Hey everyone,

So another week has passed and now it's time to follow up on the promise I made regarding further information regarding the game. But real quickly, I want to just state where I am in regards to a Public Demo release.

I can definitely say for sure that I'm getting closer and closer, as I'm almost 30-40% complete with the game's second level. Unlike the first area proper you get to explore, the second area is more tight-packed and focuses more on exploring a giant ruined facility that includes ancient architecture and a new type of enemy to stay away from. The area I don't want to spoil, but the the monsters I'm more than happy to explore.

Anyway, let's talk about scary monsters and their robotic master.

The Big Baddie: AEON (The Artificial Ecological Overseer Network)

"Greetings, Antherian."

Meet AEON; the main threat that you'll need to escape from if you want to make it out of Niravasi alive and well. Built hundreds of years ago as tool of convenience, AEON's directive was "To protect and perfect humanity.". While AEON's presence in Niravasi was of great benefit to the humans that lived there, certain events resulted in the artificial intelligence re-evaluating its directives and re-design itself to be a lot more proactive in its mission than its creators would've liked. As you'll find out coming into the city, AEON's presence is not entirely dominant and that there are some areas that evade his sight. To help compensate for this weakness, AEON has created many, MANY proxy networks.

The Monsters

"Oh shoot."

Serving as obstacles throughout the game, players will come face-to-face with unspeakable machine horrors that borrow traits of both human silhouettes and robotic functionality. Known as the Proxies, these machines are the eyes and ears of AEON in places he cannot directly influence.

These machines are incredibly hostile to all non-Human life in Niravasi. In the latter's history, Antherians (yes, that's you) were the enemy that needed to be destroyed. Even though the war that consumed the world has long since past, AEON and his proxies still maintain their duties. As for why Proxies look the way they do, you'll have to find out in-game as to why AEON created these proxies to look like such abominations.

The Inspiration

"Beep."

First things first, I really want to stress that I've always loved designing creepy monsters. It was one of my favourite things to do for BLANK, but designing NIRAVASI's monsters ultimately proved to be a lot more challenging.

The main issue I had to contend with is the fact that these monsters needed to both mimic a human silhouette AND be designed with a sense of realism. In BLANK, Corruption allowed me to take simple shapes and frames and twist them into an unnatural form to creep players out. In NIRAVASI, the proxies involvement in the story needed to make sense from a narrative perspective, so I couldn't just make tentacle monsters again (without good reasons).

I'm a big fan of Frictional Games' SOMA, not just for the implications, but also with the monster designs. Something about machines believing themselves to be human just really creeps me out. But I think the better inspiration would be the Reapers in the Mass Effect trilogy. While giant machine squids are scary in their own right, it's the husks and assimilated enemies you fight in the third game that really freaks me out. Seeing human/sentient life be twisted into machines of war just unsettles me deeply. As such, I wanted to replicate this approach for NIRAVASI's enemies. Except unlike Mass Effect, you only have the option to run.

Thankfully, a core design with these machines (with one exception) is that they cannot chase you forever. They are machines after all, and each machine serves a purpose. If they put too much stress, they cease to function and return to their scheduled routines. This gives players time to quickly leave the room and re-assess the situation on how they want to approach certain rooms in the game.

Anyway, that's all I have for you guys this week. Next week, I'll start talking a bit more about the world outside of Niravasi and how it plays and important part to the story of the game. Until then, have a lovely day!

Kind regards,
King Sangos