My name is Aaron Gwynaire. I am a full time indie game developer that grew up in the Felixstowe and now based in Trimley. 

I have taken a lot of inspirations for my game world designs from Felixstowe, as well as other coastal areas in Suffolk!
It’s been a while since I last wrote about my upcoming adventure game Neyyah, which last featured in The Felixstowe Magazine back in early 2021. A lot of developments have taken place and I’m going to reveal some of these to you today!

First of all, a little bit about my upcoming game, “Neyyah”…

Neyyah is a 1st-person, point-and-click adventure game, set within a strange bizarre world, separated by various portals. Its influences range from games such as Myst and Riven from the 90s, through to movies such as Waterworld and Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and many more, combining elements of fantasy, scifi and steampunk and delivered through a slideshow based 2D point and click gameplay style.
The aim of the game is to learn about the world you have been thrown into. Understand the cultures, discover the histories behind the peoples that once existed, in order to progress forward within the game world. The puzzles you encounter are intricately integrated within the environments, so you must observe your surroundings, take notes, and above all, take your time! Enjoy the sights, uncover the mystery and get immersed in another world, for only YOU can set the wrongs to right…

Neyyah is a prerendered game. Unlike most real time 3D games, you won’t require a very powerful system to run the game, making it very accessible to various PC users. Foremost, I class Neyyah as a world, before being a ‘game’ - presented in a cinematic style. I believe non-gamers will be able to enjoy Neyyah too. While there is no set release date for Neyyah, you can follow constant updates from the Neyyah world on various social media, listed here: https://bit.ly/3C14gap - as well as wishlisting the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1289720/Neyyah/

I started developing Neyyah in 2018, while I was living in Western Australia. It has grown from what was initially going to be a demo project for another game I was creating concept designs for but developed further into its own world, its own entity, and I haven’t looked back since.

If you would like a more detailed in-person approach to the development of Neyyah, feel free to watch my recent chat with Adventure Game Geek, which not only explains the origins of Neyyah, and discusses some other adventure game titles which have influenced the game, but also showcases some behind the scenes footage and gameplay of Neyyah too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgPhlFYbz_w&t=1403s
 
Since I moved back to England in 2019, Felixstowe has been a big inspiration behind certain aesthetical choices that I’ve made during the developments of Neyyah’s world design. You can read up on more influences from the real world, seeping into the Neyyah game world, on dev updates such as this one on the Neyyah steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1289720/view/5120032997792888150

The rusted pipe being influenced by similar pipes seen at Felixstowe beach

Rusted pipe at Felixstowe beach
From the first moments I began developing Neyyah back in Western Australia, I knew that I wanted to pull inspiration from the places I had been to as a child. I had grown up in Felixstowe, so was very familiar with the presence of Martello Towers, sea defences, crumbling aged buildings, and other historical sights such as Landguard Fort.

A photo I took at Landguard Fort, back in 2020
 

In terms of how the game has developed since early 2021, there have been a fair few announcements and progress updates: one of the most exciting being the announcement of Neyyah being published by Microprose, who published games such as Railroad Tycoon and Civilization many years ago. You can find out more about Microprose and their games here: https://www.microprose.com/
 
Neyyah was announced on the 26th May this year, along with a trailer which was created by Microprose, incorporating imagery from the game and also featuring the voice of my wonderful wife Nanci who will be starring as one of the characters in the game, too! (More on the acting further down in the article). You can watch the announcement trailer for Neyyah here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiag4DeQN1U&t=9s

Screenshot from the announcement trailer
As well as many new locations being modelled for the game, I have also been busy with integrating material into the game engine, Visionaire Studio 5, which is a fantastic engine for point n click adventure game design. The game world is growing. More and more locations are being cemented into the build, and it’s a wonderful process seeing everything come to life on screen!

Screenshot from Visionaire Studio 5 game engine / Neyyah build
Neyyah has had some revamps along the way too. With a hardware update back in 2020 causing the bar to raise in terms of the graphical fidelity and richness I was able to create for Neyyah, certain scenes which were created back in 2018 and 2019 are being modified. This has been a refreshing process, integrating certain skills I did not have back in the start of Neyyah’s production, but also strengthening Neyyah’s evolved backstory and characters into the environments!

Before (2021)

After (2022)
Feel free to watch my most recent dev log from my Youtube channel which shows some of the work I do within Visionaire Studio 5 game engine, bringing to life the game, and making it interactive for the player (and how I achieve this with the game engine tools!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtKby88law
I also went to Cornwall this year in August, which was a fantastic adventure in itself! I got to meet up with two other game developers, Matt Clark and Jonathan Boakes, both having created point and click games such as Dark Fall, Barrow Hill and The Lost Crown games. They have both been a big inspiration for me, dating back to my early teen years where I found a passion for game development / 3d modelling. It was awesome to finally meet them, and they are both supporting Neyyah’s developments too!

Myself with Matt Clark and Jonathan Boakes
Other places in Cornwall which fell under the Neyyah influence radar include Tintagel Castle, Boscastle, Polperro and Looe, where I stayed. It was a breath of fresh air to go somewhere different, while also having the camera and sound recorder ready to capture anything that I may encounter on my travels which would benefit the game in anyway, shape or form. Cornwall is definitely a place I’ll be returning to one day! There is still so much to explore!

A photo I took my travels at Tintagel Castle, Merlin’s Cave Beach, Cornwall
Feel free to watch my dev log on my adventures in Cornwall, which details more of the places I went to, and also video footage cataloguing my thoughts and inspirations for Neyyah along the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwnni8fooG8&t=1730s
 
Upcoming events for the game include an interview with presenter Frazer Nash, who works for Microprose and who I’ll be meeting with in Felixstowe and exploring different sites within the local area, including Landguard Fort. The concept behind the interview will be to discuss in further detail the reasons behind why certain areas of Felixstowe have helped inspire Neyyah. I am really looking forward to this interview, and being able to share these areas of Felixstowe! 

In January, I will be travelling to Western Australia, where filming sessions shall take place for Neyyah’s FMV (full motion video) character sequences. As mentioned before, my wife Nanci will be playing one of the characters – and so will I! From now until January, we will be working closer together to finalise scripts, actors and various other prep work involved in bringing real life characters to the Neyyah world! It’s going to be a challenging and exciting period of Neyyah’s development cycle, and will definitely be shared through social media in documentary fashion, revealing the world behind the scenes on shooting the sequences, as well as announcing actors / actresses along the way!

Screenshot from Neyyah
It’s an exciting time for Neyyah. The game world is growing and growing, and it’s going to be fun working alongside my wife Nanci more on the project, along with her kids and the team I’ll be working with in Western Australia such as Scudley Film to make incredible things happen. Microprose will also be assisting in various VFX tasks required for the game, and it all starts this month!

Again, wishlist the game on Steam. Get notified of its release, as well as stay tuned for updates along the way which are published on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1289720/Neyyah/
You can follow Neyyah’s progress on a variety of social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and help support the development of Neyyah on Patreon too. Find my sites on Linktree here: https://bit.ly/3C14gap

Very much looking forward to sharing more content here on The Felixstowe App, and revealing more about how Felixstowe has played such a big role in the design process of Neyyah, and sharing tips along the way to help inspire others!

Thanks to The Felixstowe Magazine and App for having me, and hope to see some new adventurers readying to jump through the portal into Neyyah upon release!
 

Thank you all for reading, 
- Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment