We have a bad habit.
During Genesis Noir's development, we made the mistake of dropping players into No Man's clocktower without establishing who he is or what he wants. No clear motivation, no conflict, no hook.
We fixed it by adding a small scene first:
No Man is broke and hungry…
…gets scammed by a customer who pays with underwear…
…chases after them, and stumbles into Miss Mass.
Simple needs, a silly joke, a spark of longing. Suddenly the moody clocktower scene that follows has weight.
Bing bang boom, now we can cut to No Man’s room and the player understands just enough about this character to be invested! You’d think we’d learn, but we made a similar mistake in Nirvana Noir!
Nirvana Noir’s central premise of “faced with an impossible choice, he chose the impossible - to live two lives” makes the intro even trickier. We need to establish this choice, the two branching paths, and their consequences while keeping it hook-y and fun.
We built a sequence that spins between No Man's two lives, anchored by a mirror where both versions of him meet. The mirror becomes the interface for choosing which story to begin — an all-nighter in his clocktower, or a police interrogation room. It's a striking sequence and it nails the theme of duality. But it's a lot to take in, and the same problem crept back: it's hard to feel something for No Man when things get this abstract this fast.
So we're applying the same lesson from Genesis Noir. Before the game goes cosmic, we're prototyping a small, grounded scene. No metaphysics, just noir - desire, conflict, humor. A moment that shows exactly why No Man's life splits in two.
We're still figuring out the right acting and interaction, but leading with a theatrical character moment is already feeling much better. Our goal is for this to land whether or not you've played Genesis Noir — we want to establish just enough backstory to make you care, then let the consequences unfold.
In other news, we’ve also been exploring some cool graphic design and world lore. Here’s some work in progress:
Until next time!