Casus Ludi, the French team behind the upcoming co-op adventure game, Blanc, was recently interviewed by IGN, and revealed some interesting details about the project’s inspiration and purpose.
The game was apparently made with the intention of being manageable for those who don’t play or have never played video games before. CEO Florent De Grissac stated that they wanted to develop a game that a gamer could play “with someone they like or love,” specifically mentioning the idea of using it to introduce a child or a parent to video games. In fact, the team agreed that seeing a large number of non-gamers playing this game would be the most significant accomplishment for them.
Blanc was first announced on Nintendo’s June 2022 Partner Direct, showcasing its cute characters and captivating art style. As seen below, it follows the journey of a wolf cub and a fawn stranded in a vast, snowy wilderness after a storm, that need to work together to find their way home.
Other pertinent statements were made throughout the interview that gave some insight into the motivation behind making Blanc. Firstly, Casus Ludi is actually not even a game development studio. Though some of its members had dabbled in games before, as a company, its mission statement is to create interactive experiences, like documentaries, board games, and more. However, after being invited to a game jam in 2018 in Quebec City, where a snow storm was buffeting the windows, they had the idea for Blanc.
De Grissac goes on to say that Casus Ludi likes to work on projects that “provoke debate or awareness about various subjects.” He said the team is convinced that “video games are real media with every possibility to tell any story,” and that, with Blanc, they wanted to deliver a “positive experience of empathy and cooperation.” They marked the importance of Blanc’s story being completely wordless, as they seemingly want it to be experienced mostly through gameplay. They went as far as to attempt to remove text from menus, in order to match the game’s motif, but quickly realized such a thing was impossible.
Furthermore, Casus Ludi is not even certain they’ll continue making video games after Blanc, De Grissac stated that it’s much more important to them that Blanc’s potential success help boost the careers of the freelance programmers and developers they’ve hired for the project. All in all, it would appear as though Casus Ludi’s goal, above anything else, is to deliver an artful and impactful experience that takes advantage of the interactivity of video games.
Blanc launches on February 2023, for Nintendo Switch and PC.
