Hey, people! We have some news for you guys! Hope you had a good day.

What weve been up to?

After spending time giving some love to both Echoes and End of Lines, we were able to go back to work on our (still unannounced) next game. We're very excited to see it come together, with an Alpha version almost completed. Following our latest update, the new demo of End of Lines has been downloaded more than 1,000 times. However, we are ten positive reviews short of the 50 we need to be more visible in the Steam store. So, if you have played End of Lines and enjoyed the game, dont hesitate to leave a review! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1658960/End_of_Lines/ Were thrilled to announce that a demo for Echoes is out! We wanted to give players a chance to experience the game and bring more attention to this project. The demo features the entire first episode (out of five), allowing you to dive into the world of Echoes and get a feel for the story, gameplay, and atmosphere. Best of all, if you decide to continue your journey after playing the demo, your progress will be saved, so you can pick up right where you left off in the full game. Thanks to the demo, we are already starting to see a little more traction toward it. Almost 1000 downloads! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1775220/Echoes/

Spring Sales

Spring is here, and so are the deals! You still have a few hours to take advantage of the Steam Spring Sale. Its the perfect time to explore new adventures and expand your collection. Dont miss out, it will be our last sale for a while! If you want to support us a bit more, you can also buy the bundle! You will have 37% off and dont worry, the bundle automatically detects games you have already purchased. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/

Spawn Festival

We are excited to announce that we will attend the Spawn Festivals third edition on Saturday, April 5th in Angoulme! The festival will feature about 30 indie studios with projects ranging from experimental games to games with a social or political message, along with a collection of curated games from our friend Camille. You will also be able to enjoy panels, conferences, and even video game-themed performances. And dont worry if you cant make itwell be sharing a full debrief, complete with photos, in our next newsletter. We cant wait to see you there!

Ask the Devs!

In this section, we answer your most frequently asked questions about our games, development process, and upcoming projects. Have something youd like to ask? Send us your questions on Discord, and we might feature them in the next newsletter. I would like to know what were your inspirations for Along the Edge story? Geoffroy mentioned in the web page that he was raised in France, rural country. [quote]Well theres a lot to say about that. Along the Edge was the first story I created on my own and I didnt know if I would have the privilge of writing more, so I stuffed a lot of the things I loved in there. I guess the main thing is that when we started working on this project, I was 36 years old and it was becoming more and more probable that I wouldnt have kids. The idea of transmission, heritage and what we leave behind when you dont have children was something that was on my mind a lot at this point in my life. Along the Edge helped me explore that. I also wanted to make a classic fantastique story. We have this sub-genre of literature in France, which is neither fantasy nor horror, but something in between, I never knew how to translate it accurately in English. It dates back to the 19th century. The main theme is that you have an unreliable narrator who experiences strange events, but you never know if there really was something supernatural going on or if its just the imagination of the narrator at work. It gave us an interesting way to frame the choices in the game, letting the player decide whether Daphn believes in the supernatural or not at all. I could talk at length about all of this, I hope this quick answer satisfies your curiosity. For the second part of your question, well, I indeed come from a very rural area in the center of France, la Creuse, which I am very attached to and thats not very well known, even in France. In fact, its one of the places that gets mentioned when a fellow French person needs an euphemism to say the middle of nowhere. That was the perfect setting for the story we wanted to tell, so I went there and took a lot of reference pictures for Nico. If you want a fun fact, the setting is never named directly in Along the Edge itself, but if you make the right choices in Across the Grooves, Frank tells Alice that Daphn is in fact in Creuse.[/quote] And how long does it take for Nico to create a drawing? [quote]Thank you for your questions. This is an easy one though: it depends! I think the fastest one took me 15 minutes and the longest ones would take me a full week to polish. Of course, thats extreme examples, most of the time I can safely rely on 3 pictures/day on average during the game production (that is when Im done with concept arts, research and references collection). Fun fact: the longest one was probably a key art for Seers Isle that we didnt use in the end because it was not good enough. Somehow, spending more time on a picture does not always make it better.[/quote] That's all for now! If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). I hope you guys are doing well. Thank you for following us on this adventure. Best, Ophlie, on behalf of the team.

[ 2025-03-20 14:45:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dear Steam friends, we're very glad to announce that we just released a free demo for Echoes! You can download and try out the first episode (out of five) of the game for free, starting now. Discover the rural town of Greenhearth and its weird and colorful citizens while investigation the murder case of your best friend. Gather clues, interview witnesses and work with (or around) the local police force in this noir visual novel. And if the demo convinces you to get the full game, your progress will transfer automatically and you won't lose any progress. We hope you'll enjoy your time in Greenhearth, kind regards, Geoffroy, on behalf of the team.

[ 2025-03-03 15:55:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey People! How was your day? We have some news for you guys, I hope you will like it.

What weve been up to?

We are thrilled to announce the release of a big patch for the End of Lines! Countless hours of effort, passion, and dedication have gone into enhancing this experience, and we cant wait for you to explore it. So, whats new?

• We made some balancing with variables so that branches specific to Nora are easier to unlock.
• Your balance of resources will have a more significant impact on certain events.
• Managing expeditions during camping will also have more impact.
• New images and texts for one of our epilogues have been added.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1658960/End_of_Lines/ Weve also decided to reopen the demo. If you play it, you'll be able to save your progress for the final version of End of Lines! Dont hesitate to share your opinion or critique with us so we can improve our game in the future.

The Storytellers Festival

Were thrilled to announce that The Storytellers Festival has selected us and our game, End of Lines, for their 2025 lineup! We feel truly honored and are so grateful for the chance to participate in a festival that highlights the magic of storytelling, creativity, and innovation in games. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the festival organisers for believing in our work! To celebrate that, both End of Lines and its soundtrack are -50% off on Steam! Be sure to check out Two Half Studios to learn more about the festival and its amazing selection of games. Check out the Steam page for the Steam Sale here: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/TwoHalfStudios/sale/thestorytellersfestival2025

BlueSky

We are on BlueSky! Given the current political situation, we have decided to gradually move away from Twitter and explore new platforms. BlueSky is an exciting new space for us, one that better aligns with our values of open conversation and community-driven engagement. Change can be tough, yet we believe this shift will enable us to connect more meaningfully and positively, just like we did on Mastodon (feel free to join us there too!). While we will remain on Twitter for a bit longer, we invite you to embark on this new journey with us!

Q&A

Were excited to announce that well be hosting a Q&A session on our Discord on February 21 at 9 p.m. Paris time (CEST)! This is your chance to ask us anything about our work, including:

• The production process Behind-the-scenes insights into how we bring our games to life.
• End of Lines Dive deeper into the story, themes, and development of our game.
• The demo Have questions or feedback? Lets talk about it!!

Wed love to hear your thoughts, answer your burning questions, and chat with you in real-time! Dont miss this opportunity to connect with the team and fellow community members. You can already ask your questions on the text channel "ask the devs" so we can answer them on the day of the event!
And in the meantime, all our games are available here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). I hope you guys are doing well. Thank you for following us on this adventure. Best, Ophlie,

[ 2025-02-20 10:32:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey People! Were back!! Did you miss us? How were your holidays? As for us, we took a little break for this period, so its good to get back to our co-working space. We do have some updates for you guys.

What weve been up to?

So, we have almost finished the first beta of our new games first chapter! Its a long and meticulous process but, nonetheless, important. We want to offer you the best experience for our game. Our musicians, Camille Marcos and Julien Ponsoda, have also started working on the music for the game and, it sounds amazing!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgKn33uIopM

Discord Server? Already?

Yeah, you heard it. Our server is out!! It seems I have overcome my difficulties with Discord. So, what can you find on it? Well, first of all, you can find us! You have a channel where you can ask us anything about the lore of our game or the production and the technique behind it. You also have channels where you can test your voice-acting skills with others, listen to music, discuss theories about the games, share memes, and share your art!! We want the community to interact with each other in a fun and safe space. Were also very curious to see your creativity. Its not perfect, but its working. So dont hold back and join us!! Join us on Discord! If you have some recommendations about the server dont hesitate to message us! And in the meantime, Seers Isle, Along the Edge, and Across the Grooves and End of Lines are available here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). Best, Ophlie, on behalf of the team.

[ 2025-01-17 09:39:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone!

As you can see, I'm writing for two months in advance since I'll be returning to my uni course in November and we will be on a pause for the holiday season. So, some parts are written by me, while others are by Nico or Geoffroy. So, some parts are written by me, while others are by Nico or Geoffroy.

Autumn Sale

Our games have an Autumn sale on Steam this season. End of lines is at -50%! You have until December 4 to dive into our beloved games at special prices! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/

New Year Resolutions?

MORE ACTIVITY ON SOCIALS Our first New Year resolution is to be more present and active on our socials. As you can guess now that I'm here, Geoffroy and Nico will be able to concentrate on their respective works and I will be concentrating on the communication parts. PATREON Our second resolution is to create a Patreon! Through it, we want to offer you exclusive artwork, tips, behind-the-scenes stories, early access to our games, betas, and even some prints and other surprises. With Patreon, we hope to secure a little bit of funding to support some of our projects. DISCORD Our third resolution is to create a Discord for the community. We want you guys to have a safe space where you can exchange with each other and us. Its not the most urgent project, and I am like a grandmother when it comes to setting up a Discord server but everything can be learned.

What have we been up to?

Geoffroy here, taking over for our usual "what have been up to?" section. Nico and I went for a bit of a road trip last week, down to the Basque country to greet and meet Wyllia Lapouge, who's directing a danse school in Bayonne. We were able to witness a lesson of contemporary dance, and were able to a lot of take of photography and video material.If you're wondering, yes, it has very much to do with our unannounced upcoming game. This month's exclusive artwork is one of Nico's studies following our trip.
One last thing before I hand over to Ophlie and wish you happy holidays: if you've been following Nova-box for a while, you must have noticed that our remake of Echoes, released in, ahem, "semi-secret" in May, was not a great success. If by chance you own this game, thank you a thousand times, I hope you liked it. Also, I would be extremely grateful if you could take a few minutes to leave us a recommendation on this title. We are currently six short of being given a "positive" rating and that would greatly help us with the algorithm. Thank you in advance! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1775220/Echoes/ That's all for this time! The whole team wishes you a very happy holiday season. And in the meantime, Seers Isle, Along the Edge, and Across the Grooves and End of Lines are available here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). Best, Ophlie, on behalf of the team.

[ 2024-11-29 10:29:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! As usual, weve missed quite a few monthly newsletters (sorry you should be used to that by now). But there is some new stuff coming around for you guys!

New Intern!

Hi everyone, Im the new intern at Nova-Box! My name is Ophlie, and I will be the one writing to you from now on. I'm thrilled to be joining the team and bringing something new to our communications. Youll be seeing more of me around the New Year!

What's new with End of Lines?

So whats happening with End of Lines? The avid readers of our newsletters are already aware of the challenges we've faced putting our game out there, in the public eye. Well, Nico and the team are putting together some brand-new content for you guys! I cant reveal any details just yet, but you can expect more information around December/January. Weve also decided to reopen our demo in the coming months. Steam seems to boost games with demos through its algorithm, and we're hoping it will have a similar effect on our game. If you play it, you'll be able to save your progress for the final version of End of Lines! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1658960/End_of_Lines/

What have we been up to?

The start of the autumn term means welcome back to our co-working space in Bordeaux. We were thrilled to catch up with our friends from other studios after some well-deserved reconnecting with Mother Nature. As you can imagine, when were not taking care of our one-year-old baby (End of Lines), were in full creation mode with our next game or we're attending events.

HORIZON(S), Bordeaux Videogames Forum!

Our writer, Geoffroy, was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion on how to manage the transition between different projects at HORIZON(S), a two-day event for game industry decision-makers. He was with Sabrina Alessandri of Tower Five from La Rochelle and David Duriot of LA POULE NOIRE from Angoulme. Now the question is, how does this relate to our studio? Well, you see, we have two creative directors, Geoffroy and Nico, who switch roles for each new project. For instance, Nico served as the creative director for End of Lines, while Geoffroy is currently leading our new project. This means we have shorter waiting times between productions, allowing for a smoother transition and providing our studio with greater artistic diversity.

To Hell With the Ugly

To Hell With the Ugly is a point-and-click adventure game based on the novel of the same name by Boris Vian. You play Rock Bailey, a young man who's strikingly handsome and rather shallow, who gets kidnapped after leaving a jazz club. Navigate through bar brawls and a police investigation to assist Rocky https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455450/To_Hell_With_The_Ugly/

Empire of the Ants

Empire of the Ants set out on an epic adventure into the microscopic world in this photorealistic strategy game. Play as a brave ant and lead your colony through the perils of the forest and its diverse wildlife. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/

The Six One Indie Showcase !

Hey, if you're on our socials, you might have seen that we were in the alumni section of the Six One Indie Showcase! We thank them again for that selection.

Let's conclude with our usual exclusive artwork!

And in the meantime, Seers Isle, Along the Edge, and Across the Grooves and End of Lines are available here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). Best, Ophlie, on behalf of the team.

[ 2024-10-25 08:51:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone!

End of Lines Sale

End of Lines, our 2023 interactive graphic novel about climate change is currently on sale on Steam. For the rest of the week, you can get it for half the price, our biggest discount yet. We still think End of Lines is one of our best works, and it pains us that it didn't find as large of an audience as our other titles, so we hope this exceptional sale might help attract some visibility it sorely lacks. And of course, if you already played an liked the game, any of the usual stuff: sharing, liking, telling your friends about it or leaving a positive recommendation on Steam would help immensely (and would be greatly appreciated). The message we tried to articulate with End of Lines is very close to our hearts, especially during a year where global average temperatures records are broken repeatedly (source: copernicus.eu). So if the game is languishing at the bottom of your wishlist, now is the great time to buy it! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1658960/End_of_Lines/

What have we been up to?

Now that Echoes is released (no, it didn't went well; we'll wait for the dust to settle and we'll talk about it in detail in a future newsletter), we're full steam ahead on our next game, taking advantage of the summer to finish pre-production. It's still too early to talk about it at length, but we can already reveal that it will be a new installment of the series we started with Along the Edge and Across the Grooves. As it's become customary for the studio for the last few years, we left the scorching temperatures of the summer in the city for a more pastoral setting, so here's a shot of Nico (with Pauline, a dancer) and I (Geoffroy, with Twiggy, a dog) at work from Carcans and la Creuse, respectively.
Thats all for now, and see you next month! And in the meantime, Seers Isle, Along the Edge, and Across the Grooves and End of Lines are available here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). Best, Geoffroy, on behalf of the team.

[ 2024-07-31 08:10:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're very glad to announce that Echoes is now available on Steam! Dive into an intriguing story where murder mystery meets cosmic horror as you follow Ricky Fox's investigation set in a seemingly sleepy town of the American North-West, where each layer of lies you peels off reveals a more horrifying truth. Will our protagonist manage to crack the case without losing himself in the process? Get it now with the 15% launch discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1775220/Echoes/ And if you already own one (or several) Nova-box games, you can complete your collection with an extra 10% off using this bundle link: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ Echoes is a remake of our very first foray into the realm of narrative games. For the few of those who remember the original version, thank you for sticking with us for more than a decade! We really hope you'll enjoy this heavily upgraded version of the story. All the best, Geoffroy, on behalf of the team.

[ 2024-06-27 13:38:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Nous sommes trs heureux d'annoncer qu'Echoes est dsormais disponible! Plongez dans un univers intriguant o le polar rencontre l'horreur cosmique et suivez une enqute palpitante dans une petite ville d'apparence tranquille du nord-ouest amricain. Chaque mensonge que vous dvoilez au grand jour dissimule en ralit une vrit de plus en plus effroyable. Parviendrez-vous rsoudre le mystre sans vous perdre dans les mandres de la folie? Profitez ds maintenant du solde de lancement de 15%: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1775220/Echoes/ Et si vous possdez dj un (ou plusieurs) jeux Nova-box, vous pouvez complter votre collection avec un solde supplmentaire de 10% en utilisant ce lien: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ Echoes est un remake de notre tout premier jeu narratif. Pour ceux d'entre vous qui se souviennent de la version d'origine, merci mille fois d'tre toujours l, plus de dix ans plus tard! Nous esprons de tout cur que vous apprcierez cette version profondment amliore d'Echoes. Amicalement, Geoffroy, au nom de toute l'quipe.

[ 2024-05-29 16:26:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! I know we promised you more regular updates, but I'm afraid March came and went with no news from us due to Nico being very busy with his teaching gigs and I (Geoffroy) battling a nasty pulmonary infection. So, here we are, fashionably late, but bearing important news, as you'll discover if you keep on scrolling towards the bottom end of this digital missive.

SPAWN! Festival 2024

A couple of weeks ago, we had the joy of going to Angoulme for the second edition of the Spawn festival, which showcases indie games that are either local to Nouvelle-Aquitaine, eco-responsible, progressive, or all of the above, which, as you can imagine, is right up our alley. As always, the hospitality of our peers from Angoulme was incredible, we had such a great time!
A wild writer is hiding somewhere in the picture, can you spot him? Photo credit: Capucine Chauffourier.

Announcing our next game: Echoes

The name "Echoes" may sound familiar to the ears of our most devoted readers, since it was indeed the first game we ever released as an independent studio, even before Along the Edge, back in 2013. Being released in the very early days of the iPhone AppStore, we were a bit sad to see this piece our history slowly withering away, sadly destined to one day become completely incompatible with the current version of the Apple hardware and software. It ended bothering us so much that, I (Geoffroy) started working on this side project on and off from September 2021, having a little bit of time to spare during the production of End of Lines. Fortunately, we had the foresight to prepare for an eventual PC release, so we already had high-resolution visual assets at hand. Less fortunately, the scripts for the game were completely incompatible after a decade of evolution of "Teckel", our in-house narrative game engine.
Also, diving back into the project, we quickly realized the gigantic gap of quality between our first attempt at a narrative game and our later, very obviously superior, work. So, we decided that we might as well take this opportunity to do justice to these characters we loved, and I re-wrote the totality of the text, dialogs, and choices from the ground up, keeping only the twists and turns of the original story (as imagined by Frdric "Ekmule" Lignac) as a guideline. After the release of End of Lines last year, Nico retouched the illustrations that were in the most dire need of an upgrade, and we asked our friends and regular collaborators Camille and Julien from Illustrason to expand and remaster the soundtrack and the sound effects of the game for good measure. As usual, Rachel translated this new version of the text into English and Alix made sure everything was free of any typos or mistakes. That brings us to today, proud and ready to unveil this heavily remade edition of Echoes. If you want learn more about the game, please, have a look at our Steam page, and please consider adding it to your wishlist, as an offering to the mighty algorithm gods, if nothing else. We'll appreciate it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1775220/Echoes/ The game is set to release soon (probably sooner than you think) for PC, Mac, Linux and the Nintendo Switch. As always, the game has been tested and optimized for the Steam Deck or any potato capable of running Windows 10 (as it is now required to launch Steam).

What have we been up to?

As you can imagine, Echoes has been taking up most of our attention recently, but we're also making progress on our next game. Stay tuned for more on that front soon. To conclude, here's our traditional monthly illustration. This one shows the evolution of the art style of Echoes from one episode to the next, following and depicting the gradual degradation of the narrator's psyche, one of the most original features of the game.
Thats all for now, and see you next month! And in the meantime, Seers Isle, Along the Edge, and Across the Grooves and End of Lines are available here on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15195/Novabox_Collection/ If you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you can register here: http://www.nova-box.com/signup You'll get extra-fresh updates about our projects and our whereabouts once a month, nestled in the coziness of your own inbox (we'll never send spam, and you can unsubscribe anytime). Best, Geoffroy, on behalf of the team.

[ 2024-04-24 14:01:02 CET ] [ Original post ]