Laura Bow 3 (was Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex)

[Rath Darkblade]

I'm excited about the game -- but -- oh, no! I'm so sorry to hear about Anastasia and what she's going through.

Is there a way to contact/email the dev team?

[Tawmis]

I'm excited about the game -- but -- oh, no! I'm so sorry to hear about Anastasia and what she's going through.
Is there a way to contact/email the dev team?

DM'ed ye the email so it's not on the forum for spambots to sniff out.

[Tawmis]

Well this is different...

"Read all about it!"

O hai again, everyone! Today is the day we've all been waiting for - where we make one of our biggest announcements eh-var!

After months (nay, years) of hard work and dedication toward making one of the highest quality point and click adventure games based on a beloved series from our childhoods... all of our time and effort has really paid off in a whole new way! Thanks to some good relationships with our partners and other developers in the industry, we'd like to talk another big endeavor that we are embarking on.
New Partnership!

Our goal at NineZyme has always been primarily to pick up where our favorite game developers left off, make things in a more modern way, attract old and new audiences alike, and do it all with a team which is purposefully built to be different than what is typically seen in the industry.

So far we are accomplishing that. And while those have always been our primary goals, they aren't the only ones we have!

We also would like to branch out and expand into other areas, while continuing to create those game projects that we would love to play ourselves. Well... our first big expansion has come to fruition!

A Mysterious New Series!

One thing led to another, and Netflix ended up seeing the project that we are working on. After seeing the amount of detail and quality we are putting into the characters and the world, they grew more and more excited about it, and originally offered to place it on their new game service when it's finished.

After some time, we eventually worked out a different deal...
A new Laura Bow themed animated TV series!

They are so impressed that they believe this will be their next big hit... leaving the likes of Squid Games and Inventing Anna in the dust! They are so confident that they gave us the best deal they have ever signed with any partner - 9 full seasons, of 9 full length episodes! Each episode will have a run length of approximately 45 minutes, and will be a separate small mystery for Laura to stumble her way through. There will also be an overall story arc per season.

Obviously we can't share too much about this new project just yet, but look forward to the first season dropping onto your living room screen in the near future!

In the meantime, here are some images from our upcoming series...

This is undoubtedly an April Fool's thing!

[Collector]

This is getting to the point that you have to wonder about IP restrictions. Do they have a green light from Activision? What does the Microsoft angle mean?

[Tawmis]

This is getting to the point that you have to wonder about IP restrictions. Do they have a green light from Activision? What does the Microsoft angle mean?

I am absolutely sure that this is April Fool's. Even made a note as such super tiny at the bottom beneath the last photo. Not my April Fool's - this was an email they sent, but April Fool's I am sure..

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

This is getting to the point that you have to wonder about IP restrictions. Do they have a green light from Activision? What does the Microsoft angle mean?

I am absolutely sure that this is April Fool's. Even made a note as such super tiny at the bottom beneath the last photo. Not my April Fool's - this was an email they sent, but April Fool's I am sure..

They had me going until they talked about this show blowing Squid Game out of the water. Then I realised my leg was being pulled.

[Collector]

Fools or not, IP issues with this are something I have wondered about. They probably should have kept a lower profile. Other fan project did or they had an agreement with the IP owners.

[Tawmis]

Fools or not, IP issues with this are something I have wondered about. They probably should have kept a lower profile. Other fan project did or they had an agreement with the IP owners.

I asked them about their relationship with MS (http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic. ... 937#p88937).

And honestly - if they come down and say, "Nope."

All they have to do is change the character names.

And I am betting if it's voiced, they have two recordings of every line that mentions "Laura Bow"

(For example -
If it's approved: "Laura Bow, I am so glad to see you."
If it's not approved: "Jane Smith, I am so glad to see you."
)

Done and done.

And still get to release the game, with the attention it's already drawn as "Laura Bow."

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

I suspect the ongoing IP issues, regardless of them having a better relationship with Microsoft, might be why their website was modified to remove all mentions of the name Laura Bow for the time being.

[Tawmis]

Things Are Heating Up

Oh hello, everyone... Welcome back to another monthly newsletter about the development progress on our upcoming Laura Bow adventure!

The last month was a doozy, and we're honestly all a bit exhausted from the amount of work we're putting into the project. There was a lot of focus on the dialog system, the lip syncing, save & load support, music and sound effects, and of course new art and environments to explore.

Anyway, due to the current energy levels, we're going to keep this relatively short this month and just share some new images of things we've been working on. And also, keep an eye on our Facebook page for some new videos that we will be posting this month.

[Rath Darkblade]

This is looking great! I especially like the gameplay preview - still a work in progress, but it looks so amazing!

I'll be excited to play it. If only I could finally get off my lazy butt and play Laura Bow 1. *tsks at self*

By the way, I just noticed what SHP has done with his avatar. Some kind of Siberian monk version now?

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

By the way, I just noticed what SHP has done with his avatar. Some kind of Siberian monk version now?

Yobi appeared in both Spelling Jungle and Spelling Blizzard. I thought I’d switch to his Blizzard look since it’s winter here now.

[Tawmis]

Better Late Than Never!

Good day everyone! We are back for another monthly update about the development progress of our upcoming point and click adventure game!

Yes, yes… we know we are a day late this month. Apologies to all of you more punctual types out there. It’s because the team is currently on our Mid-Year Break and we nearly lost track of the time during our stint off.

Every year, we give the team two nice chunky breaks… since we are a fully remote and global team, we just call them our “Mid-Year” and “End-Year” breaks, because those times could mean very different things depending on the location of each of our team members.

Anyway, we are about half way through our break at the moment, and it was very much needed! The team has been working really hard to bring you this game, and everyone really needed some time off to recharge the batteries for the next big round of development! We’re excited to get back at it again soon - as the game is really starting to come together lately!
A Video Is Worth A Thousand…

As we’ve been talking about for a few months now, we planned to make a new video of some gameplay once we had a few more pieces in place to make it feel more complete. Well, we are happy to say that we finally made one for you all, and we have already posted it up on Facebook for people to see!

So, just in case you missed it (or want to see a higher quality version)… we’ve linked to it here. We hope you enjoy it! There are still some pieces missing (mostly a lot of sound effects and other minor ambiance things), but we think it gives a solid idea of what you can expect from the game. We also realized after the fact that we didn’t show any of the manipulation gameplay elements - but we’ll aim to record a few of those in our next video (whenever that may be).

Anyway, without further ado… click the image below to view the video, and send us your thoughts on it - we’d love to hear from you.

10 Minute Preview!

The Circle Of Art

And finally, we also wanted to show off a few new pieces of art that the team has been working on lately. Here we have a couple of new concept images from upcoming scenes in the game…

See You Next Time!

As always, thanks for reading. If you have any feedback, or just want to cheer us on as we continue with the development of the game… give us a shout! We’d love to hear from you.

[Rath Darkblade]

The art and the video look amazing. I can't wait to play this!

I like the Oakhurst snow-globe. Laura's voice appears to be less ... I'unno, "Southern"-sounding (?) than it was in LB2. I guess after all the years in New York, she lost the "twang".

I noticed (when they show Augustini) that there's a kind of meter between "sad face" and "happy face". I wonder what that's about? Does the game let you do various things that make people happy with you or mad at you? If so, that sounds like an awesome idea. (I only hope that it won't be like Dragon Age. We really don't need to see Laura going to bed with someone). *makes a shocked Victorian-Pikachu face*

[Tawmis]

The art and the video look amazing. I can't wait to play this!

Yeah, I am looking forward to this!