Hello readers! We are very proud to launch Harmony: The Fall of Reverie on PlayStation 5 on June 22n/a. It’s a narrative adventure with two vibrant worlds, a cast of lovable characters, and a compelling story that we hope all types of players will enjoy.
One of the main features of our game is the Augural, and that’s what we’d like to talk about in this blog. The Augural is the game board and visual representation of our main character, Polly’s, gift of clairvoyance. This is the place where you will plan and make all your choices in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie.
We wanted the Augural to be a peaceful and beautiful place where you can prepare for your next move without any stress. This is why the Augural is set against a placid lake reflecting a starry sky, and this starlight conveys the idea of an astronomical map where fates can be deciphered.
When we started building the Augural, the intention was to offer meaningful, well-informed choices, so you’re never surprised or caught off guard by the decisions you make. From there, it naturally evolved into a way of laying out the “heart” of the story and showing how the events relate to one another. We wanted to do something new in the Choices Matter subgenre.
We experimented with graphs and trees when conceptualizing. One of our main references was Augury, the divinatory art of ancient Greece, which they practiced because they believed that the gods were willing to communicate with mortals. It was a good way for us to make the link between Polly’s clairvoyance and this way of representing her.
But it came with challenges – we wanted you to feel the gift of clairvoyance and still be surprised by how the story unfolded. The biggest issue, however, was readability; the Augural has gone through quite a few iterations!
Some versions that we experimented with but ultimately didn’t make it into the game are more complex trees that would spread out in multiple directions, cards that would reveal themselves on the board as the story progressed, and at at one point there was even a building that you could shoot in 3D! In the end, we made the system more user-friendly with extensive testing, removing all unnecessary visual elements, simplifying the background, improving readability at any zoom level, and spending a lot of time refine the navigation.
Because the Augural is such a visual way to play, we had to create a system where you can see even seemingly insignificant decisions end up turning into better results down the line. This is how you can visualize how you are going to play to achieve the results you are looking for. During the game, you will also make decisions that will have an immediate impact on the story and unlock branches while closing access to others.
For bigger decisions, you will use crystals. This resource, which is your connection between the two worlds, is another unique aspect of the game that you will see and manage in Augural. As the story progresses, you’ll gather crystals from the Aspirations – ancient divine beings living in Reverie – that you’ve helped or been helped by on your journey. Which crystals will you use and from whom will power the influence of these aspirations on the real world until one eventually stands above the rest as the heart of humanity…maybe be.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a game that relies on a story and gameplay that responds to each other in a fluid way – the complexity of the story should not be an obstacle to understanding. We think we’ve succeeded, but we’d love for you to play and let us know what you think! Harmony: The Fall of Reverie out on the 22ndn/a June on PlayStation 5.
