These new GNOG screens are so beautiful they’ll swallow you whole
If you’re still anxiously awaiting the hungry jaws of the big monster heads in GNOG, you’ll have to keep waiting until its 2016 release date. But, in the meantime, feel free to get swallowed up by the latest screens released by Ko-Op Mode.
The screens highlight GNOG‘s polished yet playful art style, with a deep, pleasing color palette that makes you feel like you could just dive into each shot. Of course, diving into different inner worlds is exactly what the game is all about. Lead artist Sam Boucher has explained to Kill Screen that in GNOG, “Each head is kind of like a packed ‘hypertoy’ filled with secrets and toys, and players poke around, interact with the weird objects, and find links between things.”
The new screens also come with a wonderful announcement: GNOG will be published by Double Fine and be coming to both Playstation 4 and with VR support (Steam and iOS following a few months thereafter). As designer Saleem Dabbous explains on the TIGSource forum, the switch to console forced Ko-Op to focus on getting the feels for a controller cursor down.
Their inspiration ended up coming from a lovely place: Plug & Play. Saleem describes how they loved the “lively flowey ring” that surrounds every interactive object. Using this method allowed them to include different custom animations for various interactive objects. Like, “if there’s a knob that’s super hot and you try to grab it, the cursor can play a “too hot” animation and turn black, giving it an in-game connection to the world.” Saleem notes how wonderful this new development is for the game, Since GNOG is all about the physicality of the interactions, incorporating the cursor into the game world makes a lot of sense.
polished yet playful art style
Ko-Op’s update also mentioned a separate design challenge for the changes needed for virtual reality. While, originally, the designers intended to keep the monster heads floating in a void, they discovered that this doesn’t bode well for VR. So now, the team is adding some background elements for death.
All in all, Saleem says “we’re really liking how the game’s visuals are shaping up now that we’ve refined the process.” Take a look for yourself at the screens below to see if you agree.
You can follow GNOG’s development story on TIGSource or through its official website.
