Franz Mobile Game
The French game of the studio Ice-Pick Lodge was released on October 16, 2023 for both mobile platforms. iOS/a>
===Franz===Franz’s game is at the intersection of genres: it’s both a chororor-tagochi, a visual novel, and a chat-bot. There was a joke inside the team that Franz was an emulator of «toxic dependent relationships». This is explained by Anna Pymonova’s narration designer:
We get into a dark, shredded fabric space where a creature named Franz lives.
Franz is in a bad mood, according to the mimic.
The player’s communication with Franz takes place by searching for inscriptions. In the game, there are several locations on which the player moves depending on how his relationship with Franz is built.
The dominant colours of the locations correspond to the phases of the Great Alchemy: Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo
Franz is not just an app. It’s a living creature with its will and character, and the entire gameplay is based on building a psycho-emotional connection with it. Franz’s mood is variable, so the player is often forced to make ethical choices whether to adjust or not. And try to answer your own question: «I and Franz, who are we to each other?»
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Communication with Franz can be not only verbal but also tactile. You can influence her and show you how you feel about her using gentle or aggressive interaction. However, Franz’s mood is fluid — she can hint or speak directly as she wants the player to treat her.
Says the author of Nikolai Dybovsky’s idea: «The topic of the game is contact with the outsider and how it can develop. This has really been on my mind for a long time. And yes, you can say it’s deeply personal. Such contacts, in my view, are inherently dangerous, perhaps from here, and the form of the relationship.»
Professional development
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Franz is proportional to the player’s hand; it feels like a doll the size of a phone. The tactileness of the phone is passed on to the character.
The smartphone in the player’s hand is not a device to communicate with Franz or even the box she lives in. It’s her body.
A few words about it from the art director:
Sometimes, if the emotional thrust of the story grows, there are scary metamorphosiss with Franz: it loses its human appearance, it leaps indiscriminately, and it approaches dramatically.
Werelephant garrison designed specifically for the game Franz
Yohanna Garnither developed specifically for the game Franz
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Ideas, game design, texts Nikolai Dybowski Project guidance, practical design, texts Anna Pymonova Art Director and painter, site design, font, character design, animation, logo Oleg Paschenko Animation Peter Potalop Photo and collages Andrei Kovalev Sound Vasil Kashnikov, Nikolai Balinov Voice / b> Dana Kirilenko Programme Maxim Kolos, Dmitry Kapin Testing Konstantin Kolyad, George Efremov, Dmitry Kapin Reacture and translation Nikolai Vestalin Kolyat, Vistalin Kolyat, Kysimtov, Koydnytov, Kohtyna, Kyinthal, Divin Syna, Nehorov, Dhorov and Kytynablinskov,
