Quantum Witch is a story of religious oppression, queer emancipation, and a dancing skeleton that hopes to popularise the ‘plotformer’ genre

You may not have heard of Quantum Witch, however if you happen to’ve an affinity for pixel-art platformers with participating story-beats, meta-narratives, and an array of kooky characters, then you have to be throughout it. To only name Quantum Witch a vibrant platformer with a robust narrative (learn: ‘plotformer’) is to do it a disservice, although.

Quantum Witch is a lot greater than its vibrant pixels; it’s NikkiJay’s private story of fleeing a non secular cult, embracing her LGBTQ+ identification, and in search of solace in video video games. There’s a darkish undercurrent, however finally, Nikki chooses to inform her story – and a narrative that many others will little doubt see themselves in – with humour and satisfaction.

To get a greater concept of precisely what knowledgeable Quantum Witch and the way the indie ‘plotformer’ got here collectively, VG247 sat down with NikkiJay to ask how rising up in a non secular cult led to the event of the sport and what she hopes audiences will get from it.

The under interview discusses non secular trauma, coercive management, and the abuse of energy.

VG247: I’m conscious that Quantum Witch is basically knowledgeable by your personal private experiences of fleeing a non secular cult; would you thoughts sharing some extra about your expertise, and the way it has knowledgeable Quantum Witch’s story and characters?

Nikki: I used to be born into the group and my household on each side had been third technology. Age 10, I wanted my tonsils out and I needed to inform the surgeon that I’d reasonably die than settle for sure medical remedies. As a 10-year-old, it is one of many questions they ask once you go for CPTSD analysis: “did you at any level truthfully actually consider you had been going to die?” Yeah, I used to be advised I needed to be ready for that. I needed to die for God if that was the choice that was introduced to me. Both take this medical therapy that God mentioned I could not have or die. I had to decide on dying. This cult actually kills children for God.

Lots of people stayed as a result of the choice was to lose your complete help construction and social community. You had been actually by your self with nothing, which was the choice I selected ultimately. It’s excessive coercive management. This manner, they are saying that you’ve the character God needs you to have. Non secular management and abuse of that energy is the most important theme that made it into Quantum Witch. It is extremely a lot once more about urgency and selection: I believe if folks have been by way of related issues, it is going to resonate with them.

VG247: Through the demo, I received the impression that Ren is basically not within the non secular beliefs shared along with her by others in Quantum Witch, however she nonetheless seems to have a fascination with the Outdated Gods. I’ve two questions on this: is Ren on the fence, so to talk, about her beliefs? Does this align with any of your ideas and emotions about faith now?

Nikki: Yeah, I’m agnostic. I’m a skeptic. I’ve to be open to the probabilities. A skeptic who is not open to prospects isn’t a skeptic. They seem to be a cynic, and Ren could be very a lot a skeptic. The vast majority of the characters within the sport are simply features of me that I’ve made into a personality, it is just a bit piece of me that I’ve enhanced with out turning it right into a stereotype so far as I can.

Tyra [Ren’s partner] is extra cynical: ‘come on, it is nonsense’. And Ren’s like, ‘no, let’s go discover out’. Her want to go discover goes to guide her into issues that she should not have explored in the way in which that she’s going to. However yeah, she is unquestionably that a part of me who would really like for there to be magic.

VG247: Quantum Witch’s market – which options unnamed characters that bear uncanny resemblances to some iconic online game mascots – is what I assume to be a illustration of a few of your favorite video games. The sport itself usually jogged my memory of themes and mechanics from Undertale, The Binding of Isaac, and even Stardew Valley. What different video games or items of media helped encourage Quantum Witch, and the way?

Nikki: I like Undertale. What I beloved about Undertale is the combination of all these kinds and then you definitely’d be speaking to a personality and all of a sudden you need to play a extremely quick response sport. I am unable to try this. I am too outdated. However it was an enormous inspiration within the fashion of sport I needed to create.

As for the rationale why the online game characters are there within the plot of [Quantum Witch’s] story; they do tie into the plot and there is a little trace that they are saying. And I simply beloved placing in my alternate takes on who these characters had been. You may know Paul Rose from Digitizer. On the very starting of the mission, I had all my story beats labored out. That is what is going on to occur. That is the way it’s all going to work together, however I couldn’t – for the lifetime of me – begin it.

I could not construct the bridges between these beats and Rose helped me so much. He did a script therapy and a few of the dialogue within the market is immediately from him; [one of the characters you meet is] speaking about tablets and I used to be like, ‘that that simply suits in completely as a result of there’s a character afterward who may want that capsule’. It’s additionally a little bit of a cue for me to have the characters discuss medicine. .

I additionally needed so as to add some queer taste to them, so Princess Nectarine – who’s just like however legally distinct from a sure Nintendo character – is in a polycule with Bowser and Mario they usually wish to roleplay kidnapping. I didn’t got down to make a queer sport. It is turned out that method as a result of I am unable to assist it, but it surely’s not all these characters are.

VG247: I do know you’re a solo developer and it is a largely solo mission, however I’m conscious you’ve acquired some assist with the entire endeavour. You talked about Paul Rose. So may you inform me extra concerning the individuals who have helped you with creating Quantum Witch and what they did?

Nikki: I have to completely shout out Jerden Cooke for the music. We composed numerous it collectively, [with] me totally on the ukulele which you’ll be able to hear in Ren’s theme. I do not know if you happen to’ve seen the video clip of David Lynch helping compose Laura’s Theme from Twin Peaks. Working with him is like that. I received some implausible music which was just like the music I may hear in my head once I began taking part in on the ukulele. He was capable of put it down, principally extract it from my head, and put it right into a phrase file.

And Paul Rose; I knew him by way of Digitizer meetups. We simply received speaking on Twitter in the future and met up. He is an excellent man and issues took place fairly naturally as a result of it was when Covid hit and numerous TV work received cancelled. I mentioned to him, look, it is best to get your self on Fiverr. Put your writing providers on the market as a result of folks ought to be paying for this. I can be your first buyer, and so I used to be! With out his assist, this could have nonetheless been a set of little story beats that I’d have had no concept tips on how to wire collectively.

And I’ve all the time needed to work with Stephanie Sterling. What if I simply ping her on Bluesky and say, “Hey, need to write a chapter of this sport? It is received a dancing skeleton in it.” She mentioned, “Yeah, I am in.” She mentioned that when she began to do it, she wasn’t solely positive whether or not it will be the proper mission as a result of she simply noticed a [dancing] skeleton.

The extra she wrote for [Quantum Witch] and the extra she performed the sport, she went, “Yeah, that is my wheelhouse,” and she or he poured her non secular trauma into it, which occurred to simply match completely completely. It is like I couldn’t have requested for a greater group of individuals to work with, and that is type of what I need to say to indie builders who’re solo. You are not alone. You may simply need one title on the credit score, but it surely takes a village to boost a toddler.

VG247: I used to be greatly surprised by simply how cosy the sport is. Admittedly, even with the subject material, I didn’t anticipate – largely given the artwork fashion – for this to be all doom and gloom, however I positively didn’t anticipate one thing so jovial and truthfully, straight-up humorous. How did you resolve that this was the strategy you needed to take when creating Ren’s story?

Nikki: [Stardew Valley], Chrono Trigger and Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door are my three most performed video games. I like the fashion of Stardew Valley and I like that there is some darkness hidden in Stardew Valley. I actually preferred the humor in it. I imply, if you happen to thought I should not be laughing at this, however I’m, then that’s an achievement. That is precisely what I needed. My primary coping mechanism is humor. I am not saying it is a wholesome coping mechanism, but it surely type of works. And I imply, I used to be closely influenced by studying numerous Douglas Adams. and he was capable of finding humor in probably the most bleak conditions.

And the graphical fashion… Once I began this, I could not draw a convincing stick determine. I have a look at the artwork that I did 4 years in the past once I began messing about with this concept and it is simply embarrassing. Objectively horrible, however my primary influences had been Stardew Valley and The Darkside Detective. I beloved the low-resolution fashion artwork, however there was a lot character in them. So, I took a pixel artwork course on Udemy and a shade idea course and… then simply discovered, hey, I can do that now. That is bizarre.

VG247: Whereas wanting into Quantum Witch and your self, I discovered a stunning quote of yours from The Guardian: “A number of faith is about giving up autonomy to some mystical energy that you simply’ve by no means seen, heard or met. Over the course of the sport, Ren takes that company again… It’s a queer emancipation story.” May you broaden on this?

Nikki: The consequence of being your self in a bunch that claims ‘no, being your self is improper’ is that you simply simply get thrown out. It is bizarre as a result of I consider my experiences as distinctive, however the themes they actually do appear to be common. Stephanie Sterling from The Jimquisition: she wrote a chapter of the later a part of the sport. I initially mentioned to her, are you able to write these three scenes? She got here again and mentioned “I could not cease writing. I simply love this universe” It is bizarre, since you would not realize it was a distinct writer. The non secular oppression of queer folks is identical wherever you go.

I am actually hoping simply that I’ve received that steadiness proper between a sport that is enjoyable and comfortable and humorous, – that there’s a dancing skeleton who can see by way of time – but additionally has that deeper that means and that message that you simply take again management.

Lots of people would have a look at this and suppose ‘you have to be anti-religion’ and I am 100% for freedom of faith, however that additionally means I am 100% for freedom from faith. Whether or not you’ve got received religion or not, no person needs anyone else’s religion compelled on you. You’ll be able to’t have freedom of faith with out freedom from faith.

VG247: How lengthy is Quantum Witch set to be, and what number of endings will there be? I do know you additionally talked about some aspect quests having numerous conclusions, in addition to the sport’s primary endings being totally different relying in your selections.

Nikki: I watched a tester play from starting to finish. It took him about three and a half hours, and he received my second favourite ending. He had questions concerning the lore and I mentioned, “play it once more and make totally different selections, and you will get a distinct ending, which is able to most likely reply that for you.”

It is troublesome to say what number of endings there are. There’s three particular classes of endings. There’s bleak. There’s attention-grabbing, the place you type of get a bittersweet ending, after which there’s the tremendous joyful ending, and there are variations on every of these. [These depend] on the characters you’ve got helped. There’s additionally little puzzles that you could go and resolve which might improve the joyful ending. It is type of like an open-world choose-your-own journey ebook, however in pixel format.

If I will do a full playthrough of all selections and all tales, I’ll simply put apart six or seven hours to do it and I wrote it. So, I am not attempting to find it. I believe it is like The Stanley Parable in that sense.

VG247: I additionally discovered that Quantum Witch may have been a novel. It may have initially began out that method and also you then clearly determined to show this right into a sport. How did that come about?

Nikki: One in all my associates was doing the National Novel Writing November. I assumed, I’ve received this story in my head which could match, so I began writing it. I do not know if anyone’s realized this, [but video games] are fairly troublesome to make, and novels are very straightforward since you simply kind… I used to be improper and I actually didn’t take pleasure in writing it.

I made a decision, considering again on my childhood, I need to make this right into a sport. I need to make this interactive. Alternative is an enormous theme. I need to give the participant a alternative. And it did find yourself as some extent and click on [game] for some time, reasonably than a plotformer. It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s a legitimate alternative. There aren’t any sport over screens in Quantum Witch. Something you do is simply part of the story and the sport is over once you get the credit.

Quantum Witch is a surprisingly cosy and jovial tackle subjects of non secular trauma and queer identities, but when your curiosity about this sport is piqued, it’s as much as you to search out out all of its secrets and techniques. NikkiJay stresses that there’s a lot to find for individuals who are desperate to discover the sport and uncover all of its numerous paths, endings, and dialogue.

For individuals who need to attempt Quantum Witch out, you’ll find a demo for the sport on Steam, and it’ll even be taking part in Steam’s Subsequent Fest throughout June.