We recently announced Paper Castle Games’ word-based RPG, Wander Stars, has joined the Fellow Traveller family! Wander Stars is a turn-based RPG with roguelite elements that follows the adventures of Ringo and Wolfe in this story-driven adventure inspired by 90s anime.
Follow the story of Ringo and Wolfe as they join forces to collect the pieces of the Wanderstar Map in this turn-based RPG with roguelite elements! Use words to create your own fighting techniques, befriend your rivals, and explore the universe in an adventure inspired by 90s anime.
We asked the Paper Castle team to introduce themselves, talk about the game, their inspirations, game development, and more. Read on, wordsmiths!
[h3]Fellow Traveller (FT): So tell us, who are Paper Castle Games and what is your journey so far?[/h3]
Heyo I’m Kay (he/him), game designer and artist/animator for Wander Stars. Rafa and I have been childhood friends since preschool. One day while playing a co-op game we had the bold idea to make video games together and Paper Castle Games was born!
Hi my name is Rafael (he/him) and I'm the programmer at Paper Castle Games, I'm pretty much your average geek guy that enjoys partaking in Dungeons & Dragons, anime binging and video games.
Hey there! I’m Andie (she/they), the lead writer and background artist for Wander Stars. I was the last member to officially join the team but I’ve been helping Kay and Rafa out since the early days of Paper Castle around 2013.
[h3]FT: What is Wander Stars, and how is development going?[/h3]
Kay: Wander Stars is a turn-based RPG with roguelite elements where you make your own attacks by combining words. We came up with this unique mechanic for “word-building” attacks and immediately associated it with the anime shows we grew up with like Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon, where the characters call out the names of their attacks.
Development has been going well! A bit bumpy at first but I think we’ve found our footing, and we’re happy to say we just recently passed the halfway point in terms of content for the game, so we’re technically halfway there.
[h3]FT: Wander Stars is obviously inspired by 90s anime. Which of those shows are your faves?[/h3]
Rafael: From the 90s and a bit before I'd have to say Dragon Ball Z, Rurouni Kenshin and Evangelion were my favorites growing up.
Andie: Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura were my favorites as a kid! I grew up watching these shows and they have remained a huge influence in my work.
Kay: We all watched the same shows while growing up, and I love the ones already mentioned, so other standouts for me were Cowboy Bebop and OG Dragon Ball which is actually from the 80’s!
[h3]FT: If each run-through of the game is like an episode, are players eventually able to play a ‘finale’ to wrap up the show?[/h3]
Andie: Yes, absolutely. The story of Wander Stars was written like an animated show with character arcs, story arcs, and a serialized narrative that advances the plot with each episode.
And after the finale, who knows? Even though the story of the game wraps up by the last episode, we have left some open-ended plot points that could follow the cast into future adventures.
[h3]FT: It looks like there is a diverse cast of characters for players to meet: do you have any standouts or favorites yet?[/h3]
Rafael: I have a particular fondness for the gray boxer crabs since they were our first fully completed enemy and I've seen them for a few years now testing game mechanics.
Andie: Personally I have a lot of fun writing Wolfe and getting inside his headspace. He’s very mysterious at the start of the game and he’s a good balance to Ringo’s headstrong personality, so it’s really funny to see him try to keep a cool head and make sense out of all the weird situations Ringo pulls him into.
Kay: I think I’ll go with the character that kick-started this whole thing: Ringo, the young martial artist with the apple head. She was the first character to be designed so everything else emerged around her. My favorite detail about her is the way her hair is half classic shonen protagonist (pure black) and the other half is magical girl (shiny and colorful).
[h3]FT: And that’s a wrap! Thank you for talking about Wander Stars and sharing your journey with us![/h3]
To stay up to date with all things Wander Stars and the team at Paper Castle Games, visit the
website, follow
Paper Castle Games and
us on Twitter or join in the discussion on the
Fellow Traveller Discord server.
