Renegade Kid further explores Moon

Geeks who got at all excited over this little tidbit trailer now have a lot more to anticipate. Joystiq sat down today with developer Renegade Kid (RK) and talked about the upcoming DS title Moon, complete with a few new screenshots.

First, despite earlier reports, the publisher has now been switched to Mastiff, who have put out Gungrave: Overdose, La Pucelle: Tactics, a few Top Gun titles, and a bunch of kids stuff.

Jools Watsham, creative director and owner at RK brought fans up to speed on what Moon is as of today:

"Moon is a sci-fi action adventure title that utilizes the Renegade Engine 2.0. Our basic focus is to go beyond what we did with Dementium in regards to the action adventure/FPS genre, while continuing to push the DS's power. We think there's a lack of original single player adventure games on the DS and we'd like to help fill that void."

Certainly can't disagree with him there, and thank gosh for it.

However, after having viewed the trailer, I think I may be a little dissapointed to learn one of the differences between this title and Dementium is that Moon will rely more on action and story than a "thick atmosphere." Watsham says "their similarities don't go much beyond the fact that they're both viewed from the first person perspective and involve shooting."

Still, maybe it'll be a good balance. I envision the game with a similar blend of action and atmosphere as the ol' N64's Hybrid Heaven (remember that system?), which was certainly a treat in its own right.

In either case, I'm excited again upon learning they're pushing the platform limits:

"We're being much more ambitious with the environments, particle effects, enemies and cinematic cut-scenes. So, we're pretty much firing the DS on all cylinders. Even though we pushed the DS with Dementium, we were still being slightly cautious due to our time frame and growing experience with the platform. This time around with Moon, we are being a little less cautious while still being expressive and ambitious."

Just awesome. And ooh, check this out, more Moon!

"The reason we wanted to develop Moon on the DS first was to take advantage of our Renegade Engine. To be able to focus on the content of a game and not worry about the engine is a wonderful and rare position for us to be in. We would love to see Moon on the Wii. Perhaps if Moon is received well, a Wii version may very well be in its future as well as a DS sequel too ... who knows."