Hey everyone,

It's time for another Weekly Devlog for Niravasi, Before we get into anything though, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about not writing one last week. I was ultimately having a bit of an iffy start to the week and couldn't really find the enthusiasm to work on the project. Thankfully, it got a lot better as time went along and I had a lovely time last Saturday. Now I'm all refreshed and ready to get back into things, so let's get straight into the new content!

The Final Instalment

Everyone, I'm happy to say that work on Lotulanda is very nearly complete! After all this time, I've not only finished all of the Main Wings of the Grand Library, but have recently finished the Employee Quarters tunnels that players can explore (and get scared by the RAKSARA), as well as discover the entrance to the elusive Management Wing. All that's left now is finishing up the Management Wing, the Climax (I'm not gonna spoil what you'll be doing here), the ending, and fixing a few bugs here and there (I won't be able to stamp them all out when I release the demo, but it's a good enough start).

My hope is that I can work on a majority of the climax for tomorrow, but we'll see how things progress as this weekend is going to be a very big one. All I can say though is that I'm extremely excited to see what you all think of Lotulanda when it comes out. It's quite an ambitious little level and a lot of people seem to have really taken to its visuals. As for the gameplay loop, this is perhaps the most important piece of feedback I need as I'm sorta worried about whether it's actually a fun level to play through, or if it just feels needlessly pointless. Either way, it should be fun to watch and gauge your experiences.

Journey to Aruvi

As I mentioned in previous Devlogs before, the next level of Niravasi will focus on the Aruvi District, a place where the upper echelons of humanity resided. Here, you'll find the ruins of a metropolitan zone surrounded by water and more killer robots (including a new nasty that I'll be introducing soon). The Aruvi District will play very similar to how Ishani Bazaar did, but with a large amount of water (not surprising) and broken set-pieces. As such, navigating this zone will be a bit more dangerous than what you've experienced beforehand (as if it wasn't bad enough already).

But fear not, for it'll also be the very first time you'll get a good look at the friend that's been following Mura along his journey since the very start of the game. I'm talking about everyone's favourite radio buddy, Clovis. Near the end of the level, players will come face-to-face with this mysterious ally and discover the truth of who he is and why exactly he's come to Niravasi. 

This is of course where the story also starts to take a much darker turn, as players will uncover more about the nature of humanity's fall, where AEON's been taking the humans that arrived before Mura, and  the darkness of our furry friend's past. That being said, I'm going to have to tread very carefully as I don't want to overstate just how messed up things will become, but at the same time, I want to give people a fair warning regarding the kind of content they'll be seeing from this point forward. After all, there's a reason that Mura doesn't have a tail.

Going Forward

Finally, let's talk about the plan of action for the current demo build of Niravasi going forward. Right now, players are able to interact and experience the galore of Ishani Bazaar and the places you can find within it. But it's coming to the point where Lotulanda is nearing completion, which will mean that players who haven't donated to the project will lose access to the Free Ishani Bazaar Demo Build. I'll still be updating both Demo Builds, but Ishani Bazaar will finish its testing phase (I've already received a lot of really good feedback regarding it and since made the necessary changes). My plan is to release the Lotulanda Demo within early September, meaning that you have until then to play through Ishani Bazaar and experience the fun that is exploring abandoned streets and a killer robot that won't stop chasing you.

With the Lotulanda demo's release, the first few weeks will focus on monitoring progress and player feedback, before shifting primarily back into developing the next chapter of the game. The Aruvi District will require a lot of work, so a lot of that time will be spent working on things in the pre-production phase. I've actually already started a lot of stuff in the concept stage, but it's the nitty gritty that's going to be important aspect to nail down (for context, Ishani Bazaar took around 1-2 weeks to fully plan/map out). But I'm seriously hoping that with any luck, the Aruvi District's going to be yet another incredibly level for players to experience (the ending is something I've been waiting to work on since I first start working on the project as a whole).

That wraps it up for this week's Devlog for Niravasi. I'm not going to be working on a Devlog for next week, as I'll be busy absorbing all the good stuff for the next Destiny 2 announcement, but be sure to keep an eye out for any new posts/updates I make on Twitter/GameJolt and any other social media platform I choose to use. With that said, thank you very much for reading as always and I hope you have a wonderful evening.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)