Blanc patch version 133 is now live.

This patch addressed a possible issue with multiplayer connectivity, which should now be resolved.

If you have played or are playing Blanc and run into any issues, please check our Common Issues and FAQ[support.gearboxsoftware.com] or submit a support ticket to our Customer Support team[support.gearboxsoftware.com] and we would be happy to look into it for you.

Version 131

Blanc patch version 131 is now live.
Please see the notes below on all the changes that have been made.

• In 4:3 resolutions, keyboard controls are no longer cut off
  
• Fixed an issue where the main menu was difficult to navigate and missing the 3 play options, and prompts such as to exit the game are no longer missing
  
• Overall improvements have been made to the main menu and pause menu, including navigation with a D-pad, general unresponsiveness, and online UI improvements in character selection and pause menu
  
• Overall fixes to game crashing or being unable to start, such as when alt-tabbed

• Resolved an error found when after exiting an online lobby, the user was no longer able to create subsequent game lobbies for the same setup/account
  
• Overall fixes were made to character, UI and other displays when playing in online multiplayer
  
• When an online game mode is selected without an internet connection, the error message has been fixed from reading ‘no friends on the list’ to a more accurate error message
  
• Playing a local online game should no longer set it to a non-functional solo mode
  
• Fixed an issue when an online game is interrupted by loss of internet connection, reselecting the online game mode (while still not online), the friends list was still appearing as normal

• Default keyboard control scheme has been set to WASD
  
• Full custom keyboard remapping has been added to the game
  
• While using a keyboard, scrolling in the pause menu and options no longer scrolls 2 at a time
  
• The controls submenu navigation has been improved
  
• Fixed issues found when the keyboard is bound as the primary controller scheme with a gamepad plugged in, the prompts in menus were gamepad prompts instead of keyboard, and the tutorial prompt to move showed joystick icons

If you have played or are playing Blanc and run into any issues, please check our Common Issues and FAQ[support.gearboxsoftware.com] or submit a support ticket to our Customer Support team[support.gearboxsoftware.com] and we would be happy to look into it for you.

We wanted to take a moment to thank you for providing feedback and submitting tickets about any issues you experienced while playing Blanc. We have been hard at work improving the game since launch based on your feedback, as we want to ensure that you and future players can immerse yourselves fully in this snowy adventure.

Please see the notes below on all the changes that have been made.

• Fixed an issue in Chapter Select where repeated key inputs during the loading screen resulted in an infinite loading screen
  
• Addressed an issue where title does not progress past save warning screen when there’s no active internet connection
  
• Improvements made to the HUD, UI, main menu, and interactable elements display and functionality
  
• Fixed an issue in the options menu where changes were no longer being recorded after many repeated changes were being made
  
• Improvements made to the character selection screen, especially in second controller management

• Overall gameplay improvements have been made to the wolf and fawn’s interactivity with the environment, for example jumping or clipping into an unintended area, getting stuck and being unable to proceed, or wolf being able to jump to a high ledge without the fawn’s assistance (when intended), and many other fixes
  
• The geese, goats, and siblings sections have had improvements made to ensure the NPCs appear properly. Progress and progression steps are not skippable or locking players from proceeding
  
• Many reported gameplay issues that caused the game to freeze, or lock have been resolved, including collision and progression bugs
  
• Camera functionality has been improved - transitions and clipping into objects/environment have been smoothed or fixed
  
• When playing online co-op, improvements have been made to display of the second character
  
• Puzzles interactivity have been improved, especially for the gosling wind puzzle at the end of Chapter 5

• Overall connectivity fixes have been made to online and local co-operative play modes based on user-reported issues and feedback
  
• Fixed an issue reported in local gameplay after launching then canceling a game multiple times in a row where the loading symbol remained present even after a client has joined
  
• Localized text should now properly appear (based on user language settings) when a client runs into connectivity issues
  
• Resolved an issue found after completing an online session and waiting through the credits, when returning into the multiplayer game modes caused one of the users to have a loss of functionality with the shoulder and back buttons
  
• Fixed an issue when closing the pause menu and/or interacting with it while in an online game that causes a user to be disconnected
  
• Improvements made to various connectivity issues that were causing desync and/or loss of functionality
  
• Fixes made to bugs reported when linking Steam and Epic Games Store accounts, causing the invite friend sub-menu functionality to stop working
  
• - Resolved various issues such as: searching for local games being unresponsive, trying to select a character in either online modes causes the user to be kicked off the lobby, or the characters cannot be selected (controls unresponsive)

• In online co-op, controller reassignment menu fixes have been made to display the correct controllers of both users
  
• Various use cases of controller disconnect issues have been resolved, including in local solo multiplayer disconnecting a controller causing the pause menu to only appear for the one currently in control of both characters
  
• When converting from an online multiplayer game to solo mode, contextual action prompts have been fixed and should display the proper inputs for the local controllers
  
• When player 1 controller is disconnected, the player 2 controller will become the primary controller
  
• Fixed an issue so that the controller does not fully override keyboard functionality on Online Multiplayer lobby

If you have played or are playing Blanc and run into any issues, please check our Common Issues and FAQ or submit a support ticket to our Customer Support team and we would be happy to look into it for you.

Let’s set the scene:
Scratch, scratch, scratch. The wolf cub's furry head just emerged from the snow.
Huff, pant.
Panting heavily, it tries to catch its breath and then lets out a faint whimper.
The cold is biting, you can even hear the frost crackling on the nearest tree branch. The wind gently whistles through nearby trees.
A gust of fine-powdered snow has brushed away the trail of the wolf’s family.
Awroooooooo.
The cub howls and the only response is the distant echo of its own voice.
It is all so quiet, yet the silence is deafening as we introduce players to the world of Blanc.

In-game screenshot, the wolf cub introduction cutscene.

Hello! My name is Pierre-Marie Blind, the Audio Designer and Foley Artist on Blanc. I remember that I was onboarded onto the project in late January 2021 - it was winter in Holland, and much to my luck it was -12 °C (32°F) and snowing heavily outside my window. I was able to get started right away.

I spent my first week on the project outside gathering sounds: rolling snowballs, lifting up frozen tree trunks, shaking heavy branches, pounding on the snow, walking on frozen lakes… and falling through one of them with my microphones.

Field recording sessions for Blanc in January 2021, Venlo, The Netherlands.

Yet at this point, all I knew about the game was that the cast would be all animals. A wolf cub, a fawn, some ducks, and… plenty of snow! Just lots of it! These field recording sessions proved to be essential later and allowed all the careful articulation that was needed to bring these characters to life. Indeed the needs for Blanc's soundscape were truly one of a kind.

The sound design of Blanc composes with the silence of nature during a long winter. Its reduced orchestra plays only a few instruments: the presence and movements of the animals on screen, their whines, howls, and cries of joy (hear the many celebrations in Chapter 10!). The second main instrument is the epic wilderness itself, the wind. Sometimes protective (the quiet hush of the forest in Chapter 2), sometimes lonely (the deserted village in Chapter 3, standing for a bit near those TV antennas), sometimes dangerous (have you crossed that bridge in Chapter 8?), or occasionally absent (like in Chapter 9’s eerie all-white landscape). Louis' music left plenty of room for an intricate dialogue between the arrangement of his interactive tunes and the melody of the wind.

We spent a lot of time fine-tuning how we could contribute to each other’s propositions at any moment of Blanc'sadventure. Chapter 8 contains a good example: An incipient storm is coming, and our duo is now accompanied by a couple of goats as they start crossing a bridge. As they progress, the wind roars and whistles while the bridge’s metal structure screeches and whines. The music reduces itself to a reduced ostinato of violins. The danger of the environment dominates all of your senses.

A bit later, as the wolf cub and the fawn now head down alone in the snowstorm, the environment evaporates. Visibility is reduced to a few meters. Sound-wise, suddenly you can only hear the snow and wind violently whipping our duo while the music takes over the dramatic tension with dozens of instruments, high and lows, and leads the way until the scene’s ending.

Most of the Foley* of our two companions were done by hammering fresh snow and icy lakes with gloves and other props. As you may have noticed the wolf cub has a very different attitude compared to the fawn. He is short, easily out of breath, growls as he tries to climb the higher spots, and walks (or should I say pushes!) around the snow, a bit like a snowplow.

Make sure to pause for a bit on the frozen lake in Chapter 4. You’ll start to hear the ice crackling below their feet, and who knows, they might fall through like me and my microphones!

The prop that was used for the sniffing nose of the fawn.

The pair of gloves that were used for most of the wolf cub movements across various surfaces.

For the fawn steps on the wood beams, I used cooked coconut meat and ground coffee sprinkled over a few wood planks.

The Foley for the goslings and the mother goose is a classic trick: plastic gloves and a feather duster. Their voice was made with a flute’s beak. If the goslings didn't drive you nuts by the end of Chapter 5, make sure to lean in an attentive ear once they have reached safety and you will hear them taking the cutest nap in unison!

The vocalization palette for the fawn turned out to be the most difficult design of the game. In the real world, fawns are very quiet animals, they only make a few noises, with one of the most common being a not-so-attractive “bleat.” In the final game, after many unsuccessful iterations, the fawn ended up using a mix of a few real fawn vocalizations, adult does, along with vocalizations of coyotes, human babies, baby goats, and even baby camels!

On the technical side, Blanc’s sound design uses minimal technology and systems for real-time gameplay. We focused most of the effort on the content. Blanc being a linear experience, the most important was to get the atmosphere, the pacing, the dramatic tension, and the inherent degree of repetitiveness right.

An interesting thing about repetitiveness is that some sound effects have a lot of variations and high granularity, like footsteps sounds. Others have purposefully no variations. Beyond technical considerations (like memory budget which is not really a problem on today’s platforms), the choice of having none, a bit, or many variations was conditioned by the relation the player would have to these sounds in their context. The wolf cub’s footsteps, for example, are made up of three groups: walking, trotting, and running, each broken into 2 to 3 subgroups (depending if the step is a strong support step or a light step in their animation cycle). Each of these subgroups contains up to 15 variations - he is a four-legged animal after all! Because these footsteps are triggered so often and have to feel the most natural, it was important to give them a high number of variations.

On the opposite end, a puzzle like the large tree trunk balance in Chapter 4 only has a single sound for each direction it pivots. For this, the intention was to make the riddle more amusing, so purposefully I made it feel more artificial to the ear (no natural sound repeats exactly the same in the real world), making it a bit funny and easily memorized. As our two characters balance up and down again and again until they find the solution, the sound design sets an audible running gag for each of the players’ missteps. Making sound variations is relatively cheap with today’s technology, yet the use and quantity of variations need to be carefully considered as they can make or break a subtle comical opportunity.

In-game screenshot, the tree trunk riddle in Chapter 4.

From the quietest to the most intense sequences, we hope you enjoyed the sound experience we crafted for Blanc as much as we enjoyed making it!

Buy the Soundtrack on Steam!

Follow Pierre-Marie Blind on Twitter


*Foley is the art of performing custom sounds to a picture, a game, a radio, or theatre screenplay generally with the help of various props. Things like character movements are often best recorded fresh for every project to match best their attitude, weight, and other unique traits.

We are beyond excited to finally share Blanc with you!

It is with intense emotion that we release Blanc today, the first game created by us here at Casus Ludi and our extended teams. We hope you enjoy it!

Blanc is a game that has been designed to create moments of mutual aid and empathy. We hope that you will create many memories of these moments as you share this experience with your friends, your loved ones, and your families.

We believe that we have succeeded in transmitting all of the emotions we were looking to create through the tale of this improbable but adorable duo, and we hope that when you are done playing, you will agree! Thank you for your support and please enjoy.

-Casus Ludi 🖤🤍

Looking back, it’s not just our tracks left in the snow that we see, but the path we've taken. Since the fateful Game Jam in a snowy Quebec City in April 2018, where "La Piste" was born, it has been quite a journey – one as unexpected as the one awaiting our two black and white friends.

Through the major steps of the project such as making a solid prototype, designing the project, and looking for a publisher to assist with finally producing Blanc, the team has grown and our little characters have evolved.

We can't say that everything went as planned or without difficulty, but this is common among most video game productions. Looking back over our shoulder today we can only be happy with what we have achieved so far, and we are so excited to be able to share that work with you.

Seeing Blanc showcased at Nintendo Direct Mini, then at Nintendo Indie World and even more recently at Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition made us realize what is coming: Blanc will soon be in the hands of the public. And all of you will get to experience what so many talented people have given their best to deliver: a journey home together, full of wonder and emotion.

At the end of 2022, almost 5 years after we took our first steps with our unlikely duo in the snowy wilderness of Blanc, we are now ready to see them bring you their fragility, their joys, and their adventures. We hope that these moments of sharing and cooperation with your gaming partners will positively mark you, as that would be our best reward!

As we step into 2023, we are excited to share that the New Year brings Blanc even closer to launch on February 14 and that development remains on schedule!


Stay tuned for further updates as we approach launch and be sure to be following us on social media as we cannot wait to see you share your experiences with Blanc!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlancTheGame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlancTheGame/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blancthegame/