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The story of Kigetsu
	In 2009, Kigetsu finished second in the category "vote of the public" during the national contest of game designers in Parthenay. Before that, however, Kigetsu was developed during ten long years. Even though the project still goes on today, it went through many decisive stages. This section is a recap of all the majore influences the game underwent during all those years.

1998 : the beginning
First and foremost, Kigetsu was influenced by role playing games, especially The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Kigetsu was meant to be a game of initiation and imagination. However, it needed a system which would be more dynamic, more visual, using neither dice, nor paper, nor pencils. At the time, the "moon-counters" were already present as a major aesthetic device.

1999-2000 : the influence of video games
	Kigetsu was particularly influenced by the game Heroes of Might and Magic II, a turn-based strategy game in a mediaval fantasy context, with sorcerers, elves, knights and dragons. The idea to create a complete universe in which the player could delve into generated the system of families and spells. In Kigetsu, the shift between the phases of movement and the phases of battle was largely inspired from this videogame.

2000-2002 : the influence of board games
Throughout the years, Kigetsu was inspired by many board or traditional games. For example : Risk, Hero Quest, Space Crusade, Wanted (fr), Elixir(fr), Chess, Tarot, Belote or Poker. However, the game willingly took its own way.

2002-2003 : the final theme
	In 2002, the first Lord of The Rings movie was released, and its termendous success made the theme of "European medieval fantasy" hard to use. After delving into much scholar investigation, Kigetsu moved towards Japanese traditional culture, which was more and more popularized by the movies of Myazaki such as Mononoke Hime. It was the starting of the game's prototype, which lasted 5 more years.

2003 : the atmosphere
At the beginning of the 21st century, retro-gaming became trendy, which allowed many nostalgic players to discover or rediscover excellent video games from the 1990's. Kigetsu was thus inspired by Samurai Spirits IV, an arcade game which featured sword duels, with excellent characters and special moves. During the fights, the characters sometimes left time and space, which created a very peculiar and supernatural atmosphere, which had a lasting effect on the player. Also, between each fight, the player performed a movement on a small map, which represented a Japanese island. In fact, this was just a pretext to push the scenario forward.

2003-2004 : some mechanisms
	The commercial success of duel card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh - itself inspired from Magic cards - led to develop some important aspects, such as the organization of cards into levels. The release of powerful cards is thus slowed down through a simple system of pre-requisites. Also, the isntant special cards, which can modify the balance between players, were largely inspired from those type of duel games.

2005-2006 : the scenario
Month after month, the rules of the game get simpler and simpler, in order to make children play. Kigetsu was no longer for teenage geeks, but for all audiences, without losing its complexity. At the same time a new Japanese series, Samurai Champloo, is released. It features three wanderers (a girl and two ronins) going through Japan onto a crazy journey. The idea of a big trip around Japan with many fantastic or anachronic details was then confirmed as the central principle of Kigetsu.

2007 : tactics and strategy
	At the same time, Kigetsu is directly influenced by karate. Philosophical and technical aspects of this martial art have great consequences on the game's spirit. The game's strategy is gradually articulated around the Yin and Yang : the players compete symbolically, the are oposed in terms of energy and counter-energy, which must be mastered in order to win. The players must use the strenght of the adversaries if necessary, and regulate their own energy needs. In this perspective, the characters (represented by cards) become less important than their energy (reprsented by the counters) they use.

2008 : first drawings
The game knew many prototypes through the years, and the first drawings were made by students. Everybody chose his or her own asthetic course, and their influences can be retraced in certain drawings. For instance, at the time, one could have noticed the influence of certain popular mangas or videogames, such as Naruto, Dragon Ball, or the Legend of Zelda. As a consequence, the organisation of the five clans was changed : the "water" clan, for instance, became a clan that is exclusively composed of ninjas.

2009 : cosmogony
	After the game contest of Parthenay in 2009, the core of the game was modified. A videogame called Okami, about mythological Japan encouraged the idea to reinforce the mythological aspect of the game, and to blur the frontier between History and myth. The oppositions between Yin and Yang, day and night, real world and spiritual world, were also strenghtened. Besides, there are now two ways of finishing the game, and it is possible to choose between a cooperative game, or a more agressive game.

2010 : final drawings, and self-publication
In 2010, players from all nationalities got interested in Kigetsu. An illustrator thus remade all the drawings of the game, and all the cards considerably changed. Many boxes of the game were sold throughout the world. Still the rules slightly evolved afterwards, and will again.

2011-2012 : back to basics
	In parallel to the development of other board games, the rules of Kigetsu still evolve and become more efficient. The game is simplified and is deisgned for 5 players instead of 7. The number of cards decrease, however, the new "torii counter" is introduced. The game is now about five kami, whose goal is to bring enlightenement and power to the world. This rejoins the first scenario of the game, in 2003, which was thus called kamitsuki. The games becomes faster and more articulated around the five elements than before.

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Aesthetics Mechanism Families Symbolism