antumbral

programmer / game designer / writer

anime


danielleri
@danielleri

We posted a fantastic interview today, with the creator of NORCO. I actually played the demo a few years ago (and have only just touched the full release), but I always sensed something really special about this story and this approach to a space and place within a game (which is a reflection of a real-life place).

How did you come up with the concept for NORCO?

I’m from Norco. I’ve been fascinated by the landscape of the region since I was a kid. I collaborated with friends in making art and small documentaries about the region. The game was an extension of that mixed-media work.


There's something dark and beautiful and lived-in about the spaces here. I didn't know until this interview that the creator is from the real-life Norco, but it makes a perfect kind of sense.

What thoughts went into building the story of a futuristic vision of South Louisiana? How did you want to create this sci-fi vision of it?

I wanted the sci-fi elements to be a little banal and to reflect a kind of exhaustion with acceleration and the increasing ubiquity of social media, algorithms, and AI. I also wanted it to capture both the alienation of those technologies and their potential for forming new kinds of communities.

I have thoughts as well about pixel art (generally and in NORCO in particular) and its evocative quality: the way it can be a little abstract and give the sense of the feeling of a space or emotion, without spelling it out. There's something special about the style of this game, for me. It's that "out there" feeling I've described before, and it's intoxicating.


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