Hey everyone,

Another week has passed and it’s time to talk about what’s new in the world of NIRAVASI-related development. For this week (and probably the next), you won’t be seeing too many new images for these Devlogs, as I’ll be dedicating a large portion of my time to working on both the Analog Horror video project and drafting the design documents for the elusive TEKMO Tower segment of the 5th Level. But in case you hadn’t keep up to date with my social media posts in the last week, I made a very big announcement in the unveiling of Mura’s mysterious ally, Clovis. If you’re interested in that, sit tight and let’s get straight into it.





Clovis of Fulyria

After months of teasing his appearance, I’m now finally at a stage where I’m happy to show off what Mura’s mysterious ally finally looks like. What better way to show off his beautiful look than with a cute picture of the two of them hugging it out, courtesy of ZeeMadMaverick.



Very early in NIRAVASI’s Development (and Aetherside’s), I wanted a character that the player could interact with at a moment’s notice. While a core theme of NIRAVASI’s design is the feeling of isolation, I didn’t want to completely leave players in the dark on where they needed to go and how to go about achieving their goals. Clovis was designed as a way to offset this problem, serving as a useful tool for the player to both better connect with the game’s world and remind themselves on what their current objectives are. This is actually a fairly common solution I’ve seen other games adopt, such as Darksiders, SOMA and even The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

But as NIRAVASI is partially a Horror game, it ran the risk of leading audiences to believe that Clovis was secretly a hidden antagonistic figure, whether through Proxy or Omission (it’s a very common trope for mysterious allies to be the real enemy all along). I can say for certain, however, that Clovis is indeed a helping hand to Mura, as well as a friend he desperately needs. Clovis represents an important narrative element in the story in that he’s a glimmer of hope in the dark setting that NIRAVASI hosts. Without him, Mura would’ve likely fallen to disappear and allowed AEON to exact its self-perfection protocols.

As for his design, I wanted him to be an Antherian like Mura, but not directly within the same species as him. I also wanted Clovis to have some kind of military-training, which would allow him to keep a calm and collective mindset in an otherwise traumatising setting. Combine that with wanting him to be a fairly friendly individual, I settled on the idea of having him play a support role within his regiment, specifically that of a reconnaissance officer. Not only would that allow me to get a good idea of what I wanted his design to be like, but also the kind of personality I wanted to create for the character. What I ended up with was a Fruit Bat Antherian with a broken wing and a resolve as strong as steel. Clovis has the skills of a solider, but also the experience of a war victim. He alone would be perfect as a guiding hand for a character that has neither of those and finds himself stuck in a horrific city of old. Clovis will stay largely true to his role in the story going ahead, but expect a lot more “physical” interactions between him and Mura.



TEKMO or TEKMES

Now that the city quadrant of the Aruvi District is finally complete, it’s time to start developing the end scenario for NIRAVASI’s 5th Level. Now the TEKMO Tower itself was a fairly late idea in development compared to say something like the Stepwell of Dhara Hanirr or Lotulanda. When working on the Aruvi District, I knew that I wanted to end things off by having the player physically leave the bottom of the city and onto the skyline above. But because of the technical limitations that RPG Maker MV has, I couldn’t figure out a way to fully dedicate 1/3 of the level to just being skyline segments. Mura needed to get from the higher-districts of the city to AEON’s lair in the Perfection Complex. The way of doing this was a little harder than I’d like to admit.

But I found my solution in the form of remembering the time I spent in the US, more specifically, within the city of Seattle. During my trip there, many years ago, I visited the Space Needle and saw the beautiful view of the city from atop and its also its absolutely gorgeous view of Mount Rainier. And since the city of Niravasi is built on the slope of a large big mountain, I figured out that I could get the player from the Aruvi District into the Perfection Complex by having them take a sky car on top of a skyscraper. With that set, all that was left was to figure out a narrative angle on what company the skyscraper in question would belong to. Well, you know what answer I ended up going for in the end.

Now the main issue I’m facing is figuring out a design for how I want the players to approach the TEKMO Tower. I don’t want it to just be another chase-sequence like say in the beginning of Ishani Bazaar or Lotulanda, but I also don’t want the place to be too big in size. The TEKMO Tower needs to both sell the illusion of being a big skyscraper to the player, but also one that’s easy to navigate without getting lost (vertical level design is crazy difficult). That’s why I’ll be dedicating a portion of my time this week into sorting out mindmaps and flowcharts on how I want the level to progress.



Employee Training Video

To support the release of the Aruvi District Demo, I’ll also be aiming to complete the first of the new Analog Horror-style videos for the game. I spent a good portion of my time working on it today and its almost broke the half-way mark for the first of the two sections I have planned for it.

Surprisingly, working on this video is also helping me with figuring out the aesthetic design of the TEKMO building itself. I was having a bit of difficulty figuring out how I wanted the place to look and I think I’ve figured out a really nice style to emulate with it. Using a big emphasis on both Black and White colours, I’ll be painting the rooms of the TEKMO Tower to look a lot like certain corporate offices that you see from real-life companies like Meta and Twitter. There’s still a lot more to work on with this, but I’m confident that as development of the video continues to progress, so too shall the design of the TEKMO Tower.



That’s it for this weekly Devlog for NIRAVASI. It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the half-way point of November, with Christmas soon approaching. Thankfully, I’m happy to say that the deadline for the game’s release is still looking to be nearing the intended February release period, but I’ll let everyone know beforehand on whether or not I’ll be able to meet that time. There’s still at least two and half more levels left to complete for the game and that’s not even including all the remaining bug-fixes and quality-of-life changes that need to be made. But as always, thank you very much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful evening.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)

Hey everyone,

It's me, Angus, coming back with another Weekly Devlog for NIRAVASI. Last week, we focused on some new details regarding the development of the game, while also enjoying the game's newly released Theme song. This week, we're going to reel things back a little and keep all new development news simple for the time being. There's still a lot of work to be done and there's one little loose ends that I'd like to address in this Devlog. With that said, let's get straight into it.





Aruvi Shenanigans

As I stated before in previous Devlogs, the Aruvi District is the 5th level out of the 7 I've planned for NIRAVASI. For anyone that doesn't already know, the Aruvi District takes place in an abandoned/flooded area of the city and tasks you with finding your way to the TEKMO Tower found in the distance. Functionally, the Aruvi District is very much a return to the gameplay loop that players found in Ishani Bazaar, so you'll definitely be a fan if you liked playing through the Ishani Bazaar demo some months ago.

One big difference, however, is how the entirety of the 5th Level is split off into 3 parts. The first (which is fully complete) is the connecting area between Lotulanda's Exit and the entrance to the Aruvi District proper. The second (the one I'm currently working on) is the flooded city section itself, where you can explore a number of ruined buildings in search of treasures and stories hidden beneath all the wet and damp of flowing river water. The third and final section of the Aruvi District is the mysterious TEKMO Tower, where you'll meet up with Clovis for the first time, as well as find a way to the 6th/7th levels of the game.

As always, I'll be keeping a close eye on how things flow (hehehehe.) with this level, but I'm confident that the Aruvi District will be a unique-enough location for players to immerse themselves. But if the locations found here won't do it justice, I'm sure the Crawlers sneaking around the Aruvi District will.



Video Devlogs

Around the time of the Kickstarter campaign's completion, I had finished production on the project's very first video Devlog that can still be watched on game's official YouTube page. However, you may have also noticed that only two have been produced and the last one was released sometime ago. Well, long-story-short, I overestimated my ability in how much work I can produce within a month.

Writing these Devlogs is fairly easy to accomplish, as all I really need to do is write a few paragraphs and take some in-game screenshots to support the information I post. But the video Devlogs required a lot more work to complete, so I often found myself having to go back and forth with ensuring the quality of the videos was good enough to release to the general public. Furthermore, I've been fairly busy since the last Video Devlog and I couldn't really find the time to sit down and properly work on them in video format.

Because of this, I've gone ahead and made the conscious decision to cease production on any new Video Devlogs for the planned future. They just simply weren't working with the pace of the game's development and ended up being more difficult than they needed to be. But while this piece of news will incredibly disappointing for some of you, I'm hoping to rectify this with a new marketing venture I've been considering these past few weeks.



Future Videos

The time for NIRAVASI's is fast approaching (I'm planning to release the game around the end of February, but we'll see), so I'll need to get cracking with continuing to market the game further if I want to ensure a fairly successful launch when the game is released.. One idea that I'm eager to try take a shot at is working on a series of YouTube videos that emulate the style of Analog Horror.

I've always adored these medium of storytelling and how it has the ability to both draw in and freak out its viewers. Furthermore, I've got a very specific narrative I want to construct in my head and believe that it's feasible, given my experience working as a Graphic Designer in the past. Now if you're rolling your eyes at the moment, I can sympathise with your worries. But I promise you that I'll be giving it my all and believe that it'll be a great way to market the game as a whole (I'll be carefully working on the videos to ensure that they accurately reflect the experience of the game right now).



That about covers it for this Week's Devlog for NIRAVASI. I'm going to go ahead and keep working on making the Aruvi District a fun (and dangerous) place for players to explore, as well as tinker around some more with the video series. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed reading this Week's Devlog and wish you a wonderful day.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)

Hey everyone,

You probably noticed the lack of a Weekly Devlog for NIRAVASI yesterday. This was intentional, as I'll be going away for a week and won't be making any significant posts/progress on NIRAVASI until then. I won't have access to my work equipment, but I'll still be around on my social media pages to respond to any comments/questions you have regarding the game. I'll be back with a proper Weekly Devlog update on Tuesday 12th October.

Have a good week, everyone!

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)

Hey everyone,

I'm back with another Weekly Devlog for NIRAVASI. I apologise for the lack of a Devlog for last week (seems to be a common theme these days), but I was pretty busy on that day sorting some things out and couldn't really find the enthusiasm to sit down and write stuff down. Nevertheless, we've got a lot to talk about now, so let's drop everything and get straight into it.





Lotulanda's Release

If you weren't already aware, I recently released the latest demos for NIRAVASI last Friday, which includes the newly released 4th Level, Lotulanda, the Grand Library of Niravasi. While I haven't had too much feedback regarding this one just yet, there's still a lot of time between this release and the next, meaning there's still time for everyone to give your thoughts on the state of Lotulanda. I'll continue to keep a close eye on player activity here, but my hope is that the level will be received well and not considered too frustrating for players (I know libraries can be a bit dull at times, but I hope Lotulanda is the exception).



Aruvi District

In addition to some Lotulanda talk, I also dropped some hinters regarding the progress of the game's 5th level, the Aruvi District. As you see from the image above, the Aruvi District will be similar in appearance to Ishani Bazaar, save for a few key differences. The biggest and most obvious is the over-abundance of water flowing through this place. Within the heart of this place lies the once beautiful Aruvi River. When the planet of Aetherius broke apart, many of its geomagnetic waves got screwed up and with that, no more rainstorms came to Niravasi. Without the rain, the Aruvi River dried up and became an eyesore for the remaining survivors living there. To remedy the situation, AEON constructed a weather system to artificially replace the rain to fill the river once more. But his plan worked a little too well, as the newly created rainwater burst through the river's banks and flooded the district completely. But as you'll find out soon enough, it's not just the water you'll need to keep an eye on within the Aruvi District.



Crawling in my Skin

As you delve deeper into darkest depths of the Aruvi District, you'll begin hearing strange noises coming from the walls. And when you run into a set of wires, it'll already be too late. You've attracted the attention of AEON's Crawlers.

The Crawler is a brand new enemy I've been teasing for a while, but wanted to keep hush-hush until now. Within the Aruvi District, you'll find these creatures hiding within the ceilings of long-forgotten buildings, waiting for their next meal. While not as dangerous as CALI or the Sentries, Crawlers play a unique part within the AEON gameplay loop. When a player steps on one of the Crawlers' "attack spots", the Crawler will emerge from its hiding spot to grab whatever poor soul stands underneath it. If you're quick enough, you can dodge its attack and be on your merry way. But if you're slow on your feet, the Crawler will latch onto you, take a chunk out of your health and alert AEON to your presence.

Crawlers play a unique role within AEON's arsenal of machines, as they're more of a support type for the other machines. For example, you could be trying desperately to avoid a number of Proxies, but accidentally trigger a Crawler's trap. The Crawler will latch onto you, hold onto you for a second, before dealing a chunk of damage. If they time it right, the Crawler will leave you at the mercy of the hungry Proxies from before. If you think that's bad, imagine that the Proxies are replaced with Sentries.

I'm still fiddling around with their AI, of course, but I'm incredibly happy with how they've turned out. They're the right combination of uncanny and creepy, and still refer back to Hinduist and Buddhist beliefs with the theme of their design. While it'll be a little ways of, I look forward to seeing how players react to these pests when the time comes.



Trashing the Place

While work on the Aruvi District is going well, I can't stop thinking that some of the game's previous levels have sorta fell off the map in regards to their visual quality. The Stepwell of Dhara Hanirr for the most part still looks relatively gorgeous, but Old Hanirr doesn't really have the same level of visual impact as either Ishani Bazaar or Lotulanda does. As such, I've decided to go back and give these places a bit love in the form of ruined debris and other visual goodies that keen-eyed players will be able to spot. Additionally, I'll also be going back and including fixes to some of the jankier sprites and locations of these places to better align them to the quality standards I have now for the work I've done for both Ishani Bazaar and Lotulanda.

If you have any cool ideas on what you'd like to see in these old locations, or feel this is a step in the right direction, please let me know what you think down below. I'm always eager to hear your feedback with these things.



That about wraps it up for this Week's Devlog for NIRAVASI. You'll have to forgive me for the abrupt conclusion, as my poor little fingers are starting to get a bit tired with all this writing. There's definitely more to come for these next few months, and my hope is that I'll have work on the Aruvi District done by mid-late November latest. Until then, thank you all very much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)

Hey everyone,

It's been a little while since the last Devlog for NIRAVASI, which was mainly due to the fact that a lot of stuff happened in my personal life recently. But for anyone who didn't know this, I was helping my family out with something that weekend, as well as celebrating my 28th Birthday (Damn, I'm old). Afterwards, I received my 2nd COVID-19 vaccination jab, which also delayed things. So all-in-all, a lot of things all compounded themselves together, resulting in me not really being able to work on the game that much. But it's not all doom and gloom, for I've got a great announcement that I'll be talking about down below!





Lotus Blooming

So the biggest thing I want to get out of the way is that I've finally completed work on Lotulanda! That means if players were to get their hands on the game now, they'd be able to play over half the levels of the game in total (Tutorial, Old Hanirr, Stepwell of Dhara Hanirr, Ishani Bazaar and now Lotulanda). We've only got three more levels left (and some other goodies that I want to hold off on spoiling until a later date) until the game's in a state where I can seriously consider releasing it to the public!

However, as I did for the previous demos, I want to make sure this newest demo won't have too many hiccups on release (especially like Ishani Bazaar's Crash Bug). Lotulanda has a LOT of corridors and rooms, so I'm sure there's bound to be a few sequence breaks here and there. I'm doing the best I can with cracking down on all of these, but I wouldn't surprised if some snuck their way through to the surface. Nevertheless, the level's 100% playable without major issue from start-to-finish, which makes me incredibly happy!

I'll talk about the new Demo release sometime later this week or the next, but take heart in knowing that you'll all be getting your hands on Lotulanda for testing (and appreciation) soon enough.



A New Look

Lotulanda isn't the only thing I've been working on for NIRAVASI. I've also taken the opportunity to give the game's Title Screen a complete overhaul, resulting in a much more satisfying look for the game's introduction. One of the biggest problems with RPG Maker games are the options you have to work with for everything involving title screen creation. Many RPG Maker games (old and new) tend to have rather mundane title screens, which is a real shame, as some of the games that are guilty of this end up being amazing experiences. Sure, I could've just taken things easy and just used the stock system like most other creators, but I felt that would be both insulting to the level of detail I've put into this game in other spots, as well as the players. As such, I went ahead and gave the Title Screen of NIRAVASI a brand new makeover.

I've also been batting around the idea of dynamically changing the game's Title Screen to reflect your progress in the game (you'd get new visuals for the Title Screen, depending on where you are in the story). It's still an incredibly rough idea though, so don't get your hopes up. Still, it does sound cool as hell though, doesn't it?



Aruvi & Beyond

As I mentioned before in previous Devlogs, the next level NIRAVASI players will encounter is a place called the Aruvi District. In times long past, it was among the wealthiest of places within the city, filled with ambitious individuals and aristocrats alike. However, following the destruction of Aetherius, the people of this place suffered terrible atrocities, resulting in the Aruvi District being left in ruins. Now, following AEON's control of the city, the Aruvi District continues to suffer by means of the excessive levels of rainwater caused by AEON's weather device. To find his missing crew, Mura will need to travel through the shattered ruins of the Aruvi District to find a way into AEON's Perfection Complex.

Gameplay-wise, the Aruvi District will involve travelling through broken buildings and navigating water-filled corridors in an attempt to find a way into the Perfection Complex. Unfortunately for you, AEON holds a much greater presence within this place as compared to other levels in the game. Aside from the other enemies you've had to face within the game, Mura must now deal with a brand new enemy type in the form of Lurkers, as well as AEON himself (who can actively keep watch over places where monitors are placed tactically. If you wish to survive the Aruvi District, you must make note of the environments around you (and perhaps use that to your advantage).



That about wraps it up for another Weekly Devlog for NIRAVASI. I should also mention that at this point, September is going to be an incredibly busy month for me. Budon't worry, as I'll still be doing my best to keep everyone informed on the game's development, as well as answer any questions you all may have (and any feedback you want to give). Until then, thank you for reading this Devlog and I look forward to talking to you all again soon.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)