When a Simple Gag Creates a Monster
It all began with a Japanese indie developer, racing to put the finishing touches on his latest horror game. With little conviction and maybe a wink to the world of AAA developers, he reached out to social media—not to seek votes for Game of the Year, but to gather names for the game’s credits. A bit tongue-in-cheek, he posted a request that was meant as a light-hearted poke at the industry’s big players.
I’m currently working on the end of a game, but since we’re just a small team, there’s not a lot of content. If you’d like your name to appear, please like this post! I’ll mention everyone. I’m still missing about a hundred people…
Much to his astonishment, what started as a playful gesture went absolutely viral. Not just a handful of responses… Over 60,000 likes poured in, as people from every corner of the internet jumped at the chance to see their name forever immortalized in a video game’s credits. This was no longer a matter of simply filling out the end titles—the joke had taken on a life of its own!
300 Hours Later: An Epic Credits Sequence
Against all odds (and probably better judgment), the developer, under the studio name TaT Games, decided to honor his promise. He painstakingly included every single name. After 300 hours of grueling work—yes, you read that correctly—TaT Games successfully listed everyone in the game’s end credits. On January 24th, he shared a new update: the result is a jaw-dropping credits sequence that runs for roughly 30 minutes straight. If you’re the type who sits through credits hoping for an Easter egg, well, better bring snacks!
Unknowingly, he created one of the longest video game credits sequences in history. For the record, the current champion is Mighty No. 9 with an eye-watering credits scroll of 3 hours and 48 minutes, but Twilight Moonflower now takes its place among the giants in the annals of gaming trivia.
Twilight Moonflower: The Little Game with a Giant Credits Roll
The indie horror game in question is Twilight Moonflower. As announced in the original social media post, it’s a short, atmospheric experiment set in a world haunted by yokai (ghosts and supernatural spirits from Japanese folklore). Designed for one to four players, it echoes the style of games like The Exit 8 and the infamous P.T. teaser for Silent Hill. And if this curiously extended credits crawl makes you think you’re in for a massive AAA adventure—think again. The actual game is intentionally brief and intimate.
Good news for horror fans and credit-enthusiasts alike: you can now find the game on Steam for under $8 (converted from the original ¥7 price tag).
Bigger Than the Joke Itself
Despite the endless list of names, Twilight Moonflower was actually built by a solo developer. He had some support from content creator Creator KY, who contributed the music specifically for the credits. TaT Games, the studio behind the project, has earned a modest reputation in Japan for its experimental indie projects—often quirky, sometimes obscure, but always genuine.
And while TaT Games has a bit of recognition on the Japanese indie scene, nobody, least of all the developer himself, could have predicted the snowball effect of a simple joke… or that he’d end up working so many extra hours because of it! Sometimes, the internet’s appetite for inclusion truly knows no bounds.
