Dev Diary #1 The Automation Factory

We are Aiya Games, developers of Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja, the fast-paced challenging platformer that you control with your mouse. We just completed the third stage of the game, and we couldn’t wait to share our progress with you, so here we are -- this is the very first entry of our dev diary! Today we want to give you a sneak peek at the second level of the game: the Automation Factory.

The concept of this level is an intricate maze of narrow corridors and moving obstacles. One of these obstacles is a moving wall: you have limited time to dash through deadly lasers while you are on these walls. A true ninja will be able to go through these narrow challenges. Can you do it?

While you navigate through this area, you will find many enemies blocking your advance. There are several types of them, like the one which can shoot bullets that bounce on the walls (thus killing you with their ricocheting) or an enemy that literally stops your progress in its tracks by acting like a wall. All of them are inspired by supernatural creatures and spirits called ‘yōkai’.

The yōkai came from Japanese mythology. They’re a very diverse group of monsters that, most of the time, were said to cause misfortune and harm. Sometimes they look like humans and animals (kitsune, tengu, kappa), or everyday objects (tsukumogami); but others don’t have a discernible shape. One of the first official compilations of yōkai, which is very famous among folklorists, was written by the artist Toriyama Sekien in 1779: it was called Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (in English, The Illustrated One Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past). We recommend you to search it and take a look at his beautiful representations!

The boss of the Automation Factory is a kamaitachi, an ermine-like yōkai that has razor-sharp claws and spins at incredibly high speed. Like how the folklore is told, this boss can change his face during the fight -- and also his skills and abilities accordingly. Each face and form has its own sets of powers. This is certainly not a foe to take lightly -- reading how it changes its face is the key strategy of this boss fight.

Last but not least, during your journey inside this maze-like factory you will face your rival: another ninja called Kyojin... And it won't be a friendly encounter. His movements are as fast and precise as Cyjin's, so don't let your guard down. We'll tell you more about him in a future dev diary!

This is all about level two for now!! Stay tuned for more updates and info on the game’s development. We are also getting ready to launch our Kickstarter campaign. Follow us and keep posted on its progress.

And don’t forget to follow Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja on Steam and add it to your wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1550450/Cyjin_The_Cyborg_Ninja/

Also, join our brand new Discord server for the last news and chats: https://discord.gg/GRq29PMBkv

We hope to see you soon! Thank you so much for your support.