Monochroma (2014)
Wordless Cinematic Puzzle-Platformer Crowdfunded on Kickstarter and Scored by Experimental Band Gevende
Developed and self-published in May 2014 by Istanbul-based Nowhere Studios under founder Burak Tezateşer following an international Kickstarter campaign, Monochroma is a wordless cinematic puzzle-platformer combining grayscale-and-crimson visual design, sibling-carrying physics mechanics, and an original acoustic-psychedelic score by Turkish band Gevende.
Kickstarter Financing, Monochrome Art Direction, and Dystopian Setting
Founded in Istanbul in 2011 by producer and designer Burak Tezateşer, Nowhere Studios conceived Monochroma to bring narrative-driven independent console and PC production to an ecosystem in Turkey otherwise concentrated in browser and mobile titles. Between July and August 2013, the team conducted an international crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter—supported by a publicly playable pre-release demonstration—securing approximately 84,600 US dollars past its 80,000-dollar target and becoming one of the earliest Turkish game studios to finance production through global backer patronage. Built in Unity and released digitally on May 28, 2014 across Windows, macOS, and Linux (followed by an Xbox One port in 2016), the game unfolds inside an alternate 1950s industrial city where a monopolistic conglomerate markets domestic utility robots while concealing exploitative factory operations. Eschewing all spoken dialogue, floating text boxes, and on-screen button prompts, the art direction renders rain-swept rooftops, warehouses, and sewers in German Expressionist black-and-white contrast, reserving saturated crimson red solely for the younger brother's scarf and critical environmental hazards.
Sibling-Carrying Physics Constraints and Gevende Musical Collaboration
At the mechanical level, Monochroma modifies the trial-and-error physics puzzle-platformer framework popularized by Playdead's Limbo and Team Ico's Ico through an asymmetrical caregiving constraint. Minutes into the opening act, while flying a red kite outside the city, the protagonist's younger brother injures his ankle after witnessing a corporate crime. For the remainder of the six-hour journey, the older sibling must carry his injured brother on his back, a physical burden that substantially reduces horizontal running speed and vertical jump clearance. Whenever a spatial puzzle requires full acrobatic agility—such as scaling high ledges, operating counterweights, or outrunning automated pursuit—the player must set the child down; however, because the younger brother is terrified of the dark, he can only be placed directly beneath pools of overhead light without triggering panic or vulnerability to environmental traps. Accompanying this wordless progression is an original instrumental soundtrack recorded by Istanbul experimental folk-rock band Gevende, whose acoustic guitar, trumpet, viola, and ambient percussion themes shift dynamically with the narrative tension.