The excellent cosmic adventure Genesis Noir is getting a follow up in Nirvana Noir, with a Kickstarter to help it over the finish line. There really isn’t a game quite like Genesis Noir, which created a tactile experience that invited players to truly interact with its mysterious cosmology. At least, not until Nirvana Noir. We got a chance to chat with Evan Anthony, Creative Lead at developer Feral Cat Den, to discuss the upcoming game and its Kickstarter. Below, Evan shares the inspirations going into their new game, lessons learned from Kickstarter, and more!
You can support the game via Kickstarter now until July 4th!
What idea drove the team to create a follow up to Genesis Noir?
Genesis Noir has the main character, No Man, explore the Big Bang, a gunshot fired at his lover but also the creation of the universe. The game is set during the first moments of genesis, through human history, and beyond into the science fiction future and eventual heat death of the universe.
We had a lot of fun learning about history, physics, and astronomy to create the settings the player explores in the Big Bang. But we wondered what kind of place a gunshot could be a Big Bang? What would a cosmic city be? And what kinds of stories would be contained in it? What would we learn by building a metaphysical metropolis? These questions got us excited to create Nirvana Noir!
Nirvana Noir looks to be picking up after not one, but both of the potential endings of Genesis Noir. How did the team decide to pursue both potential futures at once?
Our main character, No Man, is the embodiment of time and, like a good noir protagonist, cannot escape his regrettable past while being keenly aware of his impending failure. Given No Man’s experience of time, we realized that both endings of Genesis Noir must be canon. We wondered what it would be like to be living two lives. This dual nature of No Man led us to some very interesting questions and allows us to explore contrasting visual environments, stories, and gameplay.
There were many inspirations outside of games that inspired Genesis Noir. Do the same things inspire Nirvana Noir?
Yup! We’re still very inspired by film noir like Alphaville, literature by Calvino, and artwork by William Blake. In addition to these inspirations, we’ve also been diving deep into 60s/70s psychedelic and counter culture artwork like the comics of Phillipe Caza and Paul Kirchner, the cinema and writing of Alejandro Jodorowsky, the sounds of White Noise and the lyrics of Tommy James, and so much more!
Will Nirvana Noir play similarly to the previous game?
For the most part, yes. Nirvana Noir is a mix of 3d and 2d adventure game with an emphasis on exploration and tactile interactions. There are some key differences though (and one of the reasons why we did not title this game as a sequel to Genesis Noir).
The first difference is the level structure. While Genesis Noir was centered around a level selection hub where the player discovers points of interest in the Big Bang gunshot and enters the universe to experience a standalone level, Nirvana Noir has the player exploring a cosmic city in search of a central mystery and following several leads as the story unfolds.
The story of Genesis Noir is all about poetry and tone with a simple love triangle plot. Nirvana Noir, in contrast, has an intricate conspiracy at its heart. The plot of Nirvana Noir is much more active than Genesis Noir. To help the player keep track of all the characters/places/things/concepts they encounter throughout the game, we’ve created a mind map that contains helpful information and the players quests.
Another significant difference is that Nirvana Noir features dialogue! The game is split into two halves, one where the player must be a detective by finding clues and manipulating items, while the other half is about being a detective through the power of conversation and persuasion.
One of the most exciting parts of Genesis Noir was the synergy the gameplay shared with the soundtrack. Since the team is working with Skillbard again, how does that synergy evolve?
We’re extremely excited to once again collaborate with Skillbard. Like Genesis Noir, we aim to create interactions where the player can play with audio and create music. We’re also expanding the musical palette to feature 60s/70s inspired rock to add to the jazz-y soundscape we established in Genesis Noir.
What lessons from the previous Genesis Noir Kickstarter helped to inform the Nirvana Noir Kickstarter structure? I notice the new one does not offer a physical game.
Our biggest lesson was to just be as prepared as we could be! Running a Kickstarter is a ton of work!
The Kickstarter positions itself not just as a funding method but as a means to bring together a community. Are there other ways you plan to maintain this community?
Kickstarter has been a great way for us to share more details of our creative process and to invite backers to contribute. We plan to keep supporters updated along the way and look forward to seeing how people leave an impact on the game itself. We would also love for people to stay connected through our social media and our publisher’s Discord.
Can you explain the “metamodern” experience backers get by contributing their images and messages? Is it really different than seeing your name in the credits?
The way that we’re including backers’ images and messages isn’t merely an acknowledgement of their support of the project, but rather a thematically meaningful contribution which will enrich the storytelling and be playfully interactive.
How did the collaboration with Lost in Cult come about?
A few years back they had included Genesis Noir in one of their [lock-on] journals, and we really enjoyed what they created. When they heard about the Nirvana Noir Kickstarter, they reached out to us through our publisher, Fellow Traveller. We jumped on a call and hit it off!
Currently, Nirvana Noir is targeting both a PC release and a release on Xbox. Are other platforms a possibility?
Definitely! We’d love to bring Nirvana Noir to other platforms soon after release. Our goal with release is to not spread ourselves too thin so that we can support each platform properly.
The team working on Nirvana Noir is actually larger than before. With many corners of the games industry experiencing things like layoffs, are there protections in place for the team?
We’re a self financed and independent team.
Is Nirvana Noir the only focus at this time or will No Man’s story continue even further?
Who knows! I wouldn’t be surprised if No Man tells us how the story will continue, but we also have new game ideas we’d love to create!
The Nirvana Noir Kickstarter is open now until July 4th.
Travis Hymas is a freelance writer and self appointed Pokémon historian out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Known to be regularly obessive over pop culture topics, gaming discourse, and trading card games, he is a published critic featured on sites such as Uppercut and The Young Folks.
