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The plot of Mineko's Night Market sounds like a Studio Ghibli film. We've got a child protagonist, who's just moved into a new town, a magical spirit, and cats – lots of cats. The upcoming cozy game has been a staple in several Wholesome Games showcases and has enchanted fans since its announcement nearly 10 years ago. Now, Mineko is finally ready to open up shop, and its developers are hoping it'll bring comfort to players, as well as a way to vicariously interact with feline friends.
In Mineko's Night Market, players will take on the role of Mineko, a "curious girl" who is settling into her new home on an island by the base of the fictional Mount Fugu. The locals are a superstitious lot who worship a cat God called Nikko, who's said to bring fortune and prosperity to the farms around town. As Mineko, players will discover the secrets behind the struggling village, restore it to its former glory, and manage daily activities by completing quests, and taking on various jobs around town.
Despite sounding like the next Hayao Miyazaki movie, Mineko's Night Market actually borrows from lots of different endearing sources. The husband and wife founders of Meowza Games, Brent and Brandi Kobayashi, took inspiration from a variety of places, including everything from children's books to Cartoon Network shows, and even a real-life cat-island in Aoshima, Japan.
"We were definitely inspired by a lot of the aesthetics found in Studio Ghibli films, but less so when it came to art style influences," the pair tells me, "we were always drawn towards the hand-painted look of backgrounds of cartoons like Doraemon (1979), Samurai Jack, and Song of the Sea, and we’ve also loved the art in children’s books, especially those of the style of Mary Blair" – Blair being one of the most recognizable Disney artists that worked on the studio's animated films during the 1940s and 50s – "we felt that the hand-drawn look of the backgrounds in these shows, that we ultimately drew a lot of inspiration from, lent towards a child-like naivety – something mirrored in the character of Mineko herself."
Cat puuur-son
If this lovely looking indie game gets delayed again I will cry
Being more of a dog person myself (don't worry, cats also have a firm place in my heart) I was curious about why Mineko's Night Market was so focused on cats. Not only does Mineko's name have the Japanese word for 'cat' in it, with a story that centers around a huge cat God, but the town is also littered with cats that Mineko will need to rescue from suspicious agents on her travels. "We are huge fans of cats ourselves," the Kobayashis tell me, "but since we are allergic to cats, we decided to live vicariously through our games to surround ourselves in a world full of cats!" Which is basically the next best thing to actually visiting cat-island. "Even before the idea of Mineko’s Night Market came to fruition," the developers continue, "we toyed around with other game concepts that included cats, so feline-focused ideas were always at the forefront of our designs."
Another large part of Mineko's world is its Japanese influence. Brent Kobayashi tells me that due to growing up in Vancouver, Canada (which, they tell me, has the highest population of Japanese-Canadian residents in the whole country) and being raised by Japanese parents, they were exposed to "a ton of Japanese media, food, and culture" growing up. This means a lot of the aesthetics and culture in Mineko's Night Market have been derived from the developer's "earliest memories of attending Japanese festivals", as well as the media they were exposed to as children.
Mini games will also play a huge part in Mineko's Night Market. As the developers explain, the game features a number of both mini and microgames, including those focused on resource collecting and crafting. Similar to games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mineko will have access to several crafting tables that will allow her to craft any materials she has into different items. As part of this, players will need to pass a wood cutting minigame that involves timing the cuts exactly right on a bandsaw table to end up with the perfect version of that item.
The pair also tell me about other minigames that players can participate in during the Night Market: "Each in-game week, the Night Market will play host to a 'Main Event'; the first week will involve the player in a Cat Race, a race of two laps around the perimeter of the Night Market against three other villagers". Who knew cats could be so athletic?
Cat Nap
"This constant pivoting hampered us with severe mental burnout and, with the support of our publisher, we took some much-needed time off from development a couple years back"
Mineko's Night Market has been a long time coming. After being announced in 2015, and appearing at several showcases over the years (including Nintendo Directs, Wholesome Directs, Tokyo Game Show, and more), fans have had to wait a long time to finally get their paws on this one. "We’ve had a lot of ups and downs throughout development," Kobayashi admits. "We announced our game way too early when we were still experimenting with core mechanics and the game loop itself." During the game's development, the pair also learned a valuable lesson about burnout, which resulted in the developers taking "some much-needed time off from development" to give themselves time to recoup and reflect.
"Throughout the years, we’ve put together a multitude of demos and vertical slices of the game and were not satisfied with the direction on numerous occasions, and have even scrapped the game entirely and started over on at least three different instances," the duo explains. "This constant pivoting hampered us with severe mental burnout and, with the support of our publisher, we took some much-needed time off from development a couple years back [...] We had many discussions on what direction to take the game; between continuing with the project at its then current state, starting over, or scrapping the project entirely. In the end, we decided to give it one more shot."
Luckily, that final push managed to get Mineko's Night Market back on track. To do this, the pair hired others to assist on the project and further developed areas that needed it – including the game's systems, its art, sound, and more. As the Kobayashis explain: "With this renewed energy, we were ultimately able to gain momentum in the project that we never had in all the years prior and this never would’ve been possible without the help of all the great people we had the honor of working with and who supported us on our journey."
Mineko's Night Market is now just days away from release, and its developers are hoping players find comfort in its story and gameplay. They say: "A lot of the genesis of the game’s core themes are based around friendship and belonging and were drawn from personal difficult experiences of moving and changing neighborhood/schools as a child. We hope the game could offer some comfort, coziness, or giggles to people going through their unpredictable and sometimes uncertain moments in their lives too."
Mineko's Night Market is set to release on Nintendo Switch and PC on September 26 and on Xbox One, PS4, and PS5 on October 26.
Find out what other hidden gems are on the way with our upcoming indie games list.
