From Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service to Mika and the Witch's Mountain
It’s not a secret that Kiki’s Delivery Service, the Studio Ghibli’s film about a witch that delivers packages with her flying broom, was one of the main inspirations for Mika and the Witch’s Mountain game.
But why and what are the similarities and differences?
Studio Ghibli inspiration
At Chibig, we have been developing games since 2017 (Deiland and Ankora, on mobile and later adapted and improved for Steam and consoles), and Studio Ghibli has been a constant source of creativity and inspiration since the beginning.
This influence is mainly based on two pillars: the art design and the narrative. Ghibli is recognized worldwide for the visual spectacle of works such as Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle; but also for the way they tell their stories, not always as childish as they may seem.
We wanted to follow those footsteps in Chibig, and that’s why we always dedicate a lot of effort to create a charming art style that catches the eye from the first moment.
We also wanted to tell stories that many people can identify with, with intense, emotional moments and very charismatic characters; but also we have not missed the opportunity to add references to our Valencian and Spanish culture, as well as social and environmental messages.
Just as Ghibli has also done in the past with films like Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind or Princess Mononoke, putting on screen the environmental destruction caused by humans since ancient times and showing the possible consequences of those acts.
Why Kiki’s Delivery Service
As simple as it’s one of our favorite Studio Ghibli movies, and since in all our previous games at least one of its works has served as inspiration, it was a matter of time before the opportunity came.
Almost all of our games, except Deiland, have a female protagonist, so the idea of a little witch who delivers packages with a flying broom sounded great as a concept for a video game and fit with our essence as a team. Thus the idea for Mika and the Witch’s Mountain was born.
Besides, we already had some experience developing fetch quest games since Summer in Mara. At the time, we received some feedback from our community mentioning that fetch quests could get a bit repetitive, so we wanted to avoid this feeling with Mika and the Witch’s Mountain.
When developing video games, special mechanics such as swimming or flying can be a challenge, but we wanted to try to create a fun and satisfying experience, within a gameplay where the relaxation and lightness of the cozy games genre prevailed.
Although we have a certain consistency in some aspects with all our projects, we always want to try new things!
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain and Kiki’s Delivery Service: similarities and differences
Of course, although the inspiration of Kiki’s Delivery Service in Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is more than obvious, we didn’t want to simply make an unofficial adaptation of the Ghibli film to video game, but to create a work with its own identity and soul.
As in Kiki’s Delivery Service, Mika, our protagonist, begins a solo journey to complete her witch training, far from her family and home. On this journey she will not only meet a new place and people, but she will discover a lot about herself, her true life motivation and grow as a person.
Yes, there is also a black cat and a beautiful city on the coast, but it’s enough to play a few minutes of the game to see that they play different roles in the movie and our little indie game.
But that’s the end of everything related to the famous Studio Ghibli film.
After the first layer that introduces the story (witch training) and the main mechanic (delivering packages with a flying broom), the rest of the elements that are unique to Mika and the Witch’s Mountain are presented.
Lessons of humility, very personal stories in some of its characters, reunions with characters from other Chibig games (Summer in Mara, Ankora: Lost Days, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara), references to our culture and a clear criticism of the capitalist model. Something that our little Mika has suffered harshly.
We’ll be posting a new blogpost soon talking about the other big inspiration for Mika and the Witch’s Mountain — The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker!
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Fly high!
