Hey everyone,

Sorry for taking a bit with writing this week's Devlog. There's quite a few things I needed to get sorted out on my end before I sat down and write about what's new in the development of NIRAVASI. Work was delayed a little bit, as I had quite a few IRL tasks that needed sorting out, but this week's been a lot more fruitful in regards to development! While I'm still working on Ishani Bazaar (almost completed another smaller section for the players to explore), I've put some time into working on the game's fourth level, which I will be talking about in more detail here!

The Path Forward

While there will be a lot for players to explore in Ishani Bazaar, all good things must eventually come to an end and Ishani Bazaar is no different. As you'll venture through Niravasi's streets, you'll soon find that there's no way to make it to the city's upper-levels safely, as not only does a large barrier contain it, but AEON is keeping it under close surveillance; safe from pesky little Antherians such as yourself. To make it out of the city, you'll need access to this place and to do that, you're going to need to find a way in. That way, ladies and gentleman, would be Lotulanda, the Grand Library of Niravasi.

Keen-eyed viewers of these Devlogs (or other social media pages) may have noticed the name "Lotulanda". But for those of you that haven't, Lotulanda is a grand library built at the heart of Niravasi to preserve and maintain the vast knowledge the humans that lived here managed to accumulate. Do not fool yourselves; Lotulanda is not simply the fruitless work of some bored librarian. It's a vast place with a ton of resources and is quite unlike anything you will have seen before (I know I say that a lot with these Devlogs, but I cannot stress enough how cool it is to work on a unique setting like Niravasi's). Once players make it past the security checks, they'll gain access to Lotulanda's entrance and will be able to make their way towards the Grand Library itself.

But all the commotion you caused has alerted AEON to your position and you'll start the level off being chased by CALI and the other Proxies. However, when you reach a certain point of the Library's grounds, all of the machines will stop and AEON will compliment you on your cunning. Turns out AEON doesn't want to bring any harm to Lotulanda and whatever lies inside of it. While you may be thinking that to be a good thing, there's often a saying that goes for situations like these.

"Fear the path your enemies dare not walk."

Silence Everlasting

When you first enter Lotulanda, you'll quickly find that you are not alone. Despite all odds, one robot has survived the test of time and continues to manage the place like never had ever happened. This is SARA (Synthetic Artificial Retention Automaton), the Curator robot of Lotulanda. This machine was built to caretake and oversee the Grand Library and all of the priceless documents that it holds within. Additionally, in the event that Lotulanda suffers significant damage or its texts are lost to the ravages of time, the SARA unit can act as a data-backup and preserve all of the information within. Each of its tail-plates contain vast amounts of digital records of all the library's contents and thus, is considered a national treasure of the city.

It's for this reason that AEON wishes not to enter Lotulanda. While CALI and the Proxies could very easily destroy this machine, it would also mean the destruction of that precious human knowledge. And since AEON was built for humanity, losing that resource would be a crippling blow for any future developments. As such, Lotulanda is a no-go zone for any machines other than the SARA unit.

But that does not mean that the player is safe in anyway. In fact, the SARA unit is incredibly dangerous. While it stands alone without support, the SARA unit also acts as a security drone and will respond to any unwanted/misbehaving visitors with extreme caution. This will introduce a new gameplay scenario for players, where they must avoid creating too much noise around the library. The SARA unit is tolerant, but its patience will eventually wear out. When it does, let's just say that whatever AEON has planned for Mura will seem like a pleasant dream compared to what this machine could do.

That's all for this Week's Devlog. I'm sorry it wasn't as big as some of the previous updates, but I wanted to save a lot of the information I left for next week's Devlog. As it'll be the end of the month then, I'll be working on yet another video Devlog that will be uploaded on the game's YouTube channel and other relevant social media pages. Until then, thank you very much for reading this and I hope you all have a lovely week.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)