Hey everyone,

It's me again, back with another new Devlog for NIRAVASI. Last week, I spoke about the plans I had for NIRAVASI's Secret Ending, MOKSHA, revamping the Vigarium artefact system, and releasing Hotfix 1.0.3 to the public. This week, I want to reel things back in a little and talk a bit more personally. With that said, let's get straight into it.

New Priorities

So let's get this out of the way before there's any further confusion. Development on NIRAVASI will continue, but it's unfortunately not going to be a priority-one job like it was before for the past two years. Beginning from January 2021 (when I first founded the SOVERAM business), I was given the incredible privilege to work on the game as a full-time position. The original idea I had was that the game at the current state it was in (December 2020-build) would be completed around February 2022, meaning I had around a year to complete the game. The project unfortunately went through some delays, however, so the release date ended up having to be pushed back to July 2022 (almost half-a-year later). This was all for the best though, as it gave me enough time to stamp out some of the really nasty bugs during development and get the game released digitally on all three platforms smoothly.

Now that the game is out, I find myself in a strange position where I need to start preparing on what I want to do for the future. I'll not only need to take actions to ensure my professional and personal lives are kept safe, but also keep this development momentum going to further improve my skills as a video games designer. NIRAVASI's development has taught me a lot of awesome new skills and I'd love to take the opportunity it's provided to create some more amazing games.

While the game may not have been as much as a financial success as I assumed it would be, the game did end up achieving everything I set out to create all those years ago. I'll let you guys know in the future what my plans are, but just know that I'm incredibly thankful for all the love and support you've all have given me!

Extra Support

Okay, that last section sounded a bit grim, but it's not all gloom-and-doom. Just because I'm looking for new ventures of work doesn't mean that NIRAVASI will become abandonware. I'll still be updating the game with various hotfixes and patches, as well as keeping an eye on the game via Social Media and Discussion Boards.

Now while development on MOKSHA continues to go along, I'm looking at the game as a whole and beginning to think if there are any areas of improvement that can be made in regards to the exploration/flow on each of the game's levels. There are still some areas I feel could use some further polishing (The Perfection Complex and Palace of Nira Ishan especially), so I hope implementing such changes will improve the gameplay by a large margin.

One example of this would be including new branches and walkways in certain levels. A few people noted that the Palace of Nira Ishan was often difficult to navigate through, as the sheer number of rooms and identical geometry made it difficult to track your current location. To this effect, I'm considering adding additional geometry to the Palace's Courtyard to include stairways that'll take you to the upper-floors of the palace, as well as adding some additional visual cues within the corridors to let the players know where they'll need to go.

There's also the fact that NIRAVASI's OST at this stage is not yet complete. Due to the tight release schedule, Adam (the game's composer) wasn't able to work on the remaining tracks for the game, resulting in a number of tracks being absent. For example, both the Perfection Complex and Palace of Nira Ishan levels were meant to have their own musical tracks. With that said, I'll be doing my best to continue adding these lost tracks into the game, but that probably won't be done for a little while yet.

Path of Enlightenment

So, what can you as the player expect for MOKSHA, NIRAVASI's Secret Ending in development? Well first-and-foremost, you're going to notice the game's atmosphere and theme become a LOT darker. With AEON as an antagonist, you were aware right from Ishani Bazaar-onwards that he had his limitations. He's an incredibly intelligent artificial intelligence, yes, but he's not omnipotent. He's bound by the actions of his robotic proxies and is very much a grounded, identifiable threat for the player.

In MOKSHA, that won't be the case. You'll come across some incredibly unsettling enemies, each with their own unique mechanics that present a new array of challenges for the player. You'll also be returning to the game's main levels, but each will be drastically different in its layout. You'll be dumped straight in the middle of a level with on a slither of information on where to go next, with only a mysterious timer ticking down.

MOKSHA will put the skills you've learnt to the test, and explore a new side of the city you wish you'd never seen. For in MOKSHA, there is enlightenment. And such enlightenment may only be achieved by abandoning everything that you are as a person.

That's it for this Week's Devlog for NIRAVASI. I'm sorry if this Devlog seemed a lot more depressing than the others, but I felt it was important to be honest with everyone here. Now that the game's released, it's time for me to start working towards the future, and I believe the best way of doing so is to take the skills I've learnt making this awesome game and putting them into future projects. With that said, thank you very much for reading and I'll meet you all again for next week's Devlog.

Kind regards,
Angus (Sangos)