Review Fix Exclusive: Gabriele Papalini CEO/Founder of Mad Orange Talks ‘Face Noir’

Review Fix chats with CEO / Founder of Mad Orange Gabriele Papalini who discusses the upcoming “Face Noir,” a gritty tale all set for a fall release on Steam.

Review Fix: Why do you think noir is still an engaging genre?

Gabriele Papalini: I have always thought of Noir as a state of mind, rather than as only a literary or cinematographic genre. The crude narrative style and the strong introspection give both a very realistic experience and also a very particular point of view on things. While in mystery novels the question that keeps everything running is “Who?” (“Who is the murderer, the mystery man?” etc.), Noir novels seem to ignore this question altogether and focus on “Why?” (“Why has the victim been killed? Why has all of this happened?”) These questions don’t lead to an obsessive search for clues but to an analysis of the places and of the people involved, going beyond the appearances and digging deeper into the true nature of things. Several Noir novels are not only a narration of events, but also an analysis of the society of the time and of how people tried to survive to it. The fact that Noir is so deeply tied to social issues rather than to those of individuals is what makes this genre so modern, even today. The Big Sleep and Blade Runner are both considered to be Noir, even though there are more than 50 years between them.

Review Fix: Point and click games still have a large cult following, why do you think that is?

Papalini: Try asking a friend about the plot of The Fast and the Furious. Probably, after thinking for a while, he will tell you that there are two guys who race cars and that one of them is Vin Diesel. Try asking him the same question about the plot of Blade Runner or The Dark Knight and chances are that after half an hour he’ll still be there telling you all the details. That’s exactly why I think that graphic adventure games are unique: they leave an impression on you, you will never forget them and you will always carry a part of them in yourself. In fact, even those players that don’t particularly like the genre end up quoting dialogs from graphic adventure games in their forum signatures. (I guess a quote going “Bang bang bang, BOOM” wouldn’t impress the other users very much.) Bottom line, I think that graphic adventure games will always have a following since they represent an educational/cultural offering, before even being a videogame.

Review Fix: Point and click games rely on excellent narratives. What do you think makes your story stand out?

Papalini: When developing Face Noir our main objective was to create as good a game as possible (which wasn’t easy with no budget). Some developers try to create something original at all costs but I don’t think that this is necessary. One should create what they feel passionate about, what they are interested in or what they are knowledgeable about. We are passionate about the 30s, so we decided to set our game in that era. We live in Italy, a country that is going through a moral crisis on top of a financial one, and we decided to put this in our story as well. In conclusion, I think that a story’s originality doesn’t lie solely in its plot but also in the way it is told. If you think about Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino, it’s not the plot but the way it is told that makes it a masterpiece.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part of the game?

Papalini: Picking a specific one is very hard but if I had to it would probably be the part when Jack meets Sean. For the entire game we tried to stay as faithful as possible to the Noir theme and only towards the end did we decide to deviate from it. This deviation will have a strong influence on Face Noir II. In fact, while this first game can be considered a true homage to Noir, in the second game we would like to venture into something different, moving away from the elements that characterize this genre.

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy it the most?

Papalini: Face Noir is not an action game: it has a slow rhythm, just like Raymond Chandler’s books do, and relies on dialog, exploration, and careful consideration. We hope that the more reflective players will enjoy it and we are pretty sure that the more action-liking ones won’t. Forgive us, but it is impossible to please everyone.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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