Nirvana Noir News

[p][/p][p]This month, Feral Cat Den shares some musical influences for the all-new psychedelic world of Constant Testament. Here they are![/p][p][/p][p]Hey there from the Feral Cat Den team![/p][p][/p][p]Nirvana Noir once again features the music and sound design of Skillbard, who won an IGF award for Excellence in Audio for Genesis Noir! We’re excited to be working with them again for Nirvana Noir, because not only do they get to create more beautiful noir music, but they also get to unleash their wild side with some real psychadelia inspired by the acid-rock revolution of 1960s/70s California.[/p][p][/p][p]Skillbard has created a playlist of over 120 songs for us to reference when creating Nirvana Noir that dive deep into 60s and 70s counter culture, film soundtracks and classic jazz - and we’re excited to share a taste of these with you this month.[/p][p][/p][p]Astronomy Domine - Pink Floyd[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Hard to pick a single Pink Floyd track to share![/p][p][/p][p]Forza G (Quella donna) - Ennio Morricone[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Beware, this one gets steamy! Ennio Morricone was one of the greatest film composers and he is dearly missed. This track is from a great collection called Erotica Moriccone from funky 60/70s romance scenes.[/p][p][/p][p]The American Metaphysical Circus - The United States of America[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]A dive into classic psychedelia. [/p][p][/p][p]You Know More Than I Know - John Cale[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]We love the quiet and reflective drama in this track.[/p][p][/p][p]Meditation des enfants - Alain Goraguer[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]A great track from a great animated film! If you haven't seen Fantastic Planet, it's a must watch.[/p][p][/p][p]Oscillations - Silver Apples[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Experimental synthesizer rock and roll played from the 60s. Incredible stuff.[/p][p][/p][p]India - Live at the Village Vanguard, New York/1961 - John Coltrane[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]The spiritual jazz of John Coltrane was a big inspiration in Genesis Noir, and continues to be in Nirvana Noir![/p][p][/p][p]Time Has Come Today - The Chambers Brothers[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]And to end it - a track full of tumbling time.[/p][p][/p][p]We hope you've enjoyed this selection of tunes! Don't forget to wishlist Nirvana Noir if you haven't already to keep up-to-date on our news.[/p][p][/p][p]Are there any noir-y or psychedelic songs that you love?[/p][p]
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[p]Hello, it's the Feral Cat Den team here![/p][p]It’s been a little while since we first announced Nirvana Noir, and we want to share with you an update on how the game is progressing.[/p][p][/p][p]For those of you who are new here, Nirvana Noir is a detective adventure split across two parallel realities - the noir Black Rapture and psychedelic Constant Testament. You’ll need to play across realities in an effort to save them both.
[/p][h3]What Have We Been Up To?[/h3][p]Building a living city wrapped in a psychedelic, non-linear conspiracy has proven even more ambitious than we expected, both in complexity and cost.
[/p][p][/p][p]Focusing on Building and Refactoring the Core Systems[/p][p]Mostly in the last six months of development, we’ve been focusing on building and refactoring the core systems of the game, as we learned about their limitations and how we want to use them. It’s taken much longer than expected, and to this day, we continue to tweak them. [/p][p][/p][p]Two Timelines, Double the Trouble.
Our goal with Nirvana Noir is to create an unfurling conspiracy. That means, anytime we improve a scene, it ends up touching every part of the rest of the game. As each scene develops, we’ve depended on the imagination of our playtesters to fill in placeholder art. But, as each scene is at a slightly different state of development (narrative, gameplay, and art), any small bump or inconsistency can overload mental focus when playing through an already delicate scene of mystery, intrigue, and psychedelic weirdness![/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]This clip from Malcolm in the Middle really captures the process of fixing even a small detail![/p][p][/p][p]Creating an experience with systems and stories that build on top of each other is really so difficult! Often the flashier animations or interactions are the easiest thing to create. The small details and mundane systems, with all their quirks, have required more attention than we anticipated. 
[/p][h3]Following the Clues[/h3][p]Our Creative Lead has been focusing on removing all our placeholder cards and text descriptions, replacing them with a rough draft for each cutscene. By sequencing the concepts of each scene, giving them a visual and some time for pacing, we’re feeling much more confident in the narrative hierarchy. Less cognitive load is spent on imagination, and we can focus more on the storytelling which is delivered in small digestible bites. [/p][p][/p][p]Here’s an example of a cutscene that could use some extra polish, but where a first pass on staging/pacing is feeling good.
[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Yup, it’s an Akira slide (which has become the Wilhelm scream of animation)! This is the first time creating a version of this iconic shot, and it feels like a big milestone.

Our Technical Lead has been fleshing out lots of Nirvana Noir’s interactions. One of his favorites features No Man gathering a big crowd around the city. The challenge with this interaction was to build it in a way where thousands of crowd members could follow the player while avoiding obstacles, without destroying the game’s performance.
[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We’ve also been building out environments, adding lots of beautiful detail, now that we have cutscenes and narrative coming together.[/p][p]Here’s a look at an epic entrance to city hall:  [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]and No Man’s completed clocktower:[/p][p][/p][p]
Thank you for your support and patience. We look forward to sharing more with you about Nirvana Noir in the coming months. Don't forget to Wishlist Nirvana Noir below so that we can keep you up to date on what's happening:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]And if you haven't already, pick up No Man's first adventure:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Feral Cat Den and Fellow Traveller[/p]

We're excited to announce that Nirvana Noir is participating in LudoNarraCon which kicks off today and lasts until May 14th!

During LudoNarraCon, you'll be able to play the Nirvana Noir demo, and we'll be running a previous stream which provides some insights into the game's development.

Genesis Noir is also available for 80% off during the sale!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/735290/Genesis_Noir/
You can also browse hundreds of other great narrative games that are up to 90% off HERE.

It's almost time for LudoNarraCon 2025 which is happening May 1-5, 2025. It’s a free, global, online-only event featuring interesting narrative games, tons of demos and panels from talented creators!

Nirvana Noir will be an exhibitor with a stream as well as a playable demo. Stay tuned as we share more details shortly.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1287610/Nirvana_Noir/

To learn more about LudoNarraCon hosted by Fellow Traveller, visit the LudoNarraCon website.

We're excited to announce that we're part of this year's SXSW Sydney Games Festival Showcase!

• When: Thursday October 17 - Sunday October 20, 2024
  
• Where: UTS Great Hall
  

Try the demo while you're at the show. See you then!