Nintendo News | Nibris Gets Help, New Sadness Info

Polish independent developer Nibris has released more information about Wii survival horror title Sadness, as they promised a little while ago.

Realising that they do not have the manpower in-house to develop a next-generation game alone, they have teamed up with Frontline Studios to aid them with programming. Frontline have a team of around 30 people and have experience with Nintendo platforms, developing titles like Sudoku Mania and Hardcore Pool for Nintendo DS, as well as PC experience with games such as Mafioso. Digital Amigos, a company specialising in graphics who have previously worked on titles such as Xbox game Painkiller, will also be coming on board to help with the visual side of Sadness. Nibris have also roped psychologists and horror writers in to help with development.

The publisher has still not been revealed, and Nibris have no intention of talking about who they are either, leaving it to the publisher to post it on their website when they are ready. However, they have confirmed that neither Atlus nor Majesco is involved (for those curious, Majesco was the developer that we at Cubed3 had previously thought were linked to Nibris). All publication of in-game screens, demos and other presentations will be decided by the publisher.

Nibris is choosing not to reveal anymore of the storyline. "Sadness is a novelty on the video games market. Both the story and the presentation of the game [are] going to be a surprise for a player. You must forgive us [for] the fact that we present so scarce information about Sadness, but we hope that once you play it you will understand our circumspection. We do not want to spoil the fun," says Adam Artur Antolski, one of the scriptwriters. However, they did give examples of games that inspire them: Eternal Darkness, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Planetscape: Torment, ICO and Phantasmagoria.

Monsters, such as the previously shown Likho, are derived from Slavic legends. It has been said that, as with Likho, you may not encounter all monsters in the game, as it all depends on how you play and the choices that you make. Most of the game takes place in Ukraine before World War 1, and the style will be leaning towards photorealism while remaining unique with the black and white visuals.

Sadness will not have any menus, the saving system will be invisible for players and Wiimote controller operations will be intuitive. "We aim at completely intuitive behaviour of the player