Savage Moon

Savage Moon
PlayStation Store icon
Developer(s)	FluffyLogic
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Designer(s)	Ana Kronschnabl & Tomas Rawlings (with Stuart Griffin and Will Bolam)
Engine	PhyreEngine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Genre(s)	Strategy video game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Savage Moon is a PlayStation 3 and PSP tower defense strategy game which sees the player protecting a remote, off-world mining facility from constant attack by Insectocytes, a type of carnivorous creature inhabiting the planets. The mission is to strategically place an array of upgradeable, defensive weapons in the way of the bugs. There is a range of towers, from rapid-fire machine guns to support towers such as the chaos tower. The developers describe the strategy as;

In keeping with the xeno-biological theme, the Insectocytes evolve throughout the game, with each wave becoming tougher, and the creatures mutating into new forms to meet the human threat. In response to this, the player needs to research and deploy new forms of technology to meet the escalation of bug toughness. The strategy of the game is a mix of open and directed levels — in some levels the player can place towers to herd the Insectocytes into their cross-fire.

The game was released for download from European PSN on 24 December 2008 and in North America on 29 January 2009.

Level Names

The game is divided into nebulae, each of which has 4 levels (moons). The game uses names in an alphabetical order rather than numbers to indicate the levels. Each nebula and moon is named after a mythical creatures, deity or figures from ancient history;

• Nebula: Xipe - Full name Xipe Totec was, in Aztec mythology, a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons.
  • Agamemnon - Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaeans (Greeks) during the Trojan War.
  • Baxajuan - In Basque mythology, the basajaun (plural: baxajaunak) are a race of large hairy wild men who were megalith builders.
  • Cerberus - Three headed-dog that guards the gates to Hades in Greek mythology.
  • Duergar - are a race of ugly dwarfs, particularly associated with the Simonside Hills of Northumberland, in northern England.
• Nebula: Ymir - was the founder of the race of frost giants and an important figure in Norse cosmology.
  • Einherjar - The Norse name for 'lone fighters' are those that have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla by valkyries.
  • Fenrir - A monstrous wolf from Norse mythology.
  • Ghede - Full name Ghede Nibo, is a spirit or Lwa in the Haitian Vodou religion.
  • Hyperion - Is the Titan son of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky) in Greek mythology.
• Nebula: Zeus - The father of the Gods in Greek mythology.
  • Incubus - A demon in male form supposed to lie upon sleepers and seduce them.
  • Jikininki - In Japanese Buddhism these are the spirits of greedy, selfish or impious individuals who are cursed after death to seek out and eat human corpses.
  • Kitsune - Intelligent fox-like spirits that possess magical abilities from Japanese folklore.
  • Lotan - The seven-headed sea serpent or dragon of Ugaritic myths.

Previews

The game received a good response from a number of the top game websites when shown at games shows:

• This sounds like it could be a very entertaining action/strategy title, and another good one for the Store. PSX Extreme
• For those of you that were curious as to what the mysterious Savage Moon would entail, Sony did not disappoint when revealing the game in Leipzig today.' PlayStation Universe

Reviews

The game has received a good response from a number of computer game websites:

• Savage Moon, from little known Bristol developer FluffyLogic, is about as good as it's going to get for just over six quid on PSN. Videogamer.com (awarded 8/10)
• Graphically, it's one of the better-looking titles on the PSN, but it's certainly not the best. The game's messy landscapes are pardoned by cool sci-fi towers and a range of weird, Starship Troopers-esque alien designs...Savage Moon is a quality Store title that deserves recognition.. Play Magazine (awarded 86%)
• Unlike many other defense games, Savage Moon conveys a sense of ballistic punishment to its convoy or marauders. Later levels offer different texture maps to offer variety to the extraterrestrial skirmishes. The game's sound effects portray an effectively bleak environment peppered with the thunder of war and cry of dying beasts. tech-gaming.com (awarded B+)
• Savage Moon is an entertaining game which has a good difficulty curve, adequate visuals and entertaining gameplay. Worth a look. futuregamez.net (awarded 76%)
• You cannot compare Savage Moon to any other tower defense games currently available on other platforms. It delivers a unique combat system and a large selection of different types of enemy waves. If you’re a tower defense fan, you’ll find Savage Moon very entertaining. Build turrets, kill incoming enemies, upgrade your guns and kill some more! nextgn.com (awarded 88%)
• Savage Moon costs just $9.99 on the PlayStation Store, and it is well worth the price for tower defense fans, as well as gamers new to the genre. PS3Center.net (awarded 8/10)

Waldgeist (PS3 Extra Content)

On 6 August 2009 the first DLC for the title as released called 'Waldgeist' - the German name for a forest spirit. The developers build on the ideas of evolution and adaptation, remarking;

As the Insectocytes have evolved, so new threats have surfaced: the Death Blossom Insectocyte; a deadly evolution that carries within itself a payload of beautiful but lethal missiles. It responds to being in range of towers it considers a threat by detonating itself and launching it's cruel cargo. A new sub-species of Insectocytes have emerged using photochromic biological adaptations, similar to those found on native Terran species such as the chameleon or the cuttlefish. They have acquired the ability to adapt their skin colour across a wide spread of the electromagnetic spectrum, rendering them invisible to all normal towers' targeting systems.

The game continued the idea of naming the levels after mythical creatures, deity or figures from ancient history;

• Nebula: Waldgeist - the German name for a forest spirit.
  • Menja - One of two female slave giantesses from the Old Norse poem Grottasöngr.
  • Niht - Is Continental Germanic mythology she is the Goddess of Night.
  • Odin - Is considered the chief god in Norse paganism. He is associated with wisdom, war, battle, and death, and also magic, poetry, prophecy, victory, and the hunt.
  • Pugot Also known as "the decapitated one" is a mythical fiend that is found in the Ilocos region of the Philippines.
  • Qiqirn - In Inuit mythology, Qiqirn is a large, frightening, bald dog spirit.
  • Rabisu - In Akkadian mythology Rabisu ("the vagabond") is an evil vampiric spirit or demon.

In 2010 the soundtrack to the DLC of Savage Moon: Waldgeist - also composed by Elsaesser, was nominated for Best Original Video Game Score in the 55th Ivor Novello Awards. This was the first year that music from games was given a category in the awards.

The Hera Campaign (PSP)

On 22 December 2009 a new game set in the same universe and featuring some of the same units and towers was released titled 'The Hera Campaign';

Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign (named after the Aegophagus or goat eating aspect of the Greek goddess of the same name) is set within a huge gathering of Imoons, the Hera Cluster, that drifted into human space. Preliminary intelligence suggests that it consists of, at least, 20 Imoons populated by a rich variety of Insectocyte forms, some of which we have encountered before and some of which are new.

The PSP game also carried on the naming the levels after mythical creatures, deity or figures from ancient history. Most of the names appear to come from Mayan mythology.;

• Hera - In Greek mythology, Hera was the wife and older sister of Zeus.
  • Ahpuch - Is a from the pantheon of Maya Death Gods.
  • Bacab - The name for four deities of the interior of the earth and its water deposits.
  • Cizin- A god of death who lived in Metnal.
  • Dzahui - In Mixtec mythology, Dzahui or Dzavui was the god of rain.
  • Ekchuah - The patron god of warriors and merchants.
  • Fext - Fext is a mythical undead creature in Slavic mythology. It is said that the Fext is invincible to bullets, except bullets made of glass.
  • Gukumatz - Feathered Snake god and creator.
  • Hun-nal-ye - Hieroglyphic reading of the name of the Classic Maya maize god.
  • Ixchel - Jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine.
  • Jentil - These were a race of giants in the Basque mythology.
  • Kauil - Believed to be a Mayan deity representing lightning.
  • Lubaantun - A pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization in southern Belize, Central America.
  • Mextli - A god of the moon and was born fully armed as a warrior.
  • Nohochacyum - A creator god, most important deity of the Lacandon. His name means "Our True Lord".
  • Oxlahuntiku - 'Thirteen Gods', possibly sky gods, opposed to the Bolontiku (a group of nine underworld gods).
  • Patecatl - A god of healing and fertility, and the discoverer of peyote.
  • Qaholom - One of the second set of Mayan creator gods.
  • Rougarou - A legendary creature in Laurentian French communities linked to European notions of the werewolf.
  • Simbi - In Haitian Vodou, Simbi is a large family of serpent Loa (Vodoun spirits) from the West Central Africa/Kongo region.
  • Tepeu - A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity.

External links

• FluffyLogic