Keeping in the spirit of Nothing Lost’s core theme of passing down experience through the generations, we at Team Trifold have strived to honour the tales and ideas of our own family and friends, to weave together a creative world that is our own. Our goal is to pay respect to and share ideas with the world that we consider personal and resonant, so that more people might come to appreciate the various colours and textures of our cultures.
Our multi-cultural team was raised on stories of the extraordinary from our families and friends, and we also have a keen interest in folklore from all around the world. Among our main creative inspirations are the traditions and supernatural figures of China, Philippines, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and more.
When we began creating Nothing Lost we saw an opportunity to bring some of these stories together. What would a world look like where creatures from these different traditions could coexist? What would the language, architecture and traditions look like?
Welcome to Yamatagi
‘Yamatagi’ is the fictional nation at the centre of Nothing Lost. It is an amalgamated Asian fantasy world that combines ideas from many sources in order to create something interesting yet familiar.
The geography and ecology of Yamatagi is inspired by the Korean peninsula and the romance of Chinese mythology and art. Misty mountaintops adorned with delicate, twisted trees and carefully-worked wood and brass architecture set the scene for our Shaman heroes’ adventure.
The in-world Yamatagan linguistic style (demonstrated in character/place names) is loosely inspired by the characteristics of Malay, Thai and Japanese, while the written form takes inspiration from the ancient Philippine ‘Babayin’ script.
Shaman Warriors
The shamans of Nothing Lost are a fictitious order of supernatural warriors and clerics, their practices and dress borrowing from Korean shamanism as well as assorted East Asian animistic traditions.
The goal in developing the Yamatagan Shaman Order, was to pay some tribute to an Eastern cultural perspective on life, mourning and rebirth, as a slight sidestep to the stories more commonly told. Hand-in-hand with our “nothing is ever truly lost” gameplay tenet, our narrative aims to explore similar themes, cosmic cycle of death and rebirth, as well as the idea of collective legacy where the lives and experiences of those who came before continue to shape those that follow” ?
Extraordinary Creatures
The various otherworldly spirits that you meet in the Tower of Souls (and often must do battle with) are inspired by supernatural beings from across the Asian continent. As the Tower of Souls has been overrun by mystical entities from another realm, we had an excellent opportunity to present a wide variety of colourful creatures and monsters that players may not have encountered before. The idea of presenting a world and circumstance that allowed Tengu and Aswang to feasibly coexist was deeply exciting for us, and allowed us to delve into some very creative and personal material during development.
The various Yokai and Yaoguai featured in Nothing Lost may be familiar to fans of East Asian pop-culture, but we wanted to also shine a spotlight on some folkloric creatures not represented as often worldwide. Many Filipino monsters and fae are shown in particular, reflecting my own heritage, for example. Characters such as the Tikbalang and Manananggal were introduced to me by my family while growing up, and their vivid images seemed to lend themselves to some exciting otherworldly character designs.
Stories Worth Sharing
As much as we’ve drawn inspiration from folklore, our goal has always been to weave these different threads into a creative world that is our own. We hope that some players will be introduced to creatures they may never have encountered before, or offer an interesting twist on legends they already know. we can do these stories and traditions justice in our own way, while still presenting something original and most importantly, respectful. Our hope in tapping into these myriad influences is to resonate a little with our players from around the globe, or to pique their interest and introduce them to stories and ideas that they may have had limited exposure to.
Nothing Lost is available to wishlist on Steam and consider joining our Discord channel. We’d love to hear about the creatures and legends that have captured your imagination growing up, and whether you think any might show up in Nothing Lost!
