Neyyah News

[p]Hello Neyyah adventurers! EXCITING NEWS!! [/p][p]Today, I'm excited to announce that Neyyah will be releasing on the 2nd September! [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It's been over seven years building this world, crafting this adventure ... And what a journey it has been![/p][p][/p][p]VIDEO[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Neyyah has been a huge passion project of mine, beginning in mid 2018, where the desire to jump back into game design after pursuing music grew strong, and after a while of sketch work, and piecing together various story fragments from a deep lore rich world I had started developing many years before, Neyyah started taking life on my computer screen.[/p][p][/p][p]I didn't look back. [/p][p][/p][p]Since then, it has grown into an extraordinary game world, paving the way for a beautiful journey, not just for myself but everyone who has been involved in making this game a reality. Filming FMV characters with actors such as Nigel Goodwin in Australia, collaborating with Zaedyn Turner on the music ... There's been so many fantastic moments. Neyyah encompasses a time capsule of sheer enthusiasm, passion, and a drive to bring a world to your screens for you to jump in, discover and enjoy.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]2nd September!! I'm so keen to let everyone explore this world.[/p][p][/p][p]Get ready for Neyyah![/p][p][/p][p]The portal awaits ...[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello Neyyah adventurers! It has been a while![/p][p][/p][p]Lots of work has been going into the world of Neyyah to bring the most enriching, immersive, exciting adventure game experience to your screens! The Steam Next Fest back in February brought some amazing feedback through the Neyyah portal, and I've been busy with arranging various aspects of the game - polishing, testing, and improving ...[/p][p][/p][p]And as such, there's a been a cool tweak to Neyyah's overall gameplay: the implementation of 'Journey Modes'.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Neyyah offers a complex, thought-provoking experience. [/p][p][/p][p]You are thrown into a world where you need to keep your mind open. It's not just a puzzle game. It's foremost a world, full of complex lore and in order to make progress, you'll need to dissect and understand what is happening around you - what is useful to you to achieve your 'main goals' and what is merely part of the world you are in (and Neyyah gives you that rich engaging gameplay experience of soaking up EVERYTHING, whether you are in for the puzzle solves or the world exploration). [/p][p][/p][p]Be part of this world. 'Journey Modes' can make this easier for you, depending on your preferred style of gameplay.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]There has already been the implementation of the Traveller's Guide, which sets in place 'automatically generated observations' which are collected upon certain observations or interactions within the game.[/p][p][/p][p]You come across a machine with a symbol, you can find this encounter within your Traveller's Guide, for example. There are also images to help you keep track of where abouts you were when you came across any specific encounter, keeping you orientated throughout the game, and if you take a break from Neyyah's shores, come back and jump into Traveller's Guide if you need to so you can pick up nice and easily. [/p][p][/p][p]Of course, keeping track of what you learn about Neyyah is always more fun with the good ol' pen and paper![/p][p]
With Journey Mode, you can also decide how tight the 'hand held experience' through Neyyah's world should be - or if you require it at all ... [/p][p][/p][p]You can be 'Guided by the Ancients', which gives you the most assistance throughout the game (with various prompts, and automatically sets your Traveller's Guide Notifications to on within the Options menu, so whenever a new observation comes through, you'll be notified!). Hear some 'Whispers in the Wind', cutting back on a lot of prompts but making sure you stay orientated with location and map update notifications, or shape your own adventure with 'Master Your Own Adventure' - it's just you, a mouse, the ability to point and click around a vast prerendered world, and you won't be bothered with any pop ups / prompts or notifications. This harkens back to a very OG Myst / Riven experience. [/p][p][/p][p]You will, however, have access to your Journey Tools in whatever Journey Mode you select, where you can find maps, Traveller's Guide (to see what you have interacted with, etc) and the ability to change your Journey Mode at any point during the game![/p][p][/p][p]Neyyah is a world which should be enjoyed by all types of adventure gamer types! 'Jouney Modes' provides this![/p][p][/p][p]A small add with BIG impact ...[/p][p][/p][p]As well as this, a new feature will be added very soon. [/p][p][/p][p]It will be a 'Main Goals' listing, which automatically updates as you encounter 'core elements' of Neyyah's world which in turn will send you on your main goals to finally completing the game. There won't be many, as the idea is to shine your attention on what it is you could be aiming towards when playing Neyyah. The Traveller's Guide gives you numerous observations. The 'Main Goals' will provide you the areas of focus you can play towards, and eventually, tick off to complete Neyyah.[/p][p][/p][p]Take it, or leave it. The option is always yours.[/p][p][/p][p]You'll be able to play Neyyah YOUR way![/p][p][/p][p]I'm excited to see what directions you take in this complex vast world, but also how you shape your adventure![/p][p][/p][p]Until next time ...[/p][p][/p][p].YY.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

NEWS!!



Neyyah has just hit over 20,000 wishlists on Steam!

This is a really exciting and proud moment for Neyyah.

I remember when I hit that first 1000 wishlists back a few years ago, and I was around 2.5k in wishlists when I went full time with MicroProse.

Thank you to the team at Defy Reality Entertainment for helping bring my vision to life, and a huge thank you to everyone who has helped make this 20k wishlist mark a reality!

Exciting developments taking place in the realms of Neyyah, with location by location work continuing to refine the game in all areas you can imagine (graphics, sound, music, UI, features etc). I've been looking into renders a lot lately, too! Photoshop has been on my PC continuously!



Thanks again to everyone getting back Neyya! Exciting times :)


.YY.

Hello Neyyah adventurers!

Have you met this guy yet? Seems to be wanting to tell you something ... Maybe you'll find out more in the Neyyah demo!



I feel like Neyyah has reached a new chapter in its story. Releasing the demo just before Steam Next Fest was a huge milestone, and the feedback I received from you all, after having jumped through the portal to get that first exciting taste of Neyyah’s world, has been super valuable! Entering Neyyah into the Steam Next fest void and seeing it do well was insane!

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has played the demo! Nothing is more rewarding to me than finally being able to hear your stories, read your feedback, watch your encounters, after over six and a half years of development.



It’s been a joy returning to certain locations that I created over the years, and remembering the stories of where I was in life – back when I was modelling the Heater Servers, or filming the FMV for Vamir, or fitting in the Traveller’s Guide observations and Action Highlights, enabling more accessibility to the game world.

This is just the beginning …



Ok, let’s get onto the feedback and how this will help strengthen the Neyyah experience.

One of the biggest areas of feedback I received was how there is an overwhelming amount of exposition and lore revealed to the player way so early in the game. These ‘first steps through the portal’ areas of the game are crucial, and I believe the ability to explore, to get the fires of exploration ignited, are vital.

Certain cuts have been made to dialogue and exposition pieces that appear within the demo space of Neyyah. This thins out the information you receive in the starting areas of the game, while leaving you to explore more and find out things for yourself. Having tested these changes myself, I do feel like this harkens back to a more original view of how I saw the game playing out, and understanding that with the size of the game world, there are so many more opportunities for the player to uncover lore and backstory.

Nonetheless, I am also considering the different ways players want to experience Neyyah, and observing streamers / content creators get stuck into the gameplay was not only incredibly rewarding and amazing, but gave me some valuable insights into how Neyyah is received and understood.



I want to share with you is a new ‘Journey Mode’ I will be designing into the start of the game.
Upon NEW GAME, you will be presented with a choice: how you want to play Neyyah … Do you want to go Guided Mode or Adventure Mode?


- GUIDED MODE
You might require assistance at certain points of the game. You’ll be notified on when you have arrived in new areas, when new maps are available, and you will also be shown a selection of text pop ups very early on in the game which will help familiarise yourself with Neyyah’s controls and features.

(This is how the demo has played out so far).

ADVENTURE MODE
You are left to devour the complexities of Neyyah’s world at your own pace. Get out the pen and paper. Take notes and build an understanding of Neyyah’s world through your own observations and thought processes.

Please note: Access to MAPS and TRAVELLER’S GUIDE options are available in both journey modes.


On topic of the maps in Neyyah, it's so great to see the amazing love and surprise for these hand-drawn artworks! I put off making the maps for a long while, knowing I'd need to put some good time aside outside the already giant heap of Neyyah dev work that needs doing to make the maps really amazing - looking at full renders / top down views at first, then realising this wasn't going to work too great ... with the render times and pc power to get the entire sets in shot etc. My quick fix yet seemingly more effective plan was to create the basic outline of the worlds as pen drawn maps, photoshopped to make them feel like they were drawn into the parchment / ink UI that shows up a lot in Neyyah.

With regards feedback, I will also look into quicker access to the MAPS, so there isn't so much clicking around - and this goes for the Traveller's Guide too. Action Highlights (a spacebar option that flashes a blue glow over anything on screen what can be interacted with) currentlt only show buttons, levers, etc, within the demo, but I have started adding more into the game. These can show up in areas of a scene you can zoom in to (which may lead to a button or inventory item), notes you might be able to pick up, and also areas which may require an inventory item or where one can be obtained.

Bugs have been noted and will be investigated, too.

Overall, I am pushing Neyyah to be that ultimate delight to behold, wonder to discover and treasure to keep.




With the changes coming in, the demo experience won’t fully represent what Neyyah will be upon the final release, so it will only be available to until 12/03/2025 9pm GMT/ London UK Time. It has definitely served a purpose of bringing to your screens a world screaming to be explored, and what makes this all the more wonderful is having amazing, fantastic adventurers like yourselves putting aside the time to play it. I also understand if you want to wait until the full release to get that first look into the finished Neyyah world.

‘In the name of Fezalta’ … I’m excited to get the full game out there for you all to play!



Thank you!

Aaron Gwynaire

Hello Neyyah adventurers!

Wow! It's happening! Neyyah enters the Steam Next Fest next week, and I am so proud of where the game has come, the work that has gone into making this project a reality, and of course, the love and encouragement from all of you amazing adventurers out there!



As you take your first steps onto Neyyah, remember to look around everywhere, and take your TIME as you explore. You'll have features such as Traveller's Guide and the Maps at your disposal, should you need a little bit of a reminder on some of the interactions you've made, or feel like you need to orientate yourself.

Of course, writing down your own notes is also encouraged!

Make use of your keyboard too! Quickly open your inventory with 'I' or see what you can interact with the glowing visual aid of the Action Highlights feature using your spacebar.



This demo of Neyyah is an open portal into a world that has been in development for over six and a half years, starting in July 2018. I haven't looked back since. Please feel free to take a look into 'A Message From The Creator' on the main menu screen, and delve into the CREDITS book!

While its rich environments and captivating music and sounds will lull you further down the path of discovery, there's so much more to see and explore in the full version of the game. This demo gives you just that right amount of revelation and discovery into what Neyyah is all about.



Any feedback you wish to leave during or after your journey, please feel free to use the community forums right here on Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1289720/discussions/. I will be watching over this area, especially with Steam Next Fest happening next week ...

I can't WAIT to enter Steam Next Fest with Neyyah's demo.

Thank you again to the team of talented and amazing individuals who have helped bring this vision to life, and to YOU for supporting this game, picking it up and taking the time to step into a world which has been craving for discovery and exploration ...



Enjoy!

- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment