Draft:Chicken Police: Into the HIVE!

Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! is the second installment in the Chicken Police franchise. Developed by The Wild Gentlemen, this character-driven and story-rich point-and-click adventure game draws inspiration from 1940s film noir. The game is set to be released in 2024 by Joystick Ventures.

A telltale sign of the game's series is the combination of 2D and 3D photo manipulation techniques that feature anthropomorphic characters.

Building on the franchise's foundation, Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! introduces a dynamic feature: two distinct color modes. Players can immerse themselves in the classic noir mode, reminiscent of the franchise's first installment, or opt for the vibrant new technicolor mode. Technicolor mode allows players to infuse the game world with vibrant colors, offering a fresh perspective on the gloomy streets of Clawville, a sprawling city-state that serves as the game's primary setting.

Gameplay
Chicken Police is set in the Wilderness, a fictional world inhabited by human figures with animal heads and features. In Chicken Police: Into the HIVE!, players take charge of Sonny Featherland, a renowned detective with the head of a rooster. Joining him is his investigative partner, Marty MacChicken. Together, they take on a new case that guides them from the bustling streets of Clawville to the enigmatic Hive, a secluded insect ghetto. As they unravel the mystery, they must also confront the shadows of their own pasts.

The game is a point-and-click adventure game intertwined with elements of a visual novel, channeling the style of 1940s film noir. This installment in the series ventures into more mature and darker themes than the previous game, while maintaining the series' trademark quirkiness and humor.

Players are presented with a new case that delves through a world-scale conspiracy, engaging them in gathering clues, interrogating suspects, solving puzzles, and exploring the intricate depths of the Hive's shadowy underbelly. Interrogating suspects involves a mini-game that determines the interrogation's success. Armed with information about the suspects' personality quirks, players aim to discover a line of questioning that exploits these traits. It's worth noting that poorly chosen interrogation lines can limit dialogue options and decrease the amount of contextual information players uncover, but this doesn't render the game unwinnable.

While it is possible to play the game featuring the stylistic monochrome with subtle touches of colors of the first game, there is also an option to play the game in a new technicolor mode.

Development
Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! is aimed to release in 2024 for Microsoft Windows. The game will be produced by The Wild Gentlemen and published by Joystick Ventures.

The concept of the game series originated from a viral YouTube video depicting two chickens breaking up a fight between a pair of rabbits. The Wild Gentlemen, the developers of the game, started developing the characters of Chicken Police by transposing animal heads on human bodies through Adobe Photoshop. A combination of both 2D animation and 3D models composed of photo references were used to create the characters. In the early stages of development, stock photos of animals were used, but eventually the team realized that they would get better quality pictures if they shot their own references in wild parks and zoos. Certain details on the models were hand-drawn while others, such as unique accessories, were hand-crafted and photographed. The designs were then transformed into textures and animated using the Unity engine. The game's concept drew inspiration from classic adventure games and the atmosphere in film noir. The dynamic between the two protagonist cops, Sonny and Marty, was notably influenced by the buddy cop film genre.

Legacy
Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! is the second installment of the Chicken Police franchise. Its predecessor Chicken Police: Paint it RED! was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in November 2020 and Google Stadia in December 2021, ported to iOS and Android in June 2021, and published by HandyGames.