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[bombjack]

It looks very nice 

[sperryman]

Wow! Really nice mood. Looking forward to seeing more of this!

Agreed! Looking forward to this!

[robbarnsley]

As alluded to in previous posts, we feel it is absolutely essential for us to really hone the visual aesthetic so that it is truly befitting of the noir style and period. Doing so will allow the narrative and dialogue to sit comfortably with the environment, giving the player a fully immersive overall experience

Here is a concept speed drawing of our clock tower making a marked imposition against the murky backdrop of the city. Our protagonist stands silhouetted against a clock face with his arms dangling loosely by his waist.



And now, the in-game realisation of this scene (with shorter focus, and without weather effects..).



Impressions?

[robbarnsley]

A few gifs of our protagonist negotiating the Calvino Noir environment...



In the sewer.



In the atrium.



In the chapel.

[robbarnsley]

Not updated for a little while. We've been busy working through feedback we received from EGX. Here's a small update on what we've been working on recently.

We've decluttered the UI and (hopefully) made it slicker. We now only show cover points and actionable items that are within close proximity. This gives a little more breathing space for the visuals, at the cost of giving the player a narrower breadth of vision to plan their move. We believe the trade-off is worth it, though:

[brrrrr]

wow, great job. I like i =)

[louiscroquet]

Wow the atmosphere is incredible! 
Following this right now. I love stealth games so I'm really hyped!

Keep going!

[Noogai03]

hooooooly shit this is gorgeous

also, while it's definitely fun to make stealth the best option, it's also awesome when games make the "gung-ho" option possible but harder than stealth... (e.g. dishonoured)

[robbarnsley]

hooooooly shit this is gorgeous

also, while it's definitely fun to make stealth the best option, it's also awesome when games make the "gung-ho" option possible but harder than stealth... (e.g. dishonoured)

At least one of the playable characters will have a gun, but using it will make the game much harder!

[acatalept]

Impressions?

Beautiful, slicing down the middle of the clockfaces is a nice touch ;)  This is looking exceedingly good all around.

One small question related to stealth: what is the purpose of the flashlight, other than looking cool? ;)  Even with it off it appears we can see everything well enough to traverse the environment -- will the flashlight be required to see actionable items and clues that would otherwise remain invisibly shrouded in shadow?

Good luck!

[robbarnsley]

One small question related to stealth: what is the purpose of the flashlight, other than looking cool?   Even with it off it appears we can see everything well enough to traverse the environment -- will the flashlight be required to see actionable items and clues that would otherwise remain invisibly shrouded in shadow?

Spot on.

We are thinking about level of the lighting in certain places e.g. sewers, so maybe it'll actually function as a light at some point too. No guarantees though.

[Actionman]

This game looks so cool, the art style is amazing!

[bbtombo]

I need this in my life. Are you guys planning a kickstarter?

[robbarnsley]

I need this in my life. Are you guys planning a kickstarter?

Not currently, no!

[Christian]

After playing This War of Mine (which is absolutely fantastic), I'm even more excited for this. Can't wait for more atmospheric 2D stealth

[robbarnsley]

Not updated in a while. We've been busy with preparing for Slush (http://calvinonoir.com/blog/?p=347) amongst other things.

Over the past few days we've been working on developing the dialogue delivery system a bit further.

This may seem a little trivial and perhaps not worth the effort, but Calvino Noir will be heavily driven by the interchange of dialogue between characters. We have invested a lot of time, not to mention money (we have a dedicated writer, and Calvino will be localised into 13 different languages), into writing what we believe is an engaging story that will captivate the player if they open themselves to be captivated.

We recognised the potential for some players, especially those who perhaps prefer higher-paced games, to become a little frustrated with the lack of interaction. To address this, we have introduced points in dialogue where the player must decide what is to be said. This will not have a strong impact on the overall outcome of the story, but will hopefully serve as a point for the player to reflect and really take in what's happening rather than mindlessly clicking on the dialogue boxes to skip the interaction. The ability to skip through dialogue will always be there, but the game experience, and presumably retention, will probably suffer if it's used too often.

[robbarnsley]

As we're getting closer to release (<= a couple of months), we’ve been busy rounding off some edges.

One thing on our ever-shortening-but-still-considerable todo list was to encourage exploration of the full length and breadth of the Calvino world. We don’t want to frustrate by forcing the issue, however, so we’re leaving the prerogative to the player, but we thought we'd encourage it by making it worth their while.

Our idea: collectable items that only become visible when the flashlight is shone at them. In this case, it's coins. Collecting coins allows you to upgrade a particular character's ability e.g. strength/speed/lockpicking.

Some examples:





I should stress that not all the items will be in such obvious places...