DF feedback

Hi folks!

It's been 2 weeks since I'm back from a great experience, and I've since been very busy catching up with the work, namely making the pictures for Gates the Opening, for the 3rd episode of CtGwC, and a couple of new weeklies. 

Darkness Falls has been released to patrons, and for the general public too. I think the majority of you received the first episode with good criticism, for which we're very glad. We've been expecting better (in terms of volume) feedback from the public though. Our usual place of inquiry has been surprisingly quiet about the release of DF and we're not sure if that's because of the game (it's story, art, being too short, etc) or because the forum has less activity since some months ago. That's a bit disappointing because we like to hear from as much people possible (if it's constructive criticism of course). 

Despite that, there were a couple of comments (in another place) that pointed the obvious clichés of the characters in DF, going from the "Max Payne" tired old detective, the young pretty new partner, the fat grumpy Captain and the weird pathologist. Well, this made me smile because the comments criticized it as something bad and disappointing where we wanted that exact result ourselves.

See, and now speaking for myself (but I'm in the belief that Tlaero shares the same feelings), this DF idea, and its characters design, was born from pure nostalgia. I've grown up watching the 90's TV shows and when it wasn't about teenagers in high school it was about police detectives fighting crime. Many of these TV shows I watched were actually 80's TV shows that was broadcasted subbed in the country I was living. Others were 90's shows. Then came the X-files in mid 90's and the game Max Payne at the turn of the century. Also, being a fan of DC's Batman, and a lover for darker themes in literature, cinema and TV, it's only natural to have all that condensed in what inspires me in the art and ideas for DF. We used the cliché because that's what nostalgia demands. Otherwise we wouldn't being living what caught our eyes when we watched those TV shows. 

I also smiled at the irony of claiming DF is full of clichés when it's perhaps one of the few only games (to my knowledge) that doesn't use the thematics "guy meets girl-they date-they fuck" or "guy lives with his relative/friend's daughter- they build up taboo romantic relationship-they fuck", but that's just a side note.

You don't get to build up relationships to fuck the girl in DF. You get to solve cases and open up the Elsaverse mysteries. The sex (if and when there is sex) is just something extra to lighten up Detective Blake's dark daily life. 

It must be a grimy job being a Vice (or) Narcotics (or) Homicide detective in real life. You don't get to see the best in humanity in that line of work. You see its worst. Added to that the challenges defense lawyers, bureaucracy, chain of custody demands, and politicians' interests sometimes come to oppose your work and you'll get a mindset much like Blake. Yeah, he's cliché. He's supposed to be. He's just a cliché day-to-day Homicide detective. He's written that way. 

Cheers!

Mortze