail in the level design and its design philosophy. It's not a game that tells you a lot, and that made it more interesting to me. The game feels very mysterious and you are always discovering new things about it.

 

 

I’d like to ask, what gave you the idea to create the Momodora series?

As someone who loves videogames, I think it was just natural for me to try to make my own.

 

 

How about your inspiration for the art direction? There seems to be some strong influence from Japanese games and animation.

It's difficult to say, because I'm constantly being influenced by many things. Japanese games and anime are definitely big, though.

I really like the “snappy”, impactful animations from the works by GAINAX.

 

 

Is there an anime or Japanese game you’re into right now that you’d strongly recommend?

Kakukaku Shikajika (かくかくしかじか) by Akiko Higashimura. It's an autobiographical manga about becoming an artist. I was moved by this story and I consider it a must-read.

 

 

Could you tell us what your favourite part of Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is?

This is difficult to pick! There's a specific boss which is, to me, the high point of the Momodora games. Look forward to it when you reach the monastery stage!

 

 

Is there a reason why you have chosen to do a prequel and not a sequel?

Kaho, the main character, had already been teased in the previous games, so I thought making a game starring her could be interesting.

 

 

Were there any significant challenges that you faced in developing Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight?

Fortunately, no. This was, by far, the smoothest development we've had. Pretty much everything I envisioned was able to be done in the final game, and we are pretty happy about that!

 

 

When creating the Momodora series, was there a moment which really stood out to you as a great memory?

Not a specific moment, but it's always great when you see the works produced by fans. It really reinvigorates your motivation to keep trying harder and harder!

 

 

What is your dream?

I want to be able to keep producing games, and to be able to keep improving on each release.

 

 

Do you have a PLAYISM game that you recommend/love?

Definitely! I've always been a huge fan of Studio Pixel, NIGORO and Kikiyama. I strongly recommend their games: Kero Blaster, LA-MULANA, and Yume Nikki. They are among my favorites!

 

 

Do you have a message for everyone reading this?

We put a lot of love into this new Momodora game, so I hope those playing it will have a lot of fun! That would make us very happy.

 

 

Thank you very much rdein, we have all enjoyed playing Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight.

Check out Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight now on Playism for $9.99

Make sure you also check out the other titles in the series!