I regularly keep an eye on Steam Greenlight and last week came across a new entry by developer MoaCube. Cinders is a mature take on a well-known fairytale, and we’re grateful to Tom Grochowiak for answering our questions on this wonderful visual novel.
Cinders is a witty young woman living with an overbearing stepmother and her two daughters, as if she was reenacting a certain classic fairytale. But unlike its protagonist, she isn’t not afraid of taking fate into her own hands… even if that means breaking the rules! The game takes a look at four women and what made them who they are. It’s a story about balancing freedom and dreams with circumstance and harsh reality, and about growing up and finding out the true meaning of independence.
MoaCube is a small collective of indie game developers, started by two game industry vets: designer Tom Grochowiak and illustrator Gracjana Zielinska. According to their website, they have simple goals and don’t offer ‘pompous manifestos or mission statements’, because they just make games and they want them to be good. Thank you to Tom for taking the time out of his schedule to answer our questions.
How did the MoaCube team meet and what made you decide to start making Cinders?
“MoaCube was born when me and Gracjana, our artist, were stuck in traffic and had way too much time to talk. We worked for the same company, Codeminion, and pondered the idea of making a fairytale visual novel of a similar quality level to the games we did for our employer. When months later we found ourselves without a job and decided to go indie, this seemed like the natural choice for our first project.”
On the Steam Greenlight page, the game is described as a ‘mature take on a classic fairytale’. What were the reasons behind choosing Cinderella as the basis for the plot rather than another story?
“We knew we wanted to do a fairytale, but one that allows players to completely twist it with their choices. The question was: which one? Cinderella seemed like the perfect fit, because we simply don’t like its message very much – ‘be a good girl and patiently endure your abuse, and maybe you’ll find a rich husband’. We hated how Cinderella in the original story is a very passive character and thought it’s a good basis for a story about growing up and learning to take responsibility for your life.”
Unlike the usual protagonist from the fairytale, this Cinders isn’t afraid of taking fate into her own hands. What sort of person is she and what challenges does she encounter?
“This almost entirely depends on the player. There are many routes to pick and Cinders’ personality is determined by your choices – from life-changing ones, to how she treats her step-sisters. She may be a kind-hearted dreamer, a savvy woman trying to solve her family’s problems, a manipulative schemer not afraid to commit murder to reach her goals, or anything in between. You pick!”
You’ve said that the title ‘takes a look at four women and what made them who they are’. It sounds as if a lot of attention has been paid to character development; how important do you feel this has been to the game?
“Cinders is pretty much a character study. The original fairytale presents Cinderella’s family as archetypically evil. But we wanted the players to wonder if they aren’t actually victims rather than villains, what made them that way, and can they be ‘fixed’. Getting to understand the stepmother and her daughters is a very important part of Cinders.”
Cinders’ personality is determined by your choices.
Can you tell us about the kind of gameplay that players should expect?
“Cinders plays out just like other visual novels. You read through scenes and dialogue and makes decisions at appropriate moments, choose-your-own-adventure style. However, the game features a lot more options and choices than a typical VN. We like to see it as a role-playing game. Not ‘RPG’, with combat and stats-building, but actually a game about playing a role.”
Cinders has a ‘heavy emhasis on player choices and role playing’, containing 120 decision points, over three-hundred options and multiple endings. Did this take a lot of work to achieve?
“It did. The game’s text base is massive and it’s impossible to see even one third of it in a single playthrough. The game was in development for a year and a half, and most of that time was spent on planning and writing all the possible routes.”
The art is absolutely gorgeous and reminds us of storybooks from our childhood. What inspired you to go in this visual direction?
“It’s simply a style that Gracjana, the sole artist responsible for the game’s look, is best at. She wanted to make it a sort of a living storybook and took inspiration from 19th century posters and book illustration.”
There has been a lot of discussion during the past year around the subject of females in video games. What’s your take on the matter?
“Our take is simple: we need more of them. Both in game development and games themselves. From the artistic perspective, it’s crazy that such a powerful medium is still dedicated mostly to fulfilling male power fantasies. From the business perspective- half of the world’s population is underserved or not even seen as potential customers. This has to change, and fortunately, slowly-but-steady, it does.”
MoaCube believes there needs to be more women in both video games and their development.
Cinders is already available to purchase from your website, and you’re currently going through the Steam Greenlight process. How have you found this so far and have there been any challenges?
“At the moment of writing this, it’s been only three days since we’ve submitted Cinders to Greenlight. Things are looking up, but it’s a bit early to tell how it’s going to develop. In general, I think we face the same challenge all niche games do – we have a very dedicated and active fanbase, but also limited. That’s why every vote and help with spreading the word are so appreciated.”
Are you a gamer yourself? If so, what’s your preferred genre and do you have any favourite games?
“We’re all gamers, though we have slightly different tastes. For instance, I’m more of a console gamer, while the rest of the team prefers PC. We all love games games that try to do something with their narratives, though. It’s hard to point single favorites, as these things change with time, but when I asked the team, names like Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy 6, Vampire: Bloodlines and Day of the Tentacle came up.”
Is there any advice you’d give to someone who’s thinking of making an indie title?
“Just one: stop looking for advice and simply do it. There are so many great tools and resources available, that pretty much everyone can make a game these days. If they are dedicated and patient enough.”
What’s next in store for the MoaCube Team?
“We’re currently working on Solstice. A fantasy crime mystery set in an enclosed city in a middle of a frozen wasteland, with two protagonists with conflicting agendas trying to solve a single case. It’s already available for pre-orders and should be out in the first half of 2014.”
Head over to Steam Greenlight to give Cinders a thumbs-up.
Once again, thank you to Tom and the rest of the MoaCube team for answering our questions. Cinders is already available to order from the developer’s website but you can show your support by trying out the demo and heading to the Steam Greenlight page and giving the title a big thumbs-up. We’ve downloaded our copy already and are looking forward to bringing you a review very soon.
