"Tales from The Dancing Moon is a personal project of mine that I chipped away at for many years. The embers of it's story were lit over ten years ago during my time at University, starting as a novel with Young Adult themes and slowly morphed into what you see now - an indie game with inspirations from life-sim and isometric RPG games (whilst maintaining that core story-driven theme).
In December of 2023 I released the Early Access, gaining a small audience and receiving more tangible and constructive feedback. I'm now happy to have reached a point where I can safely say the game is the most complete and stable version it has ever been, achieving all of what I set out to do for it. I invite old and new players to enjoy the unique story, life-sim gameplay and many improvements that have brought the game up to version 1.0!"
-DjMonkey
What is Tales from The Dancing Moon?
The game was born from a desire to create a life-sim game with a unique blend of strong storytelling and casual gameplay mixed with the aesthetics of an isometric RPG. It's true selling point is the character driven main quest that lures the player along in it's 3 act narrative.
The game offers a multitude of charming side quests and mini games such as farming, fishing, cooking, tea brewing, light combat, procedural dungeons, and more. All of which provide endless sandbox opportunities even when the story is finished!
Watch the 1.0 Release Trailer:
LAUNCH DISCOUNT - 25% OFF
As part of the transition out of Early Access, the base price of the game increased to reflect the new content and improvements.
But! To celebrate the launch I'm offering a 14 day launch discount at 25% off!
This is your last chance to grab the game at a discount before it returns to full price for the foreseeable future.
STEAMDECK VERIFIED
Don't forget - the game is verified on the Steam Deck, and has already received positive reviews from players using it!
PLAY NOW:
The free demo is still available where you can play the entire first act of the main story. You can always come back later during the sale to pick up the full version!
Added a short quest to provide closure to Skye’s procedural dungeon questline.
Introduced a new cooking-related quest in Nicolas’ questline focusing on chocolate-based recipes.
Added a new quest to Astryn’s fishing questline.
Added Creative Mode as a new game option (Achievements are disabled in this mode).
Updated main menu to include Creative Mode when starting a new game.
New construction options: a lower foundation platform, various houses, a crafting shelter, a beer garden, and a Dewbug sanctuary can now be built in the Plaza from Lucas' construction menus.
Some buildings have variants—use (U for keyboard, Y for Xbox gamepad/Steamdeck) to cycle through them.
Added new craftable recipes to Lucas’ store, available at different game states.
New hairstyles added to character customization with improved visual quality.
Legacy hair styles are no longer available to improve visual consistency.
Village walls now feature additional decorative assets for improved immersion.
Introduced 9 new museum artifacts found in procedural dungeons.
Museum artifacts now slowly rotate in their displays.
Food cooked through Nicolas’ quests can now be purchased from Fergus at the Inn, evolving its menu as the story progresses.
Cooking stations now support up to 5 ingredients to accommodate new recipes.
Fergus now offers different rest bonus options at The Dancing Moon for a price.
Increased rest bonus duration from [color=#FFD700]8 hours[/color] to [color=#FFD700]14 hours[/color].
Updated sleep screen tips to reflect new gameplay mechanics.
Lyka now has an updated movement schedule after completing the Lyka+Dion side quests.
Skye now has an updated movement schedule after completing her side quests.
Astryn now provides some guidance on fishing in the lake through her dialog.
Added a new type of dungeon-exclusive fish.
The shovel now has Silver, Gold, and Shadow-Silver upgrades.
The watering can now has Silver, Gold, and Shadow-Silver upgrades.
Holding the action button expands the dig or watering area based on tool upgrade.
Added a particle effect when digging or removing farm plots.
Minor visual improvements to the fishing hut exterior in the Illisor Steppes.
Save/load UI updated with higher-resolution images, new icons, and save date/time details.
Fishing rods and fish items all have new UI icons.
Moved the "New Quest" banner higher on the screen to be less intrusive.
Changed the 'Toggle All Highlightable' keyboard input to 'H'
Added the ability to rebind keyboard control inputs in the settings menu.
Added new achievements:
Sebastian’s Memories: Earn an achievement by finding all of Sebastian’s memories.
Museum Completion: Earn an achievement for collecting all museum artefacts.
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where the Shadow Plants attack projectile was not working in the procedural dungeons.
Fixed an issue where selection highlighting was not working on the museum cabinets.
Fixed an issue where various overhead tooltips related to farming plots, NPC name tags, and others were not displaying when using a controller or Steamdeck.
Fixed an issue with overly sensitive auto-scrolling behaviour on the character customisation screen.
Fixed an issue where the face camera position would not take into consideration player height on the character customisation screen causing the face to be slightly off screen.
Fixed an issue where farming UI overlays were not positioning correctly at different screen resolutions.
Fixed an issue where tile overlay UI's were not positioning correctly in the Tiles from The Dancing Moon mini-game.
Fixed an issue where sounds coming from footsteps in snow were not obeying the SFX volume settings.
Fixed an issue where water effects were not showing on the gold water sprinkler.
Fixed an issue where buildings would incorrectly be built at the centre of the Plaza when prematurely exiting the city building process.
Fixed an issue that would allow players to select undiscovered areas on the map if using a gamepad or Steamdeck.
Fixed an issue where the 'Fast Travel' button was not displaying on discovered areas.
Fixed an issue where audio settings were not taking affect on the main menu.
A huge thank you to those who have followed along on my development journey. I hope you continue to enjoy your time at The Dancing Moon, and look forward to what may be in store next!
- DjMonkey
Chapter 4 of Before the Rift is out now.
Before the Rift is a prelude story following the events leading up to the beginning of the game in Tales from The Dancing Moon.
This is the final chapter before the games Version 1.0 release on June 19th, 2025!
The gang find themselves in a mysterious new area following the stressful journey to Worm's Head Island. Discover what happens next by unravelling the mysteries in Illisor and The Dancing Moon by playing the game!
Before the Rift is a prelude story following the events leading up to the beginning of the game in Tales from The Dancing Moon.
New chapters will gradually release leading up to the Version 1.0 release on June 19th, 2025!
Continue where we left off from Chapter 1 as we follow James, Alexis, Roz, Andrew, and Desmond continue their journey towards the beach village of Rhossili.
Version 1.0 is aiming to be released on 19th June, 2025. Watch the brand new trailer below to see what's in store!
The 1.0 release contains various content updates, tweaks, patches and polish to the gameplay experience. Read on to learn more about what's new!
Before The Rift - A Prelude Story
I'm excited to announce a completely new set of lore planned to release in weekly installments leading up to the games full release in the form of what I'm calling - 'Before The Rift'
'Before The Rift' is a series of written chapters about the lives of a group of teenagers and the events leading up to the story found within Tales from The Dancing Moon. It's not a requirement to read, but I'm hopeful it will breath a little bit more life into overall lore that players have enjoyed with my game so far.
The first chapter is published right now, and you can read it right here! https://open.substack.com/pub/djmonkeyuk/p/chapter-1-the-train-to-swansea
You can read future Before The Rift chapters as they release on my new Substack page. Make sure to subscribe to be notified of future chapters: https://djmonkeyuk.substack.com/s/before-the-rift
Version 1.0
Here are the highlights of the version 1.0 release. There's more to come and a full changelog will be provided later on release!
Creative Mode
Start the game in creative mode to unlock complete sandbox freedom and for a more relaxed experience. All shop items in this mode are free and craftable items don't require any resources to make. Enemies also do not inflict any damage. However, creative mode is assigned to the save, can not be changed later for that save, and achievements will be disabled.
New Hair Styles
A multitude of new hair options have been added to character customisation with improved visual quality. Various NPCs have been updated with them to better match their portraits. Start the game with these new options or use a wardrobe to give yourself a fresh new look!
New Museum Artefacts
The museum is still looking a little empty - so a set of 9 new museum artefacts have been added to procedural dungeons found in the Skye questline. Discover interesting and amusing lore behind these items by finding them in the dungeons and taking them to Oswyn!
New Craftable Blueprints
Lucas' blueprint shop has had a restock! A bunch of new items can be purchased and built around the village including more bed choices, decorative ruin pieces, colourful tulips and more! Some of these new items require Shadow-Silver materials found in the procedural dungeons that were added in the last update!
New Village Buildings
New buildings can be constructed in the plaza which provide both visual and gameplay perks. Including a variety of houses, a beer garden, and a Dewbug sanctuary! Talk to Lucas in the later parts of the game to see these new options!
Improved Equipment
The watering can and the farming shovel can now be upgraded to the silver, gold and shadow-silver tiers! It can now effect a wider area of farm land depending on how long you hold the action button before committing to the action!
Release Schedule
Phew - with the main details announced - here is a summary of how this all unfolds over the next few weeks.
The game still has a discount of 60% of the Early Access price (£3.99 / $4.79!) and will continue for the next 7 days.
Immediately after this sale, the retail price will adjust (see details here).
On 19th June, 2025, I will update the game to version 1.0. 🎉
I think that's about it for this news post. I'm excited to see how this all unfolds over the next few weeks. In the meantime, the current 60% sale is the best time to pick up a copy of the game if you haven't already!
The time has come... as I approach closer to Version 1.0 of Tales from The Dancing Moon I wanted to give a little heads up about an upcoming price increase - on 19 May, 2025 I will be increasing the game's price to £14.99 / $17.99.
No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, but as stated on the Early Access details on the store page - the price was always going to adjust to a cost more appropriate for this type of game with the amount of content developed by a solo developer (me!).
This is the only price change I have planned for the game, and you can still take advantage of the various sales applied to the game in the future.
Which brings me onto my next announcement...
Pre-Release Sale: 60% OFF!
Up until the price update, the game will be on it's lowest ever offer of 60% OFF - just £3.99 / $4.99!
Make sure to take advantage of this offer as you'll obtain the Early Access version to play right now, and will receive the 1.0 update once it releases (more details on the version 1.0 in a separate news post soon!).
As soon as this sale finishes, the price of the game will be updated to the new price.
Justifying the change
Version 1.0 is coming soon, but not only that - Tales from The Dancing Moon has received a ton of free updates over the course of the Early Access period.
So much love and care has gone into this game over the last 1.5 years to make it as feature rich and bug free as possible. Even in it's current state I honestly think that calling it an Early Access is giving it a bit of a disservice. The reality is that I've been happy with the game for quite some time now, and I think it's time to put it on the path out of Early Access!
The price change reflects all of this past content AND the new content Version 1.0 will bring.
As a reminder, here are all the updates that found it's way in during the Early Access period, some of which is a direct result of player feedback!
🎲 Procedural Dungeons 🎮 Steamdeck Verified 🌀 A new mysterious quest arc 🏹 Archery Gameplay with elemental arrow types. 🤑 Enhanced Marketplace Gameplay 📌 More Procedural Notice Board Tasks 👩🏻🦰 More Player Appearance options 🏆 Player Leaderboards ♟️ Boardgame mini-game 🎭 New side-quests for various key villager NPCs 🏗️ A multitude of buildable items. 📙 A new main menu. 🐞 Tons of bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements. ⭐ New achievements
There were many more, but those were my personal highlights! ✨
I can't express my thanks enough to the players who have stuck with this game since it released into Early Access over a year ago. The main reason I've kept working on it as much as I have done is because of you. Every time a new review arrives on the Store page my heart skips a beat as I eagerly read them, and I'm reassured by the fact it has managed to retain a Positive score all this time!
That is all for this post. Look out very soon for further details on the Version 1.0 update! 💃🏻🌙
This update contains the final quests of Skye's storyline and the ongoing effort to bring the game closer to a 1.0 release. You can read more about this in my previous post.
All relevant fixes have also been applied to the demo! 💣
Dungeon Gameplay
Skye's Quests: The final part of Skye's quests has been added to the game. Including a new procedural dungeon and a whole new set of lore that expands the stories behind Illisor and the Shadow Beasts.
These new features are considered "post-ending" gameplay, and can be unlocked by talking to Skye after reaching the finale of the game.
Procedural Dungeons: A new procedural area has been added to the game via Skye's quest in the form of randomly generated dungeons!
Inspired by classic RPGs, the dungeons contain enemies to fight and environmental puzzles to solve.
Dungeons are procedurally generated. Each visit to the dungeon provides a randomized layout to explore, randomized puzzles to solve, and new lore to discover.
"Shadow Silver" can be found in these dungeons, allowing the final upgrade to the axe and pickaxe when talking to Val.
New lore can be discovered by finding and reading "Sebastian Memories".
Other Updates
A visual refresh has been made to the main menu, consolidating a bunch of things that were added over time into a unified tile-based menu. The "Continue" tile is dynamic and shows details of the most recent save. See GIF below to see how it looks!
Updated the screenshots used on the save/load UI entries to higher resolution screenshots.
The player camera will now slowly move towards the fishing location whilst fishing. This can be toggled via a setting in the settings menu.
The ability to perform a quick-save can now be done directly from the main menu, making it easier to do for controller or SteamDeck players.
Added BlueSky social link to the main menu and social bar UIs.
Minor improvements to general UI elements.
Added more visual background elements to finale region.
Added an out-of-bounds border visual to finale region.
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where some text UIs showing item names were rendering all letters as uppercase.
Fixed a visual issue with the shopping UI row items when displayed at different screen resolutions.
Fixed an issue where the weapon rack item would construct a wooden gate instead when placed in the world.
Fixed an issue where a particular tooltip UI would get stuck on the screen after harvesting a world item using a pickaxe/axe/etc.
Fixed an issue where the main menu screen would sometimes play a different music track.
Fixed an issue where the player could walk through a particular wall object in the finale area.
Fixed an issue where footstep sounds were not triggering in a finale area.
What's this!? The anniversary sale has been extended into the Steam Winter Sale! 😲
Add Tales from The Dancing Moon to your Steam library with it's lowest offer discount at 50% off!
Spend your winter holiday this year farming sprouts, cooking cozy meals, brewing magical teas, and solving the mysteries that unfold in this character driven life-sim game. ❄️⛄
Whatever you decide, I hope to see you at The Dancing Moon! 🌙
It only felt like yesterday that I had pressed the early access "release button".
Filled to the brim with anxiety but also relief that my game was finally out there. Yes - it's still in Early Access - but I'm very happy with the state it was released and the updates that followed throughout the year.
To celebrate the occasion - Tales from The Dancing Moon is now on its lowest ever sale at 50% off!
With all the content from the initial release and subsequent updates that followed - now is the best time to jump in at the best possible price!
A huge thank you to those who have picked up the game during the last year and to those who left a review. The kind words from players are worth much more to me than anything else. ❤️
