Hauntii Interview – Moonloop Hopes To Work On Post-Launch Content Next

Leo Dasso: The style was one of a few that I tried, but it was chosen for this game because it fit the limited time I had to create art assets for Hauntii. There’s also a lot of 2D animation, and simple line weight with one color simplified the production of animations.

Leo Dasso: I’ve always liked twin-stick shooters, and from the very beginning of the game, I wanted to make something that took the twin-stick mechanics and used them in unconventional ways.

Leo Dasso: If I remember, we got a lot of good feedback from IndieLand 2022. Generally, I’ve been happy to see that when we showed the game publicly at these kinds of events, people found the game intriguing and easy to pick up and play.

It doesn’t influence the final product directly, but we do tend to see snags when people who know nothing about the game playtest, and that helps us even a few things out.

Leo Dasso: We got a lot of really positive responses from Next Fest! A lot of players mentioned that the gameplay was deeper than they were expecting, which is great for me to hear. People often see the art style and assume it may be a more ‘walking simulator’ type of indie experience, but it’s not.

Leo Dasso: The project started in late 2018, but it was on the shelf for about 2 years, and then just a hobby thing until late 2022.

Leo Dasso: The way simple enemy behaviors in Geometry Wars come together to form complex, intricate challenges. I don’t think I’ve quite captured it here to the degree they did, but it was an inspiration for enemy behavior design.

Leo Dasso: I actually don’t know all that much about the playable character other than the name “Hauntii”. You’ll have to play the game to get a bit more backstory. 🙂

Leo Dasso: The animation you see in-game is a combination of 2D animation, effects, and 3D movement. Getting the 2D frame-by-frame animations to line up with 3D-space objects was challenging at times, but we have some tools to help out with that.

Our 2D animator, Lucie Juric, is a master of putting character and emotion into the movement of the characters, so I was very pleased when she took over the animations.

Leo Dasso: Every game environment is in some way inspired by real-world locations. For the locations in Hauntii, we started with the story and then fleshed the environments out from there.

Leo Dasso: I don’t make the deals!

Leo Dasso: I don’t think it changed the nature of the game. However, it does put a bit more pressure on the development schedule.

Leo Dasso: There’s plenty more to the lore of Hauntii! If we’re able to, I’d like to bring some more post-launch content to players.

Leo Dasso: I hope I’m able to sleep the night before.