Narrative games in 2020 - Part 1 - Be Horror

When planning Nascence, our main concern was: what’s the best way to deliver a touching and interesting story while also

• Be horror

• Be fun

• Be engaging

This required us to analyze what made the old point&click adventure games great, analyzing the industry around us and what makes us unique.

So, in this article let’s discuss the first point.

Be Horror

We love horror games, so that’s what we want to do. The kind of horror we like is “atmospheric horror”, “psychological horror” and “personal horror”.

We wanted to avoid the popular “jump scare horror”, for a double reason:

It’s expensive to make and feels cheap

This means that to prepare a jump scare that works, you must prepare a specific scene, with a series of elements: something that calls your attention, something that increase your tension, something that releases such tension and something that jumps out catching you in your “low-tension” moment.

This includes specific animations, characters, cameras and audio. That's a lot of work and money for such little playtime.

Still, even with all the resources invested, it feels cheap. After the 10th jump, you’ll know the pattern: you’re going to laugh at it.

Because of this, our solution was to go towards what made you love “Anna” and other great games like “Amnesia”, “SOMA”, “Silent Hill 2” and some old games like “Shadow of the comet”, “Sanitarium” and “Dreamweb”.

Dreamweb

Let’s try to summarize the elements we like:

• Supernatural is not in your face: you witness the result of it.

• How much is in the mind of the main character and how much is real?

• Your character is not a hero

• The game is directed to 18+ players and the themes treated are part of their life (example: sexuality, religion, fear of losing your job, fear of losing your love, fear of not being appreciated, relationship with parents and so on)

Of course, we’re not dealing with all those issues: we are concentrating on religion, relationships and personality disorders.

Dealing with these issues is not easy for many reasons: first of all it’s easy to fall into stereotypes, and that’s the worst thing you can do. Doing that, it’s easy to treat the problem as a minor inconvenience that can be easily solved.

Nancy Reagan’s campaign against drugs

Because of that we’ve been working with experts and doctors to avoid such problem.

For us, fear must creep into you and stay with you long after you closed the game, because it will make you think about what you saw and about you.

Of course, we hope this is your cup of tea.

Nascence - Anna's Songs - FAQ

What is “Nascence - Anna’s Songs” ? 

It’s a first person adventure game set in the same fictional universe of our previous game, “Anna”.

Is “Nascence” a point&click adventure?

The answer is complicated. You definitely point and click, and you have an inventory, and you have inventory based puzzles, but it’s more than that. There’s a survival horror side, lots to explore and some mind-bending things that will make you rethink what you saw before.

I’m not going to say that “this game will change the game industry” (because it will not), but I really hope that this game will stay with you when you turn off your PC.

Is “Nascence” set in a real place or based on real events?

“Nascence” is set in a fictional version of the Ayas Valley, in Valle D’Aosta, Italy.

We use some geographic names, like Champoluc, Periasc or the aforementioned Ayas, but the town “Reluné” is completely fictional, as are all the characters mentioned in the game.

The events portrayed in “Nascence” are completely fictional and take inspiration from local legends.

What Next-Gen platforms will be supported?

We will make an announcement soon.

Will the game be released on all platforms at the same time?

“Nascence” will be released on PC first. Next-Gen consoles will follow soon after.

Is “Nascence” a sequel of “Anna”?

It’s not exactly a sequel, in the sense that you’re not the same character that you played in “Anna”, but it’s set in the same universe and expands on the mythology. So, it’s a sequel, but not a direct sequel.

Is “Nascence” first person?

Yep

Is “Nascence” developed by the same team who did “Anna”

For the most part, yes, “Nascence” is designed by the same designers and the same composer (Alessandro Monopoli) wrote all the music.

Who is “Treehouse Studio”?

Sometime ago we got contacted by some veterans in the industry who were thinking about doing their own company. We discussed our project with them and they got hooked (on a feeling, like David Hasselhoff). They will help us on the art side.

Is White Heaven cancelled?No, it’s not. White Heaven is now one of Anna's Songs. More info will be shared after Nascence release.

Do I have to play Anna to understand Nascence?No, Nascence is a standalone experience and you can fully understand it without having played Anna. 

What's next-gen in Nascence?

We plan to have a series of features that are manageable by the superior power of next-gen systems. First of all, lighting: we use the most up-to-date light tech, with Screen Space GI. Then Runtime Virtual texturing, hi-quality depth of field, Sharpening, Distance field contact shadows and hi-quality terrain fully streamed. We are also evaluating RTX Raytracing.

We have more “next gen” stuff to showcase (not only rendering): we’ll let you know in future announcements.

We're back!

Yes, it’s not been quick, and it’s not been easy, but here we are again!

You might think: where we’ve been all this time? Well, we’ve been working like crazy. We’ve been on “White Heaven” for some time, but just before jumping in production, we thought that this was not the right game: it was too "too much, too soon”.

We needed something to fill the gaps, to give you more insights and answer all those questions you might have from our previous game, “Anna”. And, of course, generate more questions!

So we’ve moved White Heaven for a later release and started working on “Nascence”.

“Nascence” will give you beautiful vistas, meaningful puzzle (yes, really!), a nice amount of scares (but not JUMP scares! You’ll find plenty of games out there that do that) and I’m sure it will melt your heart.

And hopefully, it will leave you yearning for more.

To do this game, we decided to get some help, because we needed to be able to make this game in a reasonable time-frame. We therefore contacted a group of extremely talented artists called “Treehouse studio”.
They helped us delivering our vision and you’ll hear lots from them in the future. I’m sure you’ve already played plenty of games they did, because they are all veterans.

We also plan to give you bi-weekly updates: no more months of nothing!

We are all very excited about this project and we hope you’ll be as well.

Cheers,
Dreampainters Software
Treehouse Entertainment