The official Lucca Comics & Games pixel game is available for free for iOS and Android – download it here:
From 24 September, Luke & Clea – A Quest for Legacy, the official pixel game of Lucca Comics & Games, is available for free for iOS and Android. The release coincides with a symbolic date: 24 September is the exact day on which, in 1966, it all began. And so begin the celebrations for the 60th birthday of the biggest community event ever, which, to mark its diamond anniversary, is treating itself and its visitors to a video game destined to become a cult classic.
Just as it did with fiction for its 40th and with video art for its 50th – different media and forms of expression that aim for inclusivity and seek to engage the entire Lucca community – a video game was an essential part of celebrating together the 60th anniversary of the world’s first and largest pop culture event. The game, based on an idea by Emanuele Vietina, Francesco Bonturi and Sergio Algozzino, is directed and developed by Manuel Macchia (Game Director and Design), with programming and level design by Andrea Tognetti, visual, concept and sound design by Sergio Algozzino, pixel art by Andrea Putortì (Lead Artist and Lead Animator) and text by Teo Benedetti (Writing, Dialogues & Quests).
The music was produced in collaboration with the Luigi Boccherini Conservatoire of Music in Lucca, Master MAI & Games: Sergio Algozzino composed the main score, supported by Matteo Bizzarri, Filippo Rabottini and Gianluca Salcuni as additional composers, with Fulvio Pietramala as musical coordinator and Paolo Eusepi as Lead Technical Audio Designer.
BETWEEN HISTORY AND THE FUTURE
With a style that pays homage to 1980s video games, the game is a journey through the multiverse of the fantastical Lucca Comics & Games, featuring references to arcade games, villains, Easter eggs and NTSC (Not Everyone Knows That…) facts to discover in order to ‘save’ the history of Lucca. A 16-bit pixel game that encapsulates the history of the event, reassembles the facets of Lucca like those of a diamond, whilst simultaneously looking to its future: 2026 is just the beginning. A Legacy Game, designed to accompany and tell the story of the event through one of its own languages.
LUCCA BECOMES A GAME
In Luke & Clea – A Quest for Legacy, the real star is Lucca. The city has become the game world: the historic centre, the towers, the squares and the city walls have been transformed into pixel art and form the backdrop to the adventure. Thus, a parallel 16-bit Lucca is born, where the monuments blend with the festival’s fantastical worlds and every view tells a piece of its story. Those familiar with Lucca will rediscover its familiar landmarks in a whole new light. Those who have never been there can explore it even before they arrive.
This pixelated Lucca is also home to the faces that have shaped the festival’s history over the years. Artists, authors and guests who have made the event great become characters (NPCs) to encounter along the way: among others, the writer Licia Troisi, the musician Frankie hi-nrg mc, the festival’s long-standing director Renato Genovese, the pastry chef Damiano Carrara, the screenwriter Rinaldo Traini, the author Francesco Lancia, the singer Cristina Scabbia and the artist Karl Kopinski. Together, they form ‘Lucca NPC & Friends’, a tribute to the community that brings Lucca Comics & Games to life every year.
THE GAME
Lucca’s Multiverse of Fantasy is under attack; the Diamond, which generates stories and harmony, has been destroyed by He Who Can No Longer Dream, who has forgotten the value of community and of the fantastical worlds that help us understand reality – worlds that the festival encompasses and protects. It will be up to Luke and Clea, the mascots whose names bear a striking resemblance to that of the organising company, Lucca Crea, to reassemble the Diamond. Suddenly sucked into the console whilst playing at home one Sunday afternoon whilst waiting to go to Lucca Comics & Games, the two nerdy siblings must save the Lucca Comics & Games community by travelling through the event’s various worlds, freeing the mascots and defeating the enemies – none of whom, however, will die. Luke & Clea is, in fact, a 16-bit pixel game in which no enemy dies, but is instead freed from the greyness that caused them to stop dreaming, rediscovering the imagination and values of Lucca.
To celebrate six decades of history and adventures, the game is structured around multiples of six, unfolding across the six sections that make up Lucca Comics & Games (Comics, Games, Japan, Junior, Film, Music), each of which in the game pays tribute to the pop-nerd world. The two protagonists, Luke and Clea, must complete six levels, represented by the festival’s six locations: Guinigi Tower, Torre delle Ore, the Amphitheatre, the Cathedral, the City Walls and the Theatre. In each of these six key venues of the event, our playable characters must rescue the six historic mascots – Ciuffettino, Grog, Coniglio, Pantera, Torre and Yellow Kid – the guardians of Lucca’s six values: Community, Discovery, Respect, Gratitude, Inclusion and, finally, History, the sixth element that binds all the others together. Only in this way will it be possible to reunite the fragments of the Diamond – the source of stories and harmony, destroyed by the villain ‘He Who Can No Longer Dream’ – and restore balance to the community.
Featuring quotes, references and key figures from the history of Lucca Comics & Games, all brought back to life in 16-bit style, the video game has been created to pay tribute to six decades of the festival and is designed to amaze and entertain the community: the final, definitive level will be unlocked on 28 October, to coincide with the opening of the festival.
