Hello detectives!

As mentioned quite a while ago, we've been working on a new update for NNL. The primary goal for this update was to upgrade our engine to the newer version to hopefully address some of the more fundamental bugs that players have run into, such as odd cursor behaviour on Mac and various rare crashes. Since we haven't been able to replicate these ourselves, an engine update is all we can really do in terms of addressing them.

While that was in progress, we also got an opportunity to add controller support to the game. Progress on that is going extremely well, and is more or less complete. Some puzzles (such as the KK peanut grab) have been streamlined to be more accessible on controller, hotspot sizes have been increased as needed, text has been increased in size to be readable at TV distance, and lots more! Note that only Xbox controllers are officially supported through this system, but this does still mean that Steamdecks should work flawlessly. We can't easily get one where we live, so unfortunately we can't verify that, but if you own one - give it a shot!

Finally, we've fixed a few more bugs that people have reported, such as Oscar disappearing if you use a particular combination of items and being unable to talk to certain characters in Bee's room if you're standing in a particular spot, and achievements not working for GOG. We are also taking a look at the audio levels of some of the voice to see whether we can address any especially loud lines which people have complained about. Do not, however, that lines which sound a little softer at the start are not targeted for change, as those are mostly due to actor performance and delivery, and are as expected. But if you have specific lines you think need a fix, do let us know!

Most of this - especially the controller support - is available for beta testing right now! Simply switch to the "controller" branch on Steam. Do note that this is currently only being updated for Windows. Work is ongoing, with updates a few times a week still, so minor bugs can still be expected (and no work has yet been done to the audio on it). Also note that due to the engine upgrade, save games *might* break. We are unsure about this. In order to let people keep using their old saves after the update goes live, we have added a "legacy" branch on Steam which contains the old build. If you run into strangeness on existing saves, switch to "legacy" and see if it works there. Our official recommendation is going to be to play a new save with the new release.

Thanks for playing!

Cuddles & Tabby

This is what it's all been building up to. All the writing, the editing, the characters...all if it was calculated with surgical precision to make us maybe have a chance at this award.

Remember, when you vote for us, you're not just voting for a rich story...you're voting to make one exhausted writer's life have meaning.

• Fix for art overlapping Cuddles in Bartholomew's office.
  
• Fix for Cuddles switching to his regular outfit when using certain items on Tybalt while in pickle form.
  
• Fix for art overlapping character in amusement park.

If you encounter any other issues while playing, please report them on our discussion forum or Discord. Thanks!

Patch 1.0.1 will be going out soon, and includes the following changes:

• Upgraded Visionaire to the latest version. This is expected to fix a number of small issues, including flickering inventory items and inconsistent mouse click behaviour.
  
• Fixed some German translation issues for "Bill".
  
• Fixed a z-index issue with some art in the Knitty Kitty Club.
  
• Fixed a line in La Boule de Poils incorrectly hinting at a puzzle solution.

If you encounter any issues with the new patch, please be sure to report them on the discussion forums or on our Discord. Thanks for playing!

For those of you not following our Twitter, you may not have seen us introduce the many voice actors from Nine Noir Lives.

While Cuddles (Lucas Gilbertson) and Tabby (Carol-Anne Day) will be familiar from our demo and trailers, there's many more voices to discover as you play - fourteen in total!

So, sit back and enjoy these short vignettes giving you a taste of each of the voice actors you'll get to experience when Nine Noir Lives releases next week!

Pretoria, South Africa (July 7, 2022) — Today, independent developer Silvernode Games is purring with delight, as they are announcing that their comedy-noir “point-and-lick” adventure game, Nine Noir Lives, will claw its way onto PC via Steam and GOG on September 7, 2022. Cat lovers and adventure game aficionados alike are invited to pounce into the furry, delicate, yet capable paws of Cuddles Nutterbutter and unravel a fun — and occasionally fiendish — feline mystery set in the beautifully hand-drawn city of Meow Meow Furrington.

The story, themes, and tone of Nine Noir Lives draws its inspiration from several very different sources, including classic film noir, Shakespeare, and the absurdist comedy style of writer and director Taika Waititi. This unlikely combination allowed Silvernode Games to craft a unique, comedic adventure grounded by more serious subject matter.

In Nine Noir Lives, players will take on the role of Cuddles Nutterbutter, a feline private investigator with a taste for solving crime… literally. Cuddles will poke, talk, and lick his way through his toughest investigation yet: a murder case that threatens to upset the tenuous relationship between the paw-erful Montameeuw and Catulet crime families. Along the way, players will interact with dozens of fully-voiced characters, beautifully hand-drawn scenes, and devious puzzles to answer the most important question of all: how many things need to be licked to solve a murder in this town?

Fueled by a lifelong passion for point-and-click adventure games, the two person team at Silvernode Games has been hard at work creating a love letter to the most beloved games in the genre like Grim Fandango and Broken Sword. Nine Noir Lives builds on everything that came before it, adapting elements from other classic adventure games to create an experience that is simultaneously familiar and fresh.

“Nine Noir Lives is a passion project we’ve been self-funding for several years now,” said William Kruger, Founder of Silvernode Games. “We set out to make the sort of game that we always wanted to get lost in. It’s been a real labor of love, and we can’t wait for players to step into our cat-filled world when the game launches in September.”

Key Features of Nine Noir Lives Include:

1. Brought Up on Feline-y Charges: A charming comedy-noir storyline set in the unique and intriguing city of Meow Meow Furrington, inspired by every cat ever and with fewer cat puns than you might expurrct.
   
2. A Point-and-Lick Adventure: Discover a whole new dimension to everything in the game by using Cuddles’ tongue. Lick first, and ask questions later. Questions like "what did you expect that to taste like, Cuddles?"
   
3. S’more Cats Equals S’more Fun: Experience the city from two very different perspectives as you switch between Cuddles and his trusty assistant, Tabby Marshmallow.
   
4. Purrfect Voice Acting: Laugh and learn about the world of Furth with over a hundred thousand words of fully-voiced dialogue performed by an all-star cast including Lucas Gilbertson (Megaman X), Carol-Anne Day (A Hat in Time) and SungWon Cho (Borderlands 3, God of War Ragnarok).

For a taste of what to expect from Nine Noir Lives, watch the latest trailer that introduces the struggle between the two most powerful families in Meow Meow Furrington.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAqKUfJEZA0

Nine Noir Lives will launch for PC and Mac via Steam and GOG on September 7, 2022. A demo is available now.

If you’d like to conduct your own investigation into Nine Noir Lives, be sure to follow the game on Twitter.

Join the developers, voice actors and beta testers of Nine Noir Lives as we discuss the story and worldbuilding that went into making the game.