Neyyah
'Journey Mode' Animations In Neyyah
Now I am working a lot more in Visionaire Studio 5, as well as working hard on modelling the rest of the Neyyah world, I have been setting up, rendering and implementing various animations into Neyyah. Neyyah has a lot of FMV sequences. These range from buttons being pressed, levers being pulled ... very small tiny animations ... to much bigger animations. Of course, there are also the enormous amount of animated water sequences which will be present in the Neyyah world - and which can be disabled in the options of the game, if you find the game is running slow for you. There's a lot of water in Neyyah. That's a lot of animations. I will like to touch upon this in another update soon!
However, going back to those big animations ... One option the player can enable within Neyyah is 'Journey Mode'. While Neyyah runs as a screen to screen point n click adventure game, experienced through first person, I had taken inspiration from other games outside of Myst and Riven such as Schizm: Mysterious Journey and Dragon Lore II: Heart of the Dragon Man. These games used fmv sequences between the player transitioning from node to node. It's a beautiful addition to believability and immersion within a prerendered game, but incredibly costly on the render times ...
Neyyah is going to be a BIG game with a lot to explore, and although it would be so cool to add animated movement between the positions the player moves within the game, it would take forever to render out such scenes. Plus, I observed some downsides to the other games, in which small movements forward felt quite jarring when animated. They seemed to work better for traversing long distances, and then in doing so, you miss some of the environment ... Thus, I decided to keep to screen to screen for the main navigation, as seen in the original Myst and Riven games, and add animated fmv sequences to when the player climbs up or down ladders, walks up or down stairwells, or enters particular areas of the environment. It does add a nice immersive 3D quality to the game. Call it 2.5D, maybe ...
In this following devlog, I will be exploring this very mechanic within the game ...
[previewyoutube="DQFPUzvlrkc;leftthumb"]
Definitely subscribe to my channel for more upcoming content where I'll be sharing more of Neyyah's development progress, from engine work through to artwork and eventually sound and music too, plus much, much more!
Thanks!
- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment
Evolving the world of Neyyah ...
Neyyah has been in development since July 2018 ... It was during a time where I had only just started learning Blender. Previously, I had been using a software called Anim8or (www.anim8or.com) which, for my teenage self, had been a fantastic easy first step into the world of 3D. I will love to go deeper into my developments with Anim8or in another post, but for now, I would like to touch upon how even in Blender, the world of Neyyah has changed drastically over the nearly 4 year development cycle ...
The Mechanical Cake
The Dome - from 2020 through to its current stage of 2022
I remember, very well, the feeling of having achieved a huge milestone in the development of this area for Neyyah. It officially began in late 2019, where I was working for a very long time on a very basic computer system, running on only 4gb RAM (as opposed to my 64gb beast, which I now own two of). 'Layers of the Mechanical Cake'. This is how I described and wrote up about the experience over on Patreon at the time (www.patreon.com/defyrealityentertainment). Each section was modelled separately, and then (while hoping the set file wouldn't crash) every segment (layer of the mechanical cake) was placed together in a final full set. It wasn't until April 2020 that I finally upgraded my system and suddenly, render times took on how a new magic. The whole development process of Neyyah's world felt magical ... A new portal of creative life had leaked out in front of me. This new computer pushed my vision, materialised my imagination into reality even more than before - and so much faster, too.
I ran with it ...
Changing Colours
The Harbour - continued developments, not only in modelling, but in post-processing within Photoshop
Neyyah's world took on new details, new richness. It was an amazing experience - but one which later down the track also challenged the logistics of certain world building aspects and development pipeline. This example shows how colouration and post-processing has pushed the game's style to new levels, and Photoshop has played a massive part in achieving the 'Neyyah' look, influenced greatly by Myst's sequel, Riven (1997).
Feel free to watch my devlog on my Photoshop work for Neyyah at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqEQ9IveEdk&t=1442s
I look forward to sharing some more stories along the way, plus some new upcoming developments!
- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment
Sourcing inspiration from the 'real world' for Neyyah
I started Neyyah back in Western Australia, and everything has a much more recent, modern look to it. I very quickly dived into my nostalgia for the older historic vibes my home country of England had to offer. It was great being amongst everything which was strewn in layers of rust and grunge, as this helps shape the abandoned weathered world of Neyyah - and definitely helps deliver more realism to the world, too!
Here's an example of a rusted pipe found on Felixstowe beach here in England, very close to where I live and where I grew up too. Not only did the rusted textured form of the pipe help inspire the following model I created for my game, but it was the wooden post structures that support it which I really wanted to include too!
It's the little details, too, which I tend to add, even if they weren't present within the real life photograph reference! This tend to include bolts, nails, metal brackets ... A consideration of how the structure would be kept together, how it helps support the structure in place, etc ... I try to consider all these things when I am designing all the pockets of the Neyyah world!
Here are a couple of other local areas and their corresponding influences on areas of Neyyah ...
(a barn seen every day on one of my local country walks)
The building within Neyyah, which I created by referencing the above barn photo. It was, in fact, quite exciting recently developing the interior for this building, as everu time I now walk past this barn, I think to myself, 'imagine if that area I created for Neyyah was ACTUALLY inside there ...'
Sourcing inspiration from the world around you definitely breathes more life to the game world you are creating, and this helps strengthen the world building elements of the game!
- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment
Completing interior sets for Felitsu Island ...
(Test Render)
Secondly, I have been adding finishing touches to one of the last interior locations for Felitsu Island. It's been great developing the various interior sets for this island, and I can't wait for you guys to be able to explore them!
(Test Render)
Some of this artwork and other recent final renders for the build will feature as upcoming signed desktop wallpapers on Patreon (under Portal Explorer and above tiers). Join up now on Patreon for a more exclusive behind the scenes view into the development of Neyyah - www.patreon.com/defyrealityentertainment.
I have two more interior sets left to develop for Felitsu Island, and the engine work is progressing nicely! Stay tuned for more updates coming soon!
- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment
Developing Neyyah in Visionaire Studio 5!
Check it out here!
[previewyoutube="gDHbQUXH4Nk;full"]
Definitely subscribe to my channel for more upcoming content where I'll be sharing more of Neyyah's development progress, from engine work through to artwork and eventually sound and music too!
Thanks!
- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment