Lucky Luna

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Lucky Luna
Girl in a fox mask standing in an overgrown ruin, over the words Lucky Luna
Developer(s)Nacho Barbas, Snowman
Publisher(s)Netflix
Producer(s)Andrew Schimmel
Artist(s)Anaïs Maamar
Composer(s)Oda Tilset
Platform(s)
ReleaseSeptember 8, 2022
Genre(s)Platformer
Mode(s)Single-player

Lucky Luna is a 2022 platformer developed by Snowman and published by Netflix through its Netflix Games subscription service. The game features the player character, a girl in a fox mask named Luna, traversing a series of underground levels connected by portals to an abandoned temple. The player moves the world left and right around Luna using the touchscreen while avoiding obstacles and hazards. Unlike in most platformers, Luna cannot jump, and the levels are primarily oriented vertically with Luna falling from the top. The game has six handcrafted levels with different themes in the story mode, and infinite procedurally generated versions of those levels in the endless mode.

The game began development in 2014 as Cerulean Moon, a project by Spanish programmer Nacho Barbas, aka Nachobeard. It was originally planned for release in 2016, but was still in development in 2020 when Barbas joined Snowman. Barbas and the studio then worked on the title for another two years, adding the endless mode and finishing the game. Snowman chose Netflix as the publisher so that the game design would not be impacted by a need to monetize the game with advertisements or in-app purchases. Lucky Luna was released for Netflix subscribers on iOS and Android in September 2022. The game was positively received by critics, who acclaimed its design, aesthetics, and innovation, but gave some criticism to the difficulty.

Gameplay and plot[edit]

Girl running across platforms over lava
Luna in a lava-themed level, with several pearls near her

Lucky Luna is a platformer game in which the player character, a young girl named Luna wearing a fox mask, traverses a series of underground levels. The game begins with Luna waking up on a beach and following a fox into a temple, which contains portals to each of the six levels.[1] The player controls Luna by using the touchscreen controls to move left and right; unlike most platformers, there is no jump mechanic.[2] The levels are primarily vertical, with Luna falling through gaps in the platforms or being lifted by elements such as fountains of water or dragonflies.[3] Luna is always in the center of the screen, with the world moving around her.[4] The levels each have a theme, such as water, jungles, or lava, and contain obstacles that will kill Luna if touched such as boiling water, spikes, or lava. Upon death, Luna returns to the last checkpoint reached.[1] Each level ends with Luna following the fox into a portal back to the temple; the first time the player completes a level causes the portal to the next level to activate.

The levels contain treasures scattered throughout, referred to as pearls. At the completion of a level, the player is graded on their pearl count, speed, and number of deaths, and given a score which is ranked on a global leaderboard.[5] The levels also each contain one to four shrine slates, located in hidden areas. If the player collects all shrine slates in the six levels, a seventh portal is opened, which when entered shows a cutscene of Luna on the Moon, being greeted and placed on a throne.

The game also features an endless mode, in which the player traverses procedurally generated versions of the six levels. This mode features no checkpoints, with death ending the run and returning the player to the temple. The levels are divided into numbered segments, with a challenge given every few segments that can award up to four shrine slates per level.[6] Collecting all of these shrine slates, in addition to the ones in the story mode of the game, gives an alternate ending cutscene. In this ending, Luna places her fox mask into an altar, and the temple collapses. Luna wakes up on a different shore with houses in the background, and is shown traversing the island with the fox.

Development[edit]

The game began development as Cerulean Moon in late 2014 as a project by Spanish programmer Nacho Barbas, nicknamed Nachobeard.[4][7][8] The game's setting was inspired by The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a tale from Japanese folklore about a princess from the Moon who grows up on Earth, who sets her six suitors impossible tasks before ascending to her throne on the Moon.[6] Barbas created the jumpless, swiping control scheme in order to have the game be immediately understandable by players without any explicit instruction.[9][10] Pixel art for the game was provided by several artists, primarily Anaïs Maamar.[11]

The first public notice of the project was in December 2014,[7] and Barbas was selected as one of the invitees at the Stugan game incubator program in Sweden in mid-2015.[12] Cerulean Moon was shown at Gamescom in August.[13][14] Barbas described the game's levels there as "descending dungeons".[4] He also there announced a planned 2016 release date for the game, for mobile devices and computers, with the possibility of consoles with touchscreen capabilities afterwards.[4][15]

Cerulean Moon was nominated for Best Upcoming Game at the 12th Internet Mobile Game Awards in early 2016,[16] but afterwards the project had no further public announcements until January 2020, when Barbas released a gameplay video and an updated projected release date of 2020.[17] Later that year, however, Barbas joined Toronto studio Snowman, which had previously made the snowboarding-based Alto's Adventure (2015), among others.[18] There, the game was renamed to Lucky Luna, and remained under development through mid-2022.[19] During that time, the game's endless mode was added and the game refined.[18] Andrew Schimmel, the producer for the game, described creating the endless mode while turning the story mode into a finished product like building two complementary games at the same time.[6]

Snowman announced Lucky Luna in June 2022, to be published for iOS and Android by Netflix as part of their Netflix Games subscription service.[19] Snowman chose Netflix Games in order to pursue development of the game as a "premium" title without having a high price or changing the design to accommodate monetization schemes like advertisements or in-app purchases. Although multiple people from Snowman worked on the final product with feedback from Netflix, Barbas is listed in the credits as the lead developer, game designer, and creator of the concept, and Maamar is credited as the art director.[6][20] Lucky Luna was released on September 8, 2022 for iOS and Android.[6]

Reception[edit]

Lucky Luna did not receive widespread attention from reviewers, but was well-received by critics upon release. It was nominated for mobile Game of the Year by Pocket Gamer.[21] Reviewers praised the platforming gameplay, with Will Quick of Pocket Gamer saying that it struck a "balance [...] between casual and engaging", and Jared Nelson of TouchArcade, in a review naming it the site's game of the week, said the game was one of the best examples of taking a genre and removing an element—jumping—to create something new.[1][2] He also said that the exploration in the story mode was interesting and fun, and praised the replayability.[2] DeAngelo Epps of Digital Trends also praised the replayability and called it an innovative experiment.[3] Andrew Webster of The Verge praised the "clever design" of the levels with the lack of jumping, though noted that the game was difficult; Rachel Morgen of Android Central similarly liked the game, but found it more difficult than they expected and said that some parts of the game were "incredibly frustrating".[5][22]

The aesthetics of the game were praised, with Nelson of TouchArcade calling it "absolutely gorgeous with stunning animations" and Webster of The Verge calling it beautiful.[2][22] Quick of Pocket Gamer praised the variety and scale of the game.[1] Edge claimed that the style of the game was reminiscent of Fez (2012), while Brett Venter of Stuff instead drew a connection to Child of Light (2014).[23][24] Epps of Digital Trends praised the artwork and "excellent atmosphere", sentiments echoed by Morgen of Android Central, who also praised the "atmospheric soundtrack".[1][3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Quick, Will (September 13, 2022). "Lucky Luna review - "A surprisingly precise swiping platformer"". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Nelson, Jared (September 16, 2022). "TouchArcade Game of the Week: 'Lucky Luna'". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Epps, DeAngelo (September 11, 2022). "Netflix's Lucky Luna feels like a modern DSiWare hidden gem". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Wong, Luis (October 2, 2015). "A platformer in which you don't move the character". Kill Screen. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Mogan, Rachel (September 26, 2022). "A platformer with no jumps? It's more likely than you think with Lucky Luna for Android". Android Central. Future. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e Fanelli, Jason (September 8, 2022). "Netflix's Newest Game, Lucky Luna, Surprise-Drops Today From Alto's Adventure Devs". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on February 21, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Dotson, Carter (December 8, 2014). "'Cerulean Moon' is an Interesting Sliding World Platformer in Development". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  8. ^ "Company Profile: Nachobeard". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. October 21, 2014. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  9. ^ Sol, Bruno (October 29, 2015). "Nachobeard nos presenta Cerulean Moon" [Nachobeard presents us with Cerulean Moon]. Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  10. ^ Snowman (September 8, 2022). "Lucky Luna is Now Available on Netflix". Medium. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  11. ^ Barbas, Nacho. "Nachobeard". Archived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  12. ^ Hansegard, Jens (August 9, 2015). "In Sweden, a Retreat Grooms Game Developers". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  13. ^ Priestman, Chris (April 27, 2015). "Cerulean Moon is an upcoming platformer in which you move the world rather than the character". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  14. ^ Priestman, Chris (May 17, 2015). "A Platformer That Could Make Good Use Of The PS4's Touchpad, Wii U's Touchscreen". Siliconera. Gamurs. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  15. ^ Willington, Peter (August 13, 2015). "Gamescom2015: Cerulean Moon has you swiping through a pixel art platforming world". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  16. ^ "Cerulean Moon". International Mobile Gaming Awards. 2016. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  17. ^ "Touchscreen-Only Cerulean Moon Looks Forward to 2020 Release". Game Pilgrim. January 12, 2020. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  18. ^ a b Barbas, Nacho (September 8, 2022). "Lucky Luna (formerly Cerulean Moon) is out now on Netflix (iOS + Android)". TIGSource. Archived from the original on September 9, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  19. ^ a b Wallace, Kimberley (June 10, 2022). "New Platformer Dungeon Crawler Lucky Luna Announced, Free For Netflix Subscribers". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  20. ^ Fanelli, Jason (July 3, 2023). "Netflix Is Betting Big On The Game Industry. Will It Work?". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  21. ^ "Mobile Games Awards 2023". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. April 20, 2023. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  22. ^ a b Webster, Andrew (September 8, 2022). "Netflix's latest game is a fresh take on platformers". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  23. ^ "Lucky Luna". Edge. No. 374. Future. September 2022. ISSN 1350-1593.
  24. ^ Venter, Brett (September 9, 2022). "Lucky Luna Is The New Pixel Art Mobile Platformer From Netflix". Stuff South Africa. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.

External links[edit]

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