Cannelé & Nomnom - Defective Agency

Absolutely amazing! Had a blast streaming this game with some friends. Wonderfully inspired by Ace Attorney (I know those sounds though i'm no snitch :3) It also fits the chaotic nature of detective stories like Sherlock Holmes and others throughout time. 

The conspiracy board feels like a better mechanic for thinking things through than the Ace Attorney Investigations series, incredibly clever mechanics and it was easy to zoom in!

The puns and naming jokes are INCREDIBLE and genius, my friends and I loved the mini game that was basically scrabble + poker, and even though the main characters were somewhat exhausting they were endearing and interesting enough that I had to play the whole story in one stream. Even though it is unfinished, getting to the end of the "investigations" segment still felt satisfying because the pieces are there, so while I want to know "the answer" waiting isn't painful because the mystery itself is so well-written.

-----------------------SPOILERS BELOW!----------------------------

Did I mention that the name puns were amazing? SO AMAZING

Hypothesis for who Canelle and Nomnom are (spoilers):
They're cats that turned into people at some point in their adulthood. Initially I was joking, but there is SO much in-game evidence for it that I'll be a little sad if that isn't the outcome.
Easiest of which being the fact that "furries" in this game can be people who turn into beasts or vice versa. 

General Feedback Notes (spoilers):
-As a trans and nonbinary person myself, I loved the use of they/them. It would be cool to know what pronouns Nomnom and Cantelle use as their descriptions are sometimes gendered (Nomnom also gets called a man). Is it he/they and she/they? does Nomnom see themself as a man who uses they/them pronouns? is it any pronouns? would be neat to know from the start. There's no right way to be nonbinary, if Nomnom sees himself/themself as a nonbinary man that totally makes sense!

-Canelle's puzzle was hard but I think it would be easier if
1. the first part of the puzzle either spelled out a word in an anagram (we really we thought we had it when we spelled out EHRS because "the stuff isn't HERS" OR
2.had some disclaimer stating that it didn't spell out any word. I think the first letter (E) and the third (R) were the most clear, and after doing the puzzle I understand it more.
3. Even a hint that says something like "I know who these things belong to, she can't change the truth!" after a few tries or a system where people can ask for a vague hint might help a lot.

-Not a big deal, but usually I can force minimize games.
It would be cool if this was available as widescreen rather than just full screen

-the soundtrack is awesome, I wish we got to hear it more often!

-The autoplay text kept getting turned on outside of the menu because I use a track pad (windows). Even a way in the setting menu to CHOOSE to turn on right click for autotext would help a ton.

-The way the "Hobo" is treated is super dehumanizing and it took away from the rest of the game's entertaining banter. I understand, most people haven't experienced what it's like to not have a stable home so compassion for people who are homeless/unhoused is rare. But it really feels wrong when contrasted with other morals shown in the story like ACAB (police hate homeless people and are usually terrorizing them or being used to move them away from "businesses" or become invisible so people don't SEE them as people).

I totally get why Hobo is included as a name for a person living on the streets, (It's what Apollo Justice did for localization) but it's pretty widely considered derogatory BY people who live that experience. Many people consider it of the worst terms towards homeless/unhoused people. Even though the pun of the hoboolean coin is super clever, It'd be best to let him be an actual person with a name or use a descriptive title like "the Whispering Man". Even if the name Hoboolean coin is kept, let him be his own individual rather than being dehumanized by "Whispering Hobo".
I am not saying the writers are "bad people" for doing it, I had to learn this too by actually listening to homeless people/people who are unhoused [there is no one preferred identity term, you really have to ask someone what they want to be called in real life] and because this game understands that cops are terrifying, I hope they take the feedback and consider making this game more compassionate towards a marginalized group. I get that he smells bad, but it's not like he has access to the basic needs that are human rights, so I don't understand the need to be cruel about it. 

Overall, amazing game and mechanics, captivating characters, a great soundtrack, and a well-thought-out mystery makes this a game (and characters)  that I can't wait to see more of! I would be beyond overjoyed if this became a series.

I played through the game after getting it in the earthquake relief bundle and it was cute! I liked the conspiracy board mechanic a lot, it was fun to link all of the post-its together. I also really liked NomNom's puzzle! For Cannelé's puzzle I struggled with that a little bit, it was less intuitive for me and I ended up using the walkthrough to get the right solution (I was very close to beating it but I gave up since i wanted to find out what happened lol). All in all it was a very fun game! I'm curious to find out how things will be resolved with the story. At the moment the game is unfinished and will soon be updated, prepare to end on a cliffhanger prospective players!

Characters/World

World building is wonderful!!! 

Cannele and Nomnom (nono haha) are so funny together love their realtionship, Im just as interested by them as the MC! I wont share my theories here but i have a few! (Not confident my choice... at all... they wont give me too much of a hard time!

oh.)

MC is by far my favourite, incredibly witty for someone who's lost their memories! Their thoughts make me crack up most of the time and def a better detective.... 

MC IS SO FUNNY HHAHA

Hes British isnt he, good old tea innit (im british...)

I actually adore MC (i am not calling him yasyas.) hes like a dad LMAOO

Good features

The question mark feature is so helpful, I am bad at french despite doing it in school... also incredibly funny at times! Yes, I know what a baguette is...

Colour feature is interesting! - I LOVE THE COLOURS SM IM SO INTRESTED IN THEM? THIS IS SO COOL

I CAN TURN OFF TIMER BASED EVENTS!>>?>?><"/1.Z/,2/,3 TYSM THOSE GIVE ME TOO MUCH ANXIETY

Suggestions

Wish I could go back, accidentally clicked an option without reading the line

Wish the music looped without the long long pause inbetween and that the board was bigger

Okay! Rightio. Alright. Cool. Hold up. Right. Okay. I HAVE THOUGHTS! 

As a young student with no job and A Family Situation, I did claim a free community copy (thank you for that!). On that same train of thought, I ask thee this! Will those of us who downloaded the game in the investigation phase be able to play the resolution phase with no further purchases? Sorry if you've already answered this before.

Okay, now onto the game. First off- I loved the OST. Like. It was AMAZING. Is there a way I can get it? It was so atmospheric, enough that it doesn't overtake the actual scene and rather focuses on providing the player with background noise. And it was also very pretty. 

Plot and Worldbuilding- holy mcheckin shit goddamn you guys. It's such a cool world! It's like, you've got Gifts, and it's so cool, and you can see with colours (which I'll touch on later), and you got the forces, and the environment, and literal maps!! And! The plot! Is SO GOOD. Because you can tell you've got some things put together, but you can't lock those in until you've got all of em (Which again, I will touch on that later!). And. The writing. Sound design. the rain. (starts sobbing) /pos

Character design- I'm a visual media student, and this is. So cool to me. Let us start with the hobo guy. NGL, he seems like a main character. or, like a narrator. love it, esp because of the 'i am homeless hello yes' thing. 

Nomnom's design; from the reference picture, you can already tell that nomnom is the more thinkative one, who plans what happens (and goddamn I was so right about that). They're so gender. And the art is so pretty.

Cannelé's design: Red is often associated with anger, or passion, and holy goddamn you got that on POINT. Cannelé is wildly fiery, impulsive, yet a quick thinker. Also love the little lineart colours. Awesome yes yes. 

Mech (claps) An (claps) Ics. MECHANICS. HOOOOOOOOLY. Holy. Just. Wow. The scoreboard! So cool! The investigation board! The card game!! Awesome!

How long did it take to get the pull-string board down thing w motion? look at it go, it's just weaving around. love it.

Oh, also! Thank you. So much. For adding the 'speed events' option. That is so important to me. It means I can, like, enjoy the story as it goes along with a choice to be speed or not. Much thank. 

I love the way the notes go zoom- I loved that so much, and the sounds. So good.

Subtle Touches and design elements: I knew when I saw the colours that there Was Something Up. I love the connections you made, and the way you utilised colour and POVs from said colour. From the get-go, you see very formed colour-roles from the dynamic duo (tm). And the glowy thing. SO cool. 

Also the bolded stuff. Like. clues and things. with emphasis. contrast. visual media. very smort.

Questions: 

• Pronouns? Hello? They keep changing and at this point I'm so intrigued but also very confused. (Thank you for adding some diversity <3333)
• Can we have pictures of Philbert? Please? I love him. 
• Is there any way I can submit theories that isn't a game mechanic?

Feedback: 

Right, so a couple qualms. One of which is my ADHD brain remembers jackshit. So, maybe like, a log of what's been said? (Like, I know ren'py has an inbuilt function, but I gathered very quickly y'all aren't using renpy).

in that same realm, mayhaps holding down an enter button fast-forwards things? i am aware it's not ideal if you're trying to savour the plot, but maybe you can use some sorta mechanic that allows you to not skip the text the first time you see it

Uh.. what else. Enlarge the evidence board. please. I beg of you. thanks

Words for the devs: y'all keep doing your thing. it's amazing. thank you. hydrate or diedrate btw :) 

camille get sleep challenge real?

Suggestions:

• If it's at all possible, maybe make more saves? I got lost a couple times w trying to redo certain choices.

• Was a little confused as to the master volume- usually that implies that they have a sound effects volume and a music volume, but that's also cool if not. 

• Colour-coding some notes/leads to make it easier to connect to, a lá Outer Wilds. Also with the boards, a way of organising it easier? Maybe a button from a lead which snaps all the ties you made to it?

• With the evidence board locks, how it shows the little, uh, unlocking cutscene but glows red when it's not correct?  I'd like a way of maybe help with that- maybe one of them flashes green with the one you got right that's connected? Or it shows (x) amount of green dots instead of red as per what you got wrong/right?

• a control that allows you to quit the game /lh

• (Maybe only if the player tries for like, a long time, you could add a little mechanic like that if possible [keep in mind I have no clue what engine/language you're codin' this in, so I have no idea what possibilities there are].)

Stuff while I was playing that I said:

• "WHY AM I BLUE" (a couple seconds later) "called it"
• [insert panicking about the score system here]
• "why do i have a feeling this is a meganic"
• "that will be used"
• (yes, i said meganic)
• (When seeing Laeftitia) OUI OUI MON AMI J'MAPELLE LAFFEYETTE! 
• 'i hate gambling.'
• WHAT
• 'okay so either option i chose i was gonna be laughed at. i'm chill w this'

Okay! Hope this is enough feedback for someone who got a free copy! Wish I could support ya more, but in the meantime, take this review, hope it helps :D

(Also sorry for the long-ass comment, I had a lot to say haha.)

(Edit; Also a typo, not sure if they're intentional, but 'They look like they're used toing do this..' and I'm decently sure this is a design choice but there's a purple cursor after Fleur d'Âme in the first chapter! :)

Could you please provide a specific cut-off date for the Investigation Phase?  I don't want to miss it, but time is a bit tight for me right now, so I keep putting off playing.

adorable game. i love the characters and the puzzles were just the right level of hard without being frustrating for me (coming from someone who usually hates puzzle games). can't wait for the full release!

C&N – Defective Agency has been featured in Corpus, a Twitch stream by Emmanuelle Lescouet from the Répertoire des Écritures Numériques. Their goal is to record the interactive fiction of today and its evolutions. It’s a honor to be featured by them!

Warning: French

I just downloaded (through community copy) and finished playing the game today and I'm very intrigued with the story! The post-it notes clues and conspiracy board definitely got me into a solving-mystery mood, though I feel like I missed out on some clues due to my choices, such as if Y.M. actually stands for an actual name, and I didn't get to solve some of the blue post-it note mysteries regarding Cannele and Nomnom.

What's more intriguing to me is that there's details in the story that aren't included in the clues that I got that feels very important (like the emphasis on sensations, the quick mention of sense of smell during one of the scenes in the market, etc.) that influenced my theories at the end. It made me feel like I shouldn't just be focusing on the notes in-game for clues and got me to jot down my own personal mental notes.

I'm really curious how the Resolution Phase will turn out! I'll be replaying the Investigation Phase a bit more to see what other options offer, as well as trying to give Cannele more points or seeing what happens if they both have same number of points (I ended up siding with Nomnom more in my first playthrough).
And when I end up with some extra money, I wouldn't mind buying the game to contribute! Looking forward to it!

P.S. The mini-game Poker-Faced Hanged Maid is really good, in my opinion! Makes me want to try playing it irl. Though, instead of Hangman, it feels more like Scrabble to me. I really think it was well-executed!