With smaller budgets and teams, indie games have the ability to be more personal than titles from large publishers. When Kan Gao's grandfather was hospitalized with a heart condition and Gao began to think about the inevitability of death, he took those themes and translated them into a game: To The Moon, a PC adventure masquerading as a 16-bit RPG.

"I wondered that when my time came, whether I'd regret what came to be and wish to be able to get a second chance to fulfill what I wanted," Gao told Ars about his reaction to his grandfather's medical condition. "And hey, I probably will, if not just for the reason that the grass is greener on the other side."

That desire for a second chance is what spawned the Total Recall-meets-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind story of To The Moon. In the game world, doctors can implant artificial memories into the brains of patients, but the results are so devastating that the patient can no longer function properly once the procedure is completed. This procedure is reserved for the terminally ill, serving as a sort of last wish.

It's not all deadly serious, though.

"Despite the melodramatic nature of the theme, To the Moon is actually a tragicomedy," explained Gao. "While it certainly is a serious story in the core, the journey doesn’t always take itself too seriously, as it is seen through the perspectives of the doctors who aren’t always particularly sensitive. To put it pretentiously, it’s a bit of a play-in-a-play, and the difficulty comes from balancing the two sides."

In addition to being a game about life and death, To The Moon is about the deceptiveness of appearances. Not only is it a comedy hidden beneath a tragedy, but it's also an adventure game that looks like a retro RPG in the vein of Chrono Trigger. The game features no turn-based combat or experience points, and instead focuses on two doctors as they attempt to piece together the memories of a dying man who wants to go, of course, to the moon.

The clash of visual style and actual gameplay may confuse potential players, but Gao isn't worried. In fact, he's made sure to poke fun at the contrast in the game.

"I haven’t really thought much about it," he said, "the style of retro RPGs just always seemed really versatile to me, especially from a storytelling perspective. I knew what I wanted to make and how I wanted the experience to be, so I went for it first and considered what to call it second."

The team at Freebird Games has been working on To The Moon for around a year an a half, though Gao is the only one working full-time on the game, providing most of the development and writing, as well as the majority of the soundtrack. He's been helped by four other developers, including Laura Shigihara, the composer and singer behind the ridiculously catchy song from Plants vs Zombies.

The plan is to release on PC first this fall, and the team is hoping to eventually have the game running on other platforms as well. But "for now, only PC is certain," Gao explained.You can follow To The Moon's progress over at the game's official site.