Colors Live is part game, part illustrator app, and it wants to turn your Nintendo Switch into a full-fledged tablet.
Colors Live is the latest game in the Colors series, following Colors for the DS (and mobile) and Colors 3D for the 3DS, and like its predecessors it's essentially an illustrator kit built for a console rather than a computer. It's got brushes, colors, edit functions - most everything you'd expect from a basic drawing app. Unlike previous Colors entries, it also has a bit more of a gameplay bent to it thanks to quests which challenge players to level up by drawing every day. Colors Live also lets you upload your art online to the Colors Gallery where you can view and rate the art of others.
The series' lead developer, Jens Andersson - who you may also know as the lead designer of the incredible Yoku's Island Express - says that fans have asked him to bring Colors to Switch since the console was released, but he "didn't really want to do that unless I could make a better version," and without a stylus to use on Switch, it didn't seem feasible.
That's where the pressure-sensitive Colors Sonarpen comes into play. This gadget is essentially a dedicated tablet pen tailor-made for Colors Live. It plugs right into the Switch and functions just as you'd expect a stylus to. It's also the main reason why Colors Live is currently on Kickstarter - where, at the time of writing, it has nearly smashed its funding goal with a month left in its campaign.
"As of now, Colors Live is beta-ready and it can be tested by users very soon," Andersson says. "We are in the midst of calibrating the pressure-sensitivity for a top notch painting experience. All Patron backers will gain access to the beta shortly after the campaign has ended. The research and development of the Colors SonarPen is also complete and now we need funding through this Kickstarter campaign in order to start production."
"By launching on Kickstarter, we can crowd-fund what we need to manufacture the first batch of the Colors SonarPen and finish the development of Colors Live," he adds.
Based on its Kickstarter delivery dates, Colors Live is scheduled to release in beta in August 2020.
