About Neraïa: Echo of the abyss
Neraïa: Echo of the Abyss is an isometric 3D puzzle game where players embody an underwater creature who uses sound as a core mechanic to solve various types of challenges.
Breakdown
- Production Period: Developed over the course of a year as a long-term side project, created alongside our study sessions.
- Team: The team consisted of four game designers, each with a specialized focus: one in Level Design, one in Narrative Design, one in Sound Design, and one in Programming.
- Sound Gameplay: While sound and music in games are often used for rhythm-based gameplay, in Neraïa, they are integral to both story progression and interactive control of the world. Players can manipulate spherical sound bubbles that generate waves, interacting with various mechanisms in the environment. These sound-based interactions are used to unlock paths, solve puzzles, and push the story forward on a deeply personal journey of self-discovery.
- Narrative Driven Game: At its heart, Neraïa is about acceptance—of yourself, of differences, and of the desire to find people who let you be truly who you are. The journey of our heroine resonates with real, lived experiences, allowing many players from different backgrounds to connect emotionally with her story. The music, the world, and the purpose behind the quest carry meaning that is both personal and universal.
- Underwater world
Development Summary
Neraïa was not always called that at the beginning, it was originally named Aede. The project has undergone many refactors and major design overhauls. Narrative, gameplay systems, and the environment have all been significantly reworked since the end of our first milestone.
Narrative
In Neraïa, you play as a young girl born with full hearing in a village where everyone else is deaf. While others rely on silence, you experience the world through all five senses, which leads you to develop different hobbies and behaviors.
Though the villagers judge you silently—watching with confusion or disapproval, you have never let it affect you deeply.
Until one day, you discover a music box. Its melodies fill you with joy, unlocking emotions you never knew you needed.
Enthusiastically, you show it to your parents, only to be met with rejection. They dismiss your love for music as meaningless, insisting you abandon it—for your own good.
Heartbroken, Neraïa runs away from the village, questioning her identity: Why am I different? Is there something wrong with me?
During her journey, she meets an old woman who can also hear—the first person who truly understands her. The woman tells her about a distant place where music is central to life. Though the woman never found it, this story becomes the spark that sets Neraïa on her path.
From there, the game follows her emotional and physical journey in search of a place—and people—where she is accepted for who she is, and can finally discover her true self.
My Contributions
- Conception and implementation of the narration and the narrative design system.
- Cinematic system.
- Game management.
- Supervising all the team tasks and advancement.
- Designed & produced 3D Environment assets.
- Lighting and postprocess.
- Testing & Analytics.