Thank YOU for playing the NEYYAH DEMO!
Mar 11, 2025I'll be discussing feedback and new changes to the game, plus the availability of the demo!
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 Unguided 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