The media team at Raw Fury put together an "accolades trailer" for NORCO highlighting some of the opinions reviewers have been expressing about the game. The reception has been unbelievably encouraging. We've also been listening closely to the responses of players, some of whom have provided very constructive criticism. We'll continue to learn and grow as devs/designers/storytellers because of this generous feedback.
I'm repeating myself, but it's worth emphasizing: we sincerely feel a lot of gratitude for the community that surrounds this game. With very few exceptions, the feedback has been thoughtful, insightful, compassionate even when critical, just all the good shit. Yall are very cool is what I'm trying to say!
Here's the video. If you've seen the release trailer, then it should be familiar:
Thank you!
y
SPANISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, RUSSIAN & BRAZILIAN-PORTUGUESE ADDED TO NORCO TODAY
Just a quick language update for you today -
If you are reading this then Spanish, French, German, Russian & Brazilian-Portuguese languages are now available in NORCO! Steam will automatically update your version of the game to include these languages. You'll know you are playing the latest version if you see v1.1.0i in the top right corner of the title screen. From there select SETTINGS, then LANGUAGE, then choose your language of choice.
NORCO is a narrative game at its heart so it was very important to us that the alternate language versions be as accurate and representative to the source material as possible - so thank you for your continued patience while we polished and got them ready.
One note: not all languages support all font options in the game. We're working to include additional fonts in future patches.
Thank you again. More updates coming soon, Y.
A MAZE FEST NOMINATION; FIVE LANGUAGES TO BE ADDED VERY SOON
An endless thank you to everyone who's been continuing to keep up with this project, write reviews, report bugs, and express general positivity and good will.
It's been a wild few weeks and having friends by our side has made all the difference. Lots has been happening! More very thoughtful and encouraging press reviews have been coming in like this one from TheGamer ; we got nominated for a few award categories at the A MAZE festival in Berlin which takes place in May; and Jesse Jacobi and I sat with the wonderful hosts of No Cartidge for a relaxed interview about our pixel process, disaster tourism, influences and lots else.
We're still plugging away at the game, fixing bugs, preparing patches, and most importantly: working towards localization support. Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Brazilian-Portuguese are coming soon! It's been a more difficult process than we'd hoped, and we're identifying lots of sneaky bugs as we test, but we're in the home stretch. We're hoping to get all of these languages released later this week or early next. THANK YOU (a lot) for your continued patience while we translate, implement, and test.
We are looking into adding additional languages like simplified Chinese and others in a few months – keep an eye out for more updates. As always you can access the latest patch notes and bug submission form here.
Much love, more soon, thank you forever, Yuts
NORCO REVIEWS & PATCH NOTES
NORCO released last week and we've been overwhelmed by the support.
We were particularly touched by these insightful reviews from PC Gamer & Kotaku (which calls the game a "Mesmerizing Head-fuck"); this hilarious stream from TiraLyra; this excellent fanart from twitter and then so many thoughtful, insightful Steam reviews, more than we can point to in this post, but here are a couple...
Even a couple of the negative ones were extremely insightful and generous. So thank you to everyone for being courteous, thoughtful, and supportive.
The reviews help a lot, as do the bug reports. We take all of this into consideration. We pushed our first patch out today with several bug fixes, and next week we're aiming to deploy the French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Brazilian-Portuguese language versions – I'll confirm the exact date soon, but the languages are coming!
You can check on the latest version patch notes here, and submit any bugs you find here.
'Thank you' seems insufficient here but it's the best I got. So thank you, a lot.
With love, Y.
Update v.1.0.4 EN
Hi everyone,
We have just released version 1.0.4 EN including some critical bug fixes. Please find them below:
Controls
Disabled all gamepad support except for joystick/cursor interaction, confirm (A), cancel (B), and hint (Y).
We will be adding full gamepad support in a later patch.
General Gameplay
Fixed bug causing the player to get stuck outside of Eagle Imports after speaking to Superduck.
Fixed "Immediate" speed text mode that could cause a couple of transitions during Act Two to fail.
Fixed bug that was causing the hotspot for the messenger to remain interactable after disappearing.
Removed items/overworld/cellphone from UI inside ark.
Replaced "hold and drag" text with icon on the Apocryphon phone app.
Added ability to exit credit screen with double click.
Thank you so very much for all your feedback and support, please keep them coming our way. Have a great weekend!
NORCO IS AVAILABLE NOW! 15% OFF LAUNCH WEEK DISCOUNT, LIVESTREAMS & GAME UPDATES
NORCO is OUT NOW 😱
Thank you to everyone who's shown this project love and support across platforms, shared the demo with friends, written heartfelt DMs, and provided honest feedback that's gone towards improving the final game. It's been many years of work, but we've felt supported throughout, and it's meant everything.
[previewyoutube="aP4MvX66s2s;full"]
Just a reminder about the launch-day livestream of the game – it's starting soon at 10am PST | 1pm ET | 6pm CET on the NORCO Steam page. I'll be there along with fellow Geography of Robots dev Aaron Gray and artist Jesse Jacobi to answer questions and discuss the game.
Also one more reminder that NORCO is launching in English only, but we're currently prepping French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Brazilian-Portuguese to be implemented in game ASAP. If you start playing the game in English, your save will carry over when we patch the other languages in. I should be able to confirm a date by next week.
If you've got anything to share about your experience of the game, we'd love to hear it. We take all feedback into consideration. You can leave a comment here, write a review, or tweet/DM @roboticgeo. You can also report bugs or get help through our publisher's official support page here.
Thank you so much (...freaking out!), Yuts
WATCH THE NORCO LAUNCH TRAILER NOW; PLAY THE FULL GAME IN TWO DAYS
NORCO will be out in only two more days.
Our publisher, Raw Fury, edited together a very lovely launch trailer that was just shown at the MIX's 10th Anniversary Showcase. You can watch the trailer here:
[previewyoutube="PFVhJNfnxCY;full"]
Raw Fury has also invited us to attend a launch-day livestream of the game. I'll be there along with fellow Geography of Robots dev Aaron Gray and artist Jesse Jacobi to share whatever falls out of our heads. If you want to drop by and ask questions we'll start at 10am PST | 1pm ET | 6pm CET on Thursday, live from the NORCO Steam page.
And just a reminder that you'll be able to get the soundtrack to the game and a digital artbook if you buy the game's "Special Edition" bundle. The artbook has lots of ephemera, sketches, notes, insights into the region of Louisiana where the game takes place, interviews, high resolution exports of in-game environments, etc. And the soundtrack is a split release with our very good friends and collaborators Thou. I'm in love with the music that Gewgawly I composed for NORCO and have attended more Thou shows than I can count so I'm thrilled by the release.
But yeah, only two more days 😱. I'm truly grateful and appreciative for your support. Thank you!
Y.
NORCO | Launch Day Stream and Q&A with developer Geography of Robots
Join us on the NORCO Steam page as we celebrate the release of NORCO!
The livestream starts on Thursday, March 24 @ 10am PST // 1pm ET // 6pm CET right here on the NORCO Steam page. Meet the developers, ask some questions, and celebrate the launch of NORCO with us!
NORCO RELEASE ONE WEEK AWAY; TRANSLATION INFO
One week to go before NORCO launches on PC and Mac...
We've been adding to, optimizing, and polishing NORCO right up to the last second. Never pixeled this much in my life. We submitted the "gold build" to Steam and passed cert without issue. The English version is ready to go, but we need a bit of extra time to translate and implement French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Brazilian-Portuguese into the game. NORCO's a narrative game at its heart, so this step feels critical to get right. The game will launch in English only on March 24, but we'll deliver these additional languages very soon.
ALSO the game will be 15% off from March 24-31. If you start playing in English, your save game will carry over when we patch in the other languages shortly after.
I'll update you here on patch timings. Thank you for your patience and understanding and all the support you've shown.
Seven days! 😱
Y.
Only Two Weeks Until NORCO Release; Roundup of News & Info
With two weeks to go before release...
We've been heads down, killing bugs, polishing dialogue, and sneaking new art into the game past our stalwart producer. Anxiety is high! But it's all coming together. Here's a bunch of ways to engage ahead of release:
Wishlist NORCO – If you haven't wishlisted, please consider doing so – it helps.
Follow the project on twitter – I share a bunch of process shots, photos, etc from the production of the game and also aggregate stuff from other GoR members at @roboticgeo. If you're interested in this project because of its relationship to the Gulf Coast, psychogeography, pixel art, sound design, mysticism, etc then you might find it interesting.
Play the Act One Demo – You can play the entire Act One of the full game right now. The Act One demo lives here indefinitely, and your saved game will carry over if you decide to purchase the full release.
Explore NORCO Art – Our publisher set up a virtual art gallery where you can explore art from the game and get an early look at the content in The Art of NORCO, a digital artbook we're releasing full of pixel art, concept photographs, history and research on Norco, Louisiana, along with lots of ephemera behind the creation of the game. You can bid on NORCO art in an online auction with proceeds split between J Jacobi (key art painter/fellow pixel artist) and an environmental organization in the New Orleans region.
Listen to music from the game – We recently announced the NORCO Original Soundtrack, a collaborative album available March 24 that contains the complete in-game score by Gewgawly I (the Geography of Robots composer) as well as an album's worth of new songs by sludge band Thou, our longtime friends and fellow South Louisiana artists. You can listen to six track samples here.
Six years down, two weeks to go. Thank you again for following along. It means everything.
