Do you remember that time when I promised you more frequent newsletters? Well, it turns out I skipped March, sorry about that. A classic case of "too much to do and too little time to do it", I'm afraid. I'll try to do better next month (but no promises).
Since last time, we've updated all our games to make sure they play great on the new Steam Deck device, and we've also made progress on End of Lines development (you'll get an update at the end of this newsletter, as always).
Also, we took part in a couple of events, online of course, but also IRL for a change!
Nova-box is Steam Deck ready
If you own one of our games on Steam, you might have already seen the news pop up in your library's news feed: we've made all our catalog compatible with the device requirements for the Steam Deck..
We really believe this new handheld console is a great fit for our games, giving you another way to play them on the go or in the comfort of your favorite reading nook.
In terms of features, you won't see any big changes, as most of the upgrades took place under the hood. We took this opportunity to upgrade to the long term support version of Unity 2019 which should provide some optimizations. We also support the new "Dynamic Cloud Save" feature on Steam, which means saves are synchronized automatically over the internet whenever you put the Steam Deck to sleep, and synchronize back when it wakes up.
Seers Isle running on the Steam Deck. Our other games play great as well.
End of Lines was featured in a pair of online events
First, we took part in the "Earth Appreciation Day" Sale on Steam as an upcoming game. We were very glad to be part of this, alongside great ecologically aware titles. As you may imagine, it aligns with our ethos in general and with End of Lines in particular, and the fact that it helped our wishlists number is a nice cherry on the top.
End of Lines was also featured in the "Mini Indie Showcase" hosted by Six One Indie during the Pax East. You can watch the replay here below. There are some great upcoming titles to discover there too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdAq_B2eAjI
Demo at the Flora Tristan Library
Our friend Leslie Tabourdeau invited us to talk about End of Lines at the Flora Tristan Library in Bordeaux a couple of weeks ago. We were, of course, happy to oblige. We hosted a demo session and talked about the game alongside a team of students from the Epitech computer school, who were working on a non-profit project with the aim to help detect and chart ocean pollution. It was a joy to have a chat with young professionals trying to make a difference. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
What have we been up to?
If you're wondering, yes, most of our attention has been focused on End of Lines. We're still late, but we managed to reduce our lateness quite a bit without crunching so far. Nico is currently working on an updated feedback system / iconography. If all goes well, you might see big cats on the top of the screen on the next iteration of the game.
Meanwhile, the rest of the text is progressing rapidly towards completion. Hopefully we'll have a first version by the end of the month. English translation and music/sound design just started too, and it's real a pleasure to see how Rachel, Camille and Julien were enthusiastic about the project and eager to start working on it!
That’s all for now, see you next month!
Please consider adding End of Lines to your wishlist if you haven't done so yet!
If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here:
http://www.nova-box.com/signup
You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime).
And if you want to hear from us more often, you can also follow us on social networks:
http://twitter.com/novabox
http://facebook.com/novabox.studio
https://instagram.com/novabox
Best,
Geoffroy,
on behalf of the team.
Patch Notes (v1.2.0) — Ready for the Steam Deck!
Hello everyone!
We're very glad to announce that Across the Grooves is now ready for the Steam Deck!
We implemented the requirements and recommendations for the new device, and we now support the new "Dynamic Cloud Save", allowing the players to suspend their game and pick it up where they left off on another device.
Here are the patch notes:
Dynamic Cloud Save support,
Support of Xbox One / Xbox Series controller icons on all platforms,
Overall performance optimizations and under the hood upgrades,
Various bug fixes.
Cheers!
Geoffroy, on behalf of the team.
Newsletter #23 — February 2022
Hello everyone!
So, it's official: last month we finally announced "End of Lines", our next interactive graphic novel!
End of Lines
So, what is "End of Lines" exactly? Well, first off, it's an interactive graphic novel, like its predecessors: a novel size adventure, illustrated with hundreds of hand-painted pictures, where your choices will decide the fate of our protagonists, a family of travelers wandering northward in a post climate meltdown Southern Europe, in search of a hospitable place to settle.
This time around, Nico, in addition to his usual role of artistic director and illustrator, also takes the helm of "creative director" (like on "Seers Isle"), with the full support of the rest of the team, of course. He really wanted to use our creative output to speak out about climate change, to explore the way it might affect the next generations if we continue on our path towards self-annihilation.
It is quite a change of pace from our usual mysticism, occultism, and identity exploration, and we really hope you will enjoy this new endeavor!
Hereabove, the main cast of "End of Lines" takes a moment of respite in a flooded village of the Galician coast.
Handing the pen over to Nico, here's what he has to say about the game, in his own words:
"I've been busy with this project for a while. Mélanie and I were working on concept arts while producing Across the Grooves and I was already writing some first drafts. I'm very happy to be able to start sharing this with you.
Like many people of my generation, eco-anxiety is part of my life. I know it's not very original, but with this project, I hope to do something not only entertaining, but also, maybe, a bit useful. At least as "useful" as a work of fiction can be...
It's also a very personal universe that I'm trying to build, based on meaningful personal experiences, with the simple objective of sharing these emotions. And I hope it will be good enough."
"Nuit de la lecture"
The opportunities for public events have been rather less frequent with the pandemic, but we had the opportunity to present our games during 2022 edition of "La Nuit de la Lecture" ("the night of reading") in the public media library of Mérignac, near Bordeaux. We had the pleasure of having a lot of people showing up to discover interactive fiction via our games. Big thanks to Baptiste Normand and the rest of the team at the library for their hospitality, we had a great time!
What have we been up to?
As you can imagine, we're currently working full time, all steam ahead, on End of Lines. Nico and Alix are busy writing the last chapter while Julie is working on the storyboards of chapter 3 (out of 5). For my part, I give a hand wherever I can while working on text and scripts integration.
We're on a tight schedule, but we should be ready for our release date later this year without over-exhausting ourselves.
That’s all for now, see you next month!
Please consider adding End of Lines to your wishlist if you haven't done so yet!
If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here:
http://www.nova-box.com/signup
You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime).
And if you want to hear from us more often, you can also follow us on social networks:
http://twitter.com/novabox
http://facebook.com/novabox.studio
https://instagram.com/novabox
Best,
Geoffroy,
on behalf of the team.
Newsletter #22 — December 2022
Hello everyone!
The team and I would like to wish you all the best for this year's holiday season!
We know we've been extra quiet this year, but there's a lot to look forward to.
Across the Grooves was featured in an art book!
Last month, the book "Imaginaires du Jeu Vidéo, les concept-artistes français" by Marine Macq was released by Third Edition and Le Cercle d'Art, with a whole chapter dedicated to Nova-box (in French only, I'm afraid). We're super proud to be featured in this superb artbook.
Here's a link if you're interested in checking it out.
(Picture taken by Marine Macq)
What have we been up to?
We may have been quiet, but we stayed quite busy behind the scenes. Our next game is progressing well, you can expect to hear a lot more about it in a few weeks! (in case you're wondering, yes: the header image is indeed a concept for this new game).
2022 is going to be an eventful year. We may also have a surprise for our longtime fans, but it's way too early to talk about that. Consider yourselves teased.
That’s all for now, see you next year, and once again, happy holidays!
If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here:
http://www.nova-box.com/signup
You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime).
And if you want to hear from us more often, you can also follow us on social networks:
http://twitter.com/novabox
http://facebook.com/novabox.studio
https://instagram.com/novabox
Best,
Geoffroy,
on behalf of the team.
Newsletter #21 — October 2020
Hello everyone!
This month, we released not one, but two games on the Nintendo Switch!
We also have a couple of nice announcements coming up, so please, read on.
New praise on Along the Edge and Seers Isle!
We received a fresh round of great critiques on both Along the Edge and Seers Isle! Here comes a selection of noteworthy quotes and evaluations:
"A visual novel that stands shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the genre, Along the Edge is a fantastic and fantastical story that’s delivered eloquently and masterfully. 9/10." Sean Davies, Along the Edge Review – A Beautiful, Mature & Engrossing Tale, Finger Guns.
"I could recommend Seers Isle to any lover of story and European myths and legends. If you enjoyed Across the Grooves or other visual novels such as Cinders and Doki Doki Literature Club, I would recommend giving Seers Isle a chance. 9/10", Lainey Penzer, Seers Isle Review, Bonus Stage.
Last but not least, we were very proud to get a very nice article about our work in the print version of "Les Inrockuptibles", a French culture magazine, penned by Erwan Higuinen (as depicted/teased in the photograph here below). An online version is also available here for subscribers: "Nova-box, le français qui plie le game des jeux vidéo narratifs" (in French).
Paris Games Week / Games "Made in France"
We have the pleasure to participate to the Paris Games Week, which will be fully digital this year.
For the occasion, all our catalogue will be on sale during the weekend, so now might be a great time to complete your collection of Nova-box games! Keep an eye on our developer page on Steam, or get our "Nova-box Collection" bundle for an extra 10% off on top of the Paris Games Week discount.
Make a note in your diaries, because we will also be live on Twitch this Sunday, November 1st at 3:45 PM (Paris time) for the Games "Made in France" event organized by Capital Games (in French).
You can catch the program and the stream here on the official website:
jeuxmadeinfrance.fr
What have we been up to?
Well, as you can see, we've kept ourselves quite busy. We've also started working on our next title, currently in the pre-production phase, which means lots of designing and budget--crunching, but also some new visual art. It's way too early to talk in detail about this new project, but let us share one of the first concept arts with you, hoping it will catch your eyes and your curiosity.
Also, we welcomed our new art intern, Julie Vidal, earlier this month. You can check out her impressive portfolio on ArtStation.
Please note that our communications might be a bit more infrequent for a while, until we're ready to properly unveil the ins and outs of our next endeavor.
That’s all for now, see you next time!
If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here:
http://www.nova-box.com/signup
You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime).
And if you want to hear from us more often, you can also follow us on social networks:
http://twitter.com/novabox
http://facebook.com/novabox.studio
https://instagram.com/novabox
