Hello humans!
So, long story short: We're proud to announce that White Shadows is now ready for Razer Chroma! 🙂
Want a long story a little bit longer? Sure. Here you go.
So, you know what RGB color space is, right? RGB stands for the colors red, green and blue, and it's the most-used standard of color representation that you'll find in all kinds of screens. As in, most probably the one you are staring at right now. Unless, of course, you spend your time scouring the interwebs for 1940s TV prototypes and find ways to hook them up to a computer that could probably get you to the moon. And if you do, more power to you! But let's say you're looking at an RGB screen. Which is something you're doing a lot then. Come to think of it, probably too much. So go outside, it's a really nice day! Don't want to? Fine. Your loss. Let's continue. This thing, the RGB color space screen, has color depth, too. Let's say 8 bits, which means it has 256 colors per channel, resulting in a maximum number of possible color gradations of around 16.8 million. You, know... lots of colors!
Why is that relevant? Well, it isn't really, but we thought you'd like to know. Oh, and also, it means your screen really doesn't have a whole lot to do when it's running White Shadows. Decades of technological advancements by really, really smart people, making it affordable for everyone in the Western World to spend their spare time looking at millions of colors, and the folks at Monokel decide to be super clever and use just 2 of them. Black. White. We even got the color of shadows wrong. Oh, and technically, we're not really just using 2 colors, but a spectrum between black and white, which means, I guess, we're using 256 shades of gray? I mean... Okay.
Long story a little shorter, there is a good chance we have no idea what we're talking about.
So we were a bit surprised when we got the request from Razer to include Chroma in White Shadows. You know, Chroma being the super flashy thing with millions of colors people use to make their AAA playing experiences even nicer. So we heard the request, and we were like "bla bla bla, really?" and they were like "yeah, no, sure, really, why not?" and we're like "but bla bla bla huh why? like, cos, you know, two colors?" and they're like "just try it, it's really cool" and we're like "but it's a lot of work and we're a tiny studio" and they're like "no no, we made it really simple for you" and we're like "but, you know... colors?" and they're like "no, really, you should try it!" and we're like "but it's hot and bla" and they're like "..." and so we were like "okay".
And so we took a look at Razer Chroma. You might know it much better than we do: It connects Razer peripherals and can broadcast effects and actions in games by illuminating the keyboard, mouse, headset, mouse pad, etc. And once we looked at it and tested the possibilities, it started to make real sense. Even for a black and white and stylized game like ours. Or maybe even especially for a game like ours. Just sit in a dark room with one of White Shadows' brightly lit trains rushing at you, and you'll understand:
If you've got the hardware, White Shadows will automatically play the effects from now on. Well, that is, you can turn them off, somewhere, probably, but why would you? They're awesome!
Let us know what you think.
Be safe,
The Monokel Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158890/White_Shadows/