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)