The mechanic for sensing the world around the player is a blend of all normal human senses + extra superhuman senses :)

If you close your eyes and just immerse yourself in the reality around, it is never silent. There is the sound of the rain, the wind, the sound of ambulance sirens, voices of family and neighbors — sounds of what’s going on in the world around you.

The same with vision, but we’re so accustomed to it (as it is our main source of information), that it is easier to imagine with the sounds.

But in the game there are no sounds. We can add sound effects to what happens on the screen. But it doesn’t usually bring information about the world around which is not visible. And sometimes player switches sounds off and plays without them (quite usual on mobile devices!). Or when commuting is it so noisy around that game sounds are simply not audible.

But Aery is a game about exploration. Not about what is going on here, but what adventures await somewhere else.

So i was thinking to create a visual “sounds” system, which would bring all senses in visual format. The characters emit pulsing circles. Which change in intensity, size and color based on several factors:

• sound intensity (the pulsation can be visible only when audible, at the distance of sound)
• distance to the source
• color reflecting the current state of the creature. Dark → rainbow or colored to the current dominant feeling → white or iridescent light.

Like this the player can feel there is someone around, what is their current state and where they are.