We had a chat with Death Relives developer Bahtiyar Ardin
Halfway through the second quarter of 2024, we reached out to Nyctophile Studios as Death Relives approached its specified release date and asked them some questions we were curious about. We compile the answers we received and share them with you. Answering our questions was Bahtiyar Ardin, the founder of Nyctophile Studios. I’m Namık Türk from Oyun Günlüğü, and here is our interview…
Namık Türk (NT) – Firstly, we’d like to get to know you. We’re curious about your entry into the gaming industry and the birth of Death Relives.
Bahtiyar Ardin (BA) – First of all, I’d like to thank you for your interest in our game. I’m Bahtiyar Ardin, born in 1992 in Ağrı. My childhood inclination towards craftsmanship shaped my path towards art. I started with charcoal drawings. Winning first place in a competition held between Istanbul and my hometown during middle school ignited a competitive spirit within me. I had to work during my first year of high school, so I dropped out. Meanwhile, while playing games, I always wondered about the backstage kitchen. I would scan the names on the credits screens of the games I finished on Facebook and would communicate with everyone I could reach.
To be honest, that’s how my entire journey and subsequent progress unfolded. Because there are many more stories to tell in the background, I want to shorten the topic by emphasizing the stability of my work. In short, whatever I was curious about in life, I focused on and acted accordingly. Prior to Death Relives, I honed myself primarily as a character artist over ten years of experience. I also took on the role of technical art director. Winning a scholarship from our mentor Onur Can Çaylı, who illustrated the Night King in “Game of Thrones,” helped me approach the industry more professionally.
Later on, I had the opportunity to work with a team led by Cemre Özkurt, contributing to projects at Adobe in the United States, as well as on ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ and many other projects I can’t disclose. In fact, all of these experiences were steps towards becoming an entrepreneur in the industry. Most of the people I worked with knew that my dream was always to establish my own company and create our own games. I just wasn’t ready yet. I can say that ‘Death Relives’ sprouted when I felt ready.
(NT) – Let’s start with one of the most important features of Death Relives for the Turkish gaming industry; Turkish voice acting. This is a significant factor because apart from a few major productions, there aren’t many games with Turkish voice acting support. Did you decide to have Turkish voice acting support for the game from the very beginning, or was it a decision that evolved over time?
(BA) – “Death Relives” is like the key that unlocked my dream. That’s why it holds immense spiritual significance for me. Perhaps in the future, we’ll undertake even bigger productions, but all of that will have come to pass thanks to Death Relives. Having Turkish voice acting in a project with such high spiritual value is about conveying that it comes from the lands where I live and breathe.
(NT) – Speaking of Turkish voice acting, we encounter a cast of professionals whose voices we are familiar with. If possible, do you have a desire to create another game in the future with Turkish voice acting support using a similarly professional cast?
(BA) – I’d also like to extend special thanks to Locpick Game Localization & Audio team for their support in localization, and of course, we’ll always strive to have Turkish voice acting in our next projects as well.
How is the development process of Death Relives progressing?
(NT) – The development process is going well. Currently, there’s a playable demo available on Steam. Have you made any changes based on feedback from this demo? We know you’ve collaborated with linguists from Mexico for Xipe Totec’s ancient Aztec language in the game. How large is the team developing the game, and could you provide some information about your studio? What challenges have you faced during the development process? Will you be harnessing the full power of Unreal Engine 5, and will there be any changes in system requirements? Your demo offers a significantly longer gameplay compared to many other games on the market. How long do you plan the full version of the game to be?
(BA) – Our development process progresses thanks to the detailed Game Documentation we prepared at the beginning of the game. The entire team follows this documentation diligently and tracks their work through Jira. We also hold weekly meetings where we update each other on our progress. In fact, I had shared a Documentation video covering only the Demo part of the game. Let me share it here as well, perhaps it will be helpful for the readers.
We received a lot of feedback thanks to the demo, and we listened to most of them and made changes accordingly. For example, now there is an animation when searching for corpses. 🙂
Our localization team, along with the development team, comprises almost a total of 50 people. The core development team consists of 20 individuals, with 7 being part of the core team, and the rest are volunteers who provide occasional support or assistance.
Our studio was founded in 2021. We mostly work during the evenings. The meaning of the name Nyctophile itself indicates someone who loves the night, lives as actively at night as during the day, and is more active at night. We faced challenges in bringing console kits into the country, which took between 8 to 12 months of effort. The reasons are complex, but let’s say it’s mainly due to geography. However, we received great support from Serkan Özay, one of the founders of Hero Concept, and the producer of the Mayhem Brawler game. They helped us establish partnerships with console manufacturers and facilitated the transfer of their own PS4 kits to us, leading the way. I am very grateful to them.
Another challenging aspect was marketing. Marketing still proves to be quite difficult for us. While developing, we’re essentially doing what we know, it just takes time. But at the end of the day, development continues. Marketing is like an unknown sea, it’s vast and our lack of experience makes it very challenging.
I believe we’ve utilized Unreal Engine 5 quite well. We particularly focus on optimization and strive to provide players with a good experience. The game’s duration will be around 7 to 8 hours on average. However, due to its dynamic AI system, this duration might exceed 10 hours for some players. But we anticipate it will be at least 5 hours.
Death Relives’ story
(NT) – Adrian is indeed a brave child, risking so much to save his mother. Sometimes in the game, we witness him talking to himself. Will Adrian continue this journey with the fundamental idea of rescuing his mother, or should we expect to see other figures from Aztec mythology such as Quetzalcōātl and Tezcatl Ipoca, becoming part of a larger event? Will you provide information about the inner workings of the story optionally through document reading, or will events unfold visually and aurally before our eyes?
(BA) – The fundamental idea is to rescue his mother, but during this process, in storytelling areas with narrators, players will witness why Xipe Totec is here and what he has done for his people compared to other Aztec gods. Additionally, players will get to know the Yeden character thoroughly and establish a connection with him as Adrian. There will be visual presentations in the storytelling areas in the game, not just audio. Furthermore, players will be able to listen to the stories told within the game later on as well.
(NT) – Will we see new weapons or gadgets in the game apart from what we saw in the demo? Will there be dangers that require different approaches depending on the situation? We know that there are instant changes between locations, but will we see different sections in general?
(BA) – Yes, we will reconnect to the outdoor environment. There will be different hazards and various types of enemies. The feel of the weapon will be improved as well.
(NT) – We know that you included an option to disable instant horror elements in the game thanks to the demo. For players who use this option, will the game turn into an action and puzzle game devoid of fear, or have you planned something to make players feel fear under all circumstances?
(BA) – Of course, we introduced accessibility by allowing players to disable instant jump scares rather than fear elements. Disabling jump scares doesn’t mean our game will be devoid of fear. Our main enemy has a dynamic AI system. Trying to solve puzzles while hiding from it in the game already provides us with tension along with fear.
“Death Relives” demo is available on the game’s Steam page.
Death Relives will be released as a full version!
(NT) – We’ve surpassed the midpoint of the second quarter of 2024, the release date you specified on your Steam page. There was a brief delay before; will there be another delay? If not, would it be possible for you to provide our readers with a release date here for the first time? Has a decision been made regarding pricing for the game? At what price will it be sold? Will you follow a separate pricing policy for the Türkiye/MENA region?
(BA) – Our game’s release date is approaching soon, but it’s not yet fully determined. We will announce the exact date through a release announcement video. We won’t be doing an early access release; we’ll directly release the full version. Therefore, we’re focusing all our attention on continuing our development processes. Delays can occur in our processes due to factors beyond our control. For example, games developed with Unreal Engine 5 may experience hardware issues on 4070 graphics cards. The problem lies with either the graphics card or the game engine. We’re hoping for these issues to be resolved with upcoming updates. Players rightfully have no forgiveness for games released with major flaws. I believe a smooth and playable game will always redeem itself. Therefore, if there’s any delay, we apologize in advance.
(NT) – Finally, is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
(BA) – We would like to thank the Oyun Günlüğü team for bringing us together with your readers. To all readers: we hope the conversation was not boring for you. If our game has caught your attention, you can support us by adding it to your wish list on PlayStation and Steam pages. If the game’s genre isn’t your cup of tea but you still want to show support, simply adding it to your wishlist will suffice. Thank you all in advance.
Oyun Günlüğü team wishes Nyctophile Studios success.
Don’t forget to follow us for more updates on Death Relives.