Hello everyone! Thanks to the Steam Summer Sale we are experiencing an increased interest for INSOMNIA. And while we are working on our next update for the game (it will add new free content and a bunch of fixes), we would like to pinpoint a workaround for a few issues that some of our players might have experienced with v1.5 so far:

• Character generation bug: thanks to Nox, our loyal community member from the early days, we’ve got a handy tip that will help you avoid the above-mentioned issue if you ever happen to stumble upon it;
  
  
• In-game font size issue: some insomniacs have reported that the font size on the incidental dialog became somewhat small and hard to read on bigger screens. So if this is something that happened to you as well, don’t hesitate to check out the following workaround suggested by Tolwrath and Ty Cobb;
  
  
• The game renders extremely dark after loading a savegame: long story short — if you are having this bug, there just might be a solution for you (courtesy of Brimstone).

Also, there are a few more life hacks that might be useful to some of you as well:

• Stereo 3D mode: if you know what this is or have no clue but want to try anyway, Bobisz has you covered!
  
  
• Controller support: since this is one of the most popular questions we get now and then, here’s a link to the guide that will help you;
  
  
• Freezes on AMD powered machines: this proved to be quite useful for v1.4 and below, however, in case any of you still find yourself in the situation mentioned above — you can always try this trick.

Since the Steam Summer Sale certainly kept most of our players busy, we’ve decided to give everyone some additional time to participate in the game guide contest we have announced previously.


The winner will get a Steam key to two of INSOMNIA’s DLCs (Deluxe Set + OST) and any one game published by HeroCraft on Steam of his or her choosing. Also, we just might give away a few free copies of one of the INSOMNIA’s DLC to a few lucky runner ups as well. So don’t hesitate to submit your entries!

For more details please address this news post. Submissions are accepted until July 31st. And let the best guide win!

Hello everyone! Today marks the release of v1.5 for INSOMNIA: The Ark, something that we have all been waiting for so long. Previously, we’ve outlined a roadmap regarding the specific issues we’ve been working on (#1, #2, #3, #4). So let us go over some of the highlights below:

• INSOMNIA is now running on Unreal Engine v4.21.2 (it used to run on v4.16.3). Since the difference between these two versions was huge, we couldn’t jump from the older version to the newest one in one go. We had to update the game step by step and fix many new issues that weren’t causing any trouble previously;
  
  
• DirectX 12 support is introduced, so get ready for some dramatic changes to the appearance of in-game locations! The lighting effects have been improved drastically, making Object 6 look and feel more realistic and sinister than ever before. You can also expect DirectX 11 support, even though INSOMNIA worked only with DirectX 10 initially;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiuFGyhsLOg

• The texture streaming feature was added to fix the missing textures issue that some of you have experienced before for specific in-game models. Localization-related glitches have also been addressed which was technically impossible without UE4 upgrade (along with missing textures bug);
  
  
• Better optimization for AMD powered machines and overall improvement of game stability, along with fixing all known critical blockers, crashes and freezes that prevented some players to continue with the game at certain stages.

Below you can find an additional list of bugs that have been addressed in the latest patch:

• The game’s resolution is being set correctly in the Settings menu no matter what is the actual resolution of the screen at the moment;
  
• The game is no longer being displayed in full-screen mode when setting to 1680x1050 windowed mode;
  
• The quality of the textures is now being set to the maximum quality when appropriate option is picked in the Settings menu.

• The look of your followers is now being changed in accordance with the current level of their equipment (armor, backpacks, and weapons);
  
• The higher ranked commissars are now wearing red coats so the player will know whom to avoid (the lower level of Committee Archive);
  
• Manner is no longer floating (Square of Glory);
  
• The appearance of Dowel is now changed depending on whenever he wears a mask or not;

• An NPC in Casino Amarkord doesn’t run into the truck anymore;
  
• The militia no longer blocks the way during the “On the Verge of Despair” quest;
  
• Fixed an issue with Dern not appearing in Thyper’s Shelter (this happened with some saves for older versions of the game).

• The inability to leave the Wax Cell through the main exit point (this happened if you’ve entered this location through the lavatory area);
  
• A container no longer sticks out from the railway carriage on Station D-96;
  
• Added a proper name to the “no name monument” found on Square of Glory;
  
• Converter Details can be no longer picked in Antique Shop (sorry, guys, you don’t need them);

• Zone 88 no longer disappears from the global map after talking to Gennard and leaving the location;
  
• Your character no longer falls through the floor of the elevator in Committee Archive;
  
• A screw-nut no longer floats in Checkpoint B-10/2;
  
• A doorstep no longer prevents the player from entering the code protected door in Checkpoint B-10/2;

• A bad cover no longer floats in Crematory;
  
• An issue with the security bots in Urb Perimeter not attacking the player in the Prologue is fixed;
  
• Security personnel in Prologue no longer stays inside the door leading to the Reservation D-106 administrative building;
  
• The player can no longer use the crawler remotely in Military Base;

• The issue with fanatics not letting the player go in Residential Unit random encounter has been fixed;
  
• The issue with the inability to enter one of the portals and finish the game has been fixed.

• Urb Perimeter map is no longer represented with the yellow square;
  
• Duplicated UI elements are removed from the Character menu;
  
• The player no longer gets a notification regarding visiting the Antique Shop after previously discovering it;
  
• Followers body model no longer replaces the players body model upon switching between the Team and Inventory menus.

• The player can now use items without exiting the Inventory menu;
  
• Turban can no longer be picked in Wild Grove (shouldn’t have been available for picking in the first place, oops!);
  
• Fixed an issue with no icon items on random locations.

• The flameflower sound loop is fixed (an issue occurred while fighting the Tester in Wax Cell);
  
• Fixed the lack of end game trailers after continuous playing session;
  
• The player is now able to get a positive outcome for “On the Verge of Despair” quest;
  
• The game no longer freezes on Alt+F4

• The game no longer crashes on loading the Antique Shop location;
  
• The issue with the character flickering and freezing after exiting the Tank Armor is fixed;
  
• The end game trailers are now being launched after finishing the game as expected.

In our previous news update, we have already announced the additional free content. We plan to release it after getting your feedback regarding the v1.5 improvements, so we can add any additional fixes if necessary with the new stuff we’ve promised (shouldn’t take too long). Other than that we are also looking forward to addressing the following issues that might pop-up if you will continue to play the game using the older saves (v1.4, etc):

• Redden doesn’t move after completing “Bane of Mills” and “At the Bottom” quests, and talking to him;
  
• Quest log lacks the information regarding the quest related to Tel and the first time the player gets to the somnia;
  
• No ability to exit the Beach.

Also, there are certain problems with the subtitles not being displayed in some of the trailers. Other than that, you are good to go and experience the world of INSOMNIA: The Ark as never before. Let us know what you think!

Hello everyone! V1.5 is soon to be deployed and we felt that now is a perfect time for another fun announcement. After all of the support and patience that our community has shown during the past months, our team wants to give something back to express our appreciation to you guys.

After the v1.5 release, we will introduce a content update that will include:

• 3 new special encounters on the global map: survive through yet another deadly Pyramid Mercenaries ambush, restore order in a distant camp infested by savage cannibals, and get ready to be punished by the righteous if you choose to take advantage of the weak;
  
  
• 3 mini-bosses to challenge: try to outwit money thirsty leader of the Pyramid Mercenaries, confront the mind rotten Butcher the Cannibal and fight the owner of rusty Tank Armor who just might remind you of someone you’ve met before;
  
  
• 1 secret location to find. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? More likely a room filled with peculiar corpses to loot and… shoot… if you want to, of course;
  
  
• 5+ unique items to use: new armor, vest, shotgun, gasmask, axe, and other equipment.

The content update will be available for everyone who owns the game, free of charge. More details regarding the planned update will become available as soon as they are finalized.

See you next week, insomniacs!

Hello everyone! We are happy to announce that we are wrapping up QA/testing and the tentative release date for v1.5 is on June 19th. Сurrently, we are fiddling with save files from previous versions of the game to make sure they will be compatible with v1.5 (we will let everyone know of the results).

Also, there’s a little extra something we were working on to demonstrate our gratitude and appreciation for all of the patience and support you have shown us, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, here’s an additional list of bugs that are going to be addressed in the upcoming patch:

• Fixed the inability to exit Water Purification Plant (Sabra no longer ignores the player);
  
• Wild Grove’s door now always functions as expected (“Lethal Retrospect” quest);
  
• The elevator now matches the size of the shaft in Water Purification Plant;
  
• Invisible wall in the Wax Cell is removed;

• The sandbar model no longer disappears at the end of the game after entering the blue portal;
  
• Character is no longer able to walk through the wall on the third floor after entering the somnia;
  
• Fixed the inability to exit the Vulture’s Nest at the end of the game;
  
• Bridge to the anomaly now acts as expected at the end of the game.

• The elevator in the Military Base now always works as expected;
  
• “Bad actor” indicator is no longer showing in older saves for Station D-96;
  
• The elevator in Vulture’s Nest now always works as expected;
  
• The elevator in Casino Amarkord now looks as expected;

• The player can no longer enter the water in Abandoned Zone H27/55;
  
• The player can no longer fall into the pit in Abandoned Zone H27/55;
  
• Fixed the level objects loading speed upon loading the save file;
  
• Security bots no longer stuck under the ceiling while fight with Derden during the “Bane of Mills” quest.

• NPCs no longer ignore walls while showing the way to the player;
  
• Corpses are no longer standing upon visiting specific locations;
  
• Captain Riebel’s haircut and beard no longer change;
  
• Fixed Genaro’s inability to transfer the player to the Coast more than once;

• The player can no longer get more than one copy of Book of Taboro;
  
• NPCs are no longer invisible after appearing from above in certain scenarios;
  
• Fixed issues with inability to complete the “Bane of Mills” quest in certain scenarios;
  
• The wrong story ending is no longer activated after entering the blue portal.

• Game optimization improved thanks to transferring to the newest version of UE 4;
  
• Fixed the duration of subtitles visibility in the Prologue intro movie;
  
• Overload / hunger / thirst / low health indicators are no longer active for no reason;
  
• Full screen 2560*1440 resolution mode functions as expected now.

• Fixed game crashing upon repairing Hierarchy Leggins and Commissioner's Cloak;
  
• Game no longer freezes while trying to load a save file from the main menu;
  
• Fixed game crash after finishing the “Enemy Behind the Walls” quest and exiting the Urb Perimeter;
  
• Game no longer freezes in Prologue on entering the global map;
  
• 5-10 minutes loading time on entering the global map is fixed.

• Fixed zoom animation during interactions with the objects;
  
• Traveling between locations on the global map works as expected now;
  
• Fixed the movement issue on the global map at the beginning of the game;
  
• Fixed the inability to finish Prologue due to the lack of the outro movie in certain situations.

Please keep in mind that this list may still expand. Until next time, insomniacs!

Hello everyone! First, here are some new details regarding our current progress on v1.5. The current QA testing session confirmed the fixed status for more than 30 high priority bugs that have been reported by our community since v1.4 was released. These include a better optimization (particularly for AMD powered machines), various issues that prevented some players from completing certain quests (including the endgame), periodic crashes and freezes, localization and visual related glitches, global map problems, etc.

There are still around 10 reported issues we would like to double check before finally releasing v1.5 to the public. We plan to finish this process on May 28th and update you with the release date next week accordingly.

Meanwhile, welcome to our latest installment of the “Meet the team” series (links to previous parts: #1, #2, #3, #4). This piece is dedicated to a few more crucial members of Mono Studio who made INSOMNIA possible.

I found INSOMNIA while browsing Kickstarter for potential job opportunities. After getting in touch with the team, sending over my portfolio and completing the test assignment, I was invited to join Mono Studio. I’ve created at least a hundred of concept arts for characters since then. I loved the way the working process was organized — quite often I had no strict borders for what I can and cannot do. This is exactly the way quite a few peculiar NPCs and bosses were created. Understanding the setting is the key here.

Also, I would like to point out that it’s quite rare to see concept art to be used inside the game in its original form. Usually, it's used as a visual reference point for 3D artists. However, one of my works can be found in Object 6 in the form of a painting. It’s a central piece in the Morach Base:

Generally, I don’t need a specific source of inspiration. Being an artist for years now, I just start drawing and get inspired in the process. Of course, it never hurts to listen to some good music, watch a movie or two, play a game or browse creations from other artists.

Games, games, games… my relationship with them is quite complicated :). I don’t play a lot. Most of the games I stumble upon feel mundane and I lose interest quite fast. Dark Souls must be the only series I’ve completed in the past 10 years. However, I’m a vivid YouTube gamer though :). Also, I admire the following classics: Fallout, Gothic, Morrowind, HOMM3, Diablo.

I’ve started my game development life as a freelancer and worked on various environment elements and locations for 2D games. These tasks also required some additional artistic and 3D modeling input, since I had to create sprites based on 3D objects.

I joined Mono Studio back in 2015. At that point in time, there was just one level designer who was searching for new members to join his team. I’ve completed the test assignment and two weeks later, I was working on INSOMNIA.

I designed and tweaked some of the levels which included the placement of NPCs, enemies, stashes, and all kinds of interactions between them. You can see some of this work in the Morach Base and Casino locations. Naturally, I worked on other parts of the game as well. However, since there were multiple designers that were involved in the process, there’s hardly any location inside Object 6 that was built entirely by one person.

When it comes to inspiration, I play a lot of games and pay attention to the way their fictional worlds are built. Of course, there are other artistic mediums that can fuel my creative fire. For example, I really enjoyed searching for abandoned USSR era summer camps. Lots of interesting stuff can be found there. Unfortunately, these days they are either destroyed or rebuilt into modern resorts (at least when it comes to Samara district).

I was just a kid when I started creating my first games. This became possible with the help of my first Soviet computer “Krista”. I’ve learned Assembler and developed a few little projects based on “Jeux et casse-tête à programmer” written by Jacques Arsac. Many years later in 2010, I was invited to a meeting with people who were interested in my area of expertise. We were discussing a project that became known as INSOMNIA and this is basically how Mono Studio was created. When I first saw the concept art for the game, I instantly knew I want to help breathe life into this world.

I served as a software architect for INSOMNIA and was responsible for the implementation of all logic and interaction mechanics inside the game. However, the most obvious visual representation of my work can be demonstrated by… elevators and doors functionality. Since I have a friend who installs elevators for living, I was able to to get all of the required information from someone who actually knows this stuff. So I’ve done my best to make a virtual representation of those as real as possible.

My favorite source of inspiration is work itself. Game development is an industry where you have to solve all kinds of tasks and I love it. This project was no exception. In my free time, I usually don’t play games at all, since this is a very time-consuming process. However, sometimes I pay attention to some of them when I need to learn new technologies. In these cases, I prefer to watch YouTube letsplays though. Anyway, I always enjoyed NFS5, all Gothic games, Risen and Elex.

P.S. see you next week, insomniacs!

Hello everyone! Today, we would like to summarize the latest Community Hub activity that might come in handy both for newcomers and veteran insomniacs. Also, we will give you an update on the current status of the v1.5 patch for INSOMNIA so you can get a better understanding of when to expect it.


As we have mentioned before, one of our community members started to work on a PnP version of the game. The author has already published an introduction to the system, a character sheet, and a mechanics summary. If this is something you might be interested in, you are welcome to participate and/or give feedback:


To give you some extra inspiration, here’s a complete list of lore bits we have posted in the news section so far:

• Hungry or unconscious - the philosophy behind the Big Sleep
  
• The Exodus - from the ashes of despair spread the wings of hope
  
• The Nomah Autonomy’s Guide to Object 6
  
• The factions of Object 6
  
• The wildlife of Object 6
  
• Things you might have missed while playing INSOMNIA + PT II
  
• The origins of citizen KZ0012
  
• The man behind the House of Bea Kera

And there’s also a lore video that was a part of a separate update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVS6uP2IgYA If there’s anything else you’d want to know about INSOMNIA lore-wise — let us know!


Recent testing session of the latest release candidate for v1.5 showed that localization issues are fixed indeed. However, the general report from QA indicates that v1.5 patch still requires additional work.

We are expecting to get a new release candidate on May 17th and start our next QA session on May 20th, which should give us a better idea of when v1.5 is going to be released. As always, we will keep you informed in our future updates. Thank you for your patience.

Until next time!

Hello, everyone! First of all, we’ve got some good news regarding patch v1.5. We were finally able to fix the localization issues which means you won’t be bothered with Russian in your English anymore. This also means that after 1.5 is out we will be ready to add any other additional languages to the mix.

In the meantime, there are still other problems that we are addressing, and while we are at it please welcome our newest piece of “Meet the team” series (links to previous parts: #1, #2, #3). This chapter is dedicated to the concept artists who were able to discover the distinctive style of INSOMNIA’s world in the first place. Here we go!

My gamedev story is quite short but means a lot to me. 20 years ago when I was a student I started to question my artistic future, and suddenly I was offered to participate in turn-based sci-fi strategy — this became a life-changing experience to me. I was able to come up with all kinds of aliens, locations, spaceships… this job literally made me believe in art again.

INSOMNIA experience started for me back in 2012. Anatoliy, the lead developer of the game, let me do all kinds of crazy things — some of them were quite outside of the focus of the project. Well, you can judge this pre-production era by browsing a few albums I’ve published on Behance:

#1 #2 #3 #4
#5 #6 #7

We were looking for the artistic direction — something that I believe is not always a common thing when it comes to game development. Sure, we had to dump lots of ideas since they didn’t do justice to the game’s universe. God, we’ve created so many weird, absurd and dark characters that were never meant to be a part of the final product))

Nevertheless, Anatoly didn’t regret the time we spent while developing the way the game would look since this was a valuable experience for all of us. Anyway, you can still witness some of my works inside INSOMNIA including graffiti, posters, animated videos, patches, tattoos, factions and emblems, food ads (human stew anyone?). Also, I’ve introduced the Furrynose and his “friends” to the game.

Initially, I was really inspired by graphic works of Dave McKean, Ralph Steadman, and “Khrustalyov, My Car!” movie. These days I use Pinterest for this purpose.

I don’t play games for 7 years now. When I did I was able to complete Diablo 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Arx Fatalis, Silent Hill. Also, I quite enjoyed each time I had to take sewer tour in STALKER)). The most precious thing I got from playing the games are separate short episodes like that. I mean what can be possibly better than the cheerful rustle of leaves in the sun accompanying me while I was going underground?

I’ve started to work in gamedev industry right after finishing the art school. I’ve spent three years working on casual games which gave me a certain experience in this field, however, I was always looking for more. This is how I discovered INSOMNIA back in 2014 while browsing VK (popular Russian social media service), and immediately fell in love with it.

At that point of time, I was playing Fallout and got inspired by all things post-apocalyptic. I’ve created some fan-art first, but then Mono Studio started to look for additional artists, and I decided to try my luck. After a few weeks I was offered to become a member of the team and this is when things got serious.

Eventually, I did many art for INSOMNIA including concepts for weapons, ammo, food, signboards, interiors, etc. I also developed the first version of the interface that could be seen in the early demos of the game. Oh, by the way, if you’ve ever played Prologue with Thyper as the main character — you should have noticed a transmitter shaped like a cat. It’s the brainchild of mine :)

As a team, we often shared inspirational music, movies, and games with each other. Anatoliy, the lead of the project, was able to accumulate an impressive amount of references on Pinterest, which really helped me during the work. Initially, my concept art was more steampunk styled so to speak :)

You can find more INSOMNIA related art from Daniil over here and here

I’ve become involved in the gamedev in quite a spontaneous way. As any kid who played the games, I wanted to create something on my own. So it all started with designing some basic board games, which involved creating custom maps, units, and dices, of course. Time has passed, I’ve finished college, served in the army, and got my first job as a storekeeper. Since I had plenty of free time, I’ve decided to do something useful with it and started drawing more often.

Eventually, this led into being involved in the development of a card-based board game which turned to be a very useful experience and opened some new doors. Later on, I’ve landed my skills to tabletop wargame Total Extinction, modifications to StarCraft 2 and Tiberium Wars 3.

I’ve joined Mono Studio in 2013 after being contacted by Anatoliy Guyduk, the lead of the project. Even though it started out as an MMORPG, it transformed into a singleplayer story driven game later on. With time I did more and more concepts for the game including weapons, armor and other equipment.

Generally, you can find quite a few items inside the game that were based on my drawings including doors, walls, keys, maps, weapons, armor, vehicles, a “pumpkin-mobile” (Crawler), turrets, devices, local animals, and crioma infested objects. It is really hard to describe the feeling when you see a game-ready 3D model based on your art. Satisfaction — is a proper word, I guess.

While working on INSOMNIA I was inspired by classic dieselpunk and steampunk anime, Naushika, The Last Outlaw, Bladerunner, etc. However, the biggest source of inspiration were the works of other artists who contributed to the worldbuilding of the game: characters of Maloshenkov, stylish arts from Guduk himself, accurate works of Medvedev, and very bold concepts from Torchinow. I wanted to keep the same level of professionalism. Of course, not all the art we have created was used, but Anatoliy certainly had a number of works to choose from. I really hope that in the future we shall witness some DLCs that will add more cool stuff to Object 6.

I play different games in my free time: FrostPunk, Х-Сom 2, StarCraft 2, Crossout, Red Orchestra 2, etc. Recently, I and my son completed Doom (don’t tell his grandma though). I’m thinking of playing the released version of the Atom — they’ve added quite a few things since the last time I’ve launched the game. Actually, it is very interesting to compare Atom and INSOMNIA, since the first one is quite good at the roleplaying side of things, while the second one has a very distinctive style and the universe. All in all, there is still room for improvement for both titles.

Until next time!

Hello everyone! While v1.5 is undergoing additional testing, we continue introducing you to the team behind INSOMNIA: the Ark (part one can be found here, and part two — here). Part three will get you acquainted with a few more key members of Mono Studio who made important contributions to the worldbuilding of the game. It’s time to start!

When I was 12 I realized that games don’t pop up out of nowhere — there has to be someone to bring them to life. So I asked myself: why can’t I be one of those people? It took some time and eventually when I got a “little” older I was able to get a position in Skyriver Studios and became involved in the development of Order of Magic.

I switched to INSOMNIA in 2013, even before we had our first successful Kickstarter. I was responsible for implementing AI along with quest and dialogue systems. So whenever NPCs act weird during combat everyone on the team knows who to blame, haha. I have also worked on miscellaneous game mechanics, interfaces, tools for other devs and localization support.

The overall process of working on INSOMNIA was very inspirational on its own. It was really interesting to witness how the game has evolved over the years. Each team member invested so much time, energy and effort in this project. We became a real family while working on this game — we spent time together, created paintings, visited gigs, and helped each other in different ways.

Good games have been the other source of constant inspiration for me. I always play something and it’s very heartwarming whenever I see someone leaves comments for INSOMNIA saying that this game had an impact on their lives.

I play strategy games a lot, including HOMM 2-5 (2nd installation is my favorite one, not the 3rd!), StarCraft, WarCraft, and X-Com. I’ve got Switch last year which opened new Zelda and Super Mario Odyssey for me. Currently, I’m fiddling with Into the Breach, Binding of Isaac, Banner Saga, and Divinity 2: Original Sin.

I’ve become a part of the video game industry back in 2011 when I had a chance to work on a Tetris-like title. This was an interesting experience and I decided to pursue this direction of work further. This is when I found out about INSOMNIA, and still remember my first meeting with Anatoliy (lead developer of the game).

I was responsible for INSOMNIA’s sound design till 2017 and gave “voice” to quite a few things during this time: environment, guns, inventory, monsters, robots, some jazz tunes for radio broadcasts and background music for a few locations (Thyper Shelter, Reservation D-106, etc.). I was also involved in collaboration with other musicians and voice actors.

My main inspiration comes from one simple thing: the very thought of creating a world, even a virtual one, is astonishing. I’m an occasional gamer and, currently, I try to play all the classics I’ve missed for any reason including Deus Ex, Divinity, Invisible Inc, Soma, Mark Of the Ninja, Tomb Raider, Pathfinder, etc. My most recent interest is Overwatch which I usually play with my brother. I also have a special place in my heart for Bioshock, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Silent Hill, Tekken, and X-Com.

My gamedev era started back in 2013 when I met a fellow musician from the Montren project and we decided to try and do something together. Eventually, this evolved in a completed track and we’ve managed to put it into Coma: Mortuary, an indie game from our friends.

A year later I was browsing VK (a popular Russian social media website) looking for tracks by an old punk band called Insomnia and stumbled upon an ad regarding an RPG game with the same name looking for musicians. I’ve decided to take my chance and spent the following 3 days on composing the “Main Theme” track.

I wasn’t the only one who showed interest in this position, however, I was lucky enough and got the job. I was given the go ahead to do whatever I want in terms of creating music for the game and this is exactly how the “Hollow” and “Radiation” tracks came to life. Other tracks were more “guided” in certain ways and I had to consider the feedback and references from the rest of the team. Yeah, by the way, all the music I’ve recorded for INSOMNIA is in A minor, 432 Hz. Just sayin’.

I draw inspiration for all kinds of music. Also, I love to have long walks in parks which usually result in spontaneous field recordings. For example, at some point, I heard a howling dog and recorded the sound (you can actually hear it in the “Hollow” track from
INSOMNIA’s OST).

When it comes to gaming, I enjoyed playing This War of Mine and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, and Stasis. I was playing Factorio heavily while working on INSOMNIA and continued with Skyrim and Pillars of Eternity. Back in the day, I enjoyed all Infinity engine powered games, Fallout 1-2, and HOMM III.

As always, stay tuned for our future biweekly updates regarding the lore, extra backstage information about INSOMNIA, and any progress with v1.5.

Hello everyone! Previously, we have covered some of the factions that you get to meet on Object 6, and today we are continuing our INSOMNIA: The Ark lore series with a fresh installment. Since the House of Bea Kera is one of the largest groups in Reservation D-106 and the entire sector D, it’s time to give some extra attention to their leader.


Being an eccentric and charismatic personality, Opherod had a big impact on the religious perception of ghetters, the descendants of illegal inhabitants of the space station. He was born in the Junkyard and had to live through many hardships with wit and resourcefulness as his only weapons.

After moving to Reservation, Opherod mostly engaged in petty criminal activities and worked on improving his own education. He also managed to become a family man: his wife gave birth to two boys — Darat and Kololei. At the age of six, Darat became a victim of a severe form of somnia which also granted him strange abilities. Due to the fears surrounding somnia, Opherod was forced to do everything possible to hide his condition and find a cure.



A few years later Opherod met Scuffler, a deformed psychonaut who was known as a talented chemist. He invented “wax” — a psychedelic crioma based drug that was able to increase the somnic level of the consumer. After his first experience with it, Opherod realized that this might be the way to study somnia closer and to bring Darat to normal life.

He started studying “Taboro” — a guidebook to somnia’s world written by a long time deceased nameless author who tried to describe his somnia fueled visions. This brought him to the idea of building an underground “wax” manufacturing facility. He started developing a syncretic religious concept and attracting followers that served as test subjects: this is how the House of Bea Kera was born.


The Forgotten Path concept (“Bea Kera" in the "vague" dialect) is based on the ghetter mythology, religious history, and Opherod’s personal psychedelic experience. It promised the way for a person to exit the reality and enter Timelessness — a space of all possible variations. Timelessness offered real freedom since there were no links to past, future or present.



According to the teachings of Bea Kera, somnia is a disease that has been sent upon the Nomah race as a punishment for their sins and thus can’t be avoided. However, the nature of somnia is more complicated than it is commonly believed: it is an unknowable tool of transformation and a way to achieve unity with the Source and enter the Timelessness.


It took Opherod only a few years to gather an army of followers who tried to “connect” to somnia using “wax” and other crioma based drugs. Thanks to their involvement, Opherod and Scuffler were able to develop a new medicine that was used on Darat in attempt to save him. However, it turned to be ineffective and Darat ended up in a coma.


Even though Opherod hasn’t succeeded in curing his son, he continued to do whatever he could to achieve this goal. Hundreds of lives were lost in the process, yet he was ready to sacrifice even more. This is when you, citizen KZ0012, join the picture. Will you fight Opherod’s thirst of power and spiritual ambitions and free Darat from his physical prison?

P.S. we’ve got a report from QA regarding v1.5 status and it seems that it will require additional work. The team is doing their best to address the issues that have cropped up. We will keep you informed in our future updates. Thank you for your patience!

P.P.S. one of our community members started working on INSOMNIA PNP, so if you are into things like that — join the club!

Hello everyone! We continue introducing you to people responsible for developing INSOMNIA: the Ark (you can find the first installment of “Meet the team” series by following this link). Part two will focus entirely on our 3D artists who brought all those amazing sketches and concept art to the actual game. Let’s meet them!

Before INSOMNIA I was mostly volunteering in smaller game projects and also performed occasional freelance work as 3D artist and CG-generalist. Basically, thanks to INSOMNIA I got the chance to grow my expertise in all directions.

I became a part of the development team back in 2013 and my main responsibilities included adding textures to surfaces, creating 3D modules (walls, doors, etc.), guns, characters, animals, vehicles. Also as a lead artist, I was responsible for teaching/managing less experienced team members and distributing tasks between them. I did other related things as well but they are kinda cryptic to be of any interest to the general public (you can read a brand new interview regarding this matter at 80lvlthough).

Typically, the best way for me to get inspired and to nail each given task is to browse as many visual references as possible. Currently, I’m a vivid Destiny fan and was also able to complete Subnautica along with RUINER (was really pleased with the visual aspect of this game). Sometimes I feel like playing some oldies like Quake III and Postal 2.

You can find more INSOMNIA related 3D-art from Anton over here

I started out with getting acquainted with Anatoliy (Mono Studio’s CEO) which happened back in the college days. He dreamed to build a game for quite some time and after a while, we actually started doing our first steps in this direction.

There was no studio or any kind of team back then. However, after some time Anatoliy was able to find two programmers and some funding — this is when things got more serious. At that point of time, I had no solid experience as a 3D artist which made me learn everything as we moved forward.

So I was quite lucky to get involved in a very big and ambitious project and my duties included constructing 3D modules for locations (just like Anton), environment objects, some of the statues/robots, and high tier armor sets. Basically, whenever you are looking at the screen while playing INSOMNIA, there should be always something I’ve created or was involved in.

To get a proper art-deco/retro-futuristic inspiration for the project I was watching related movies and animated series — Anatoliy had a huge collection of those at the time, and needless to say, he forced me to watch all of them haha.

These days I comfort myself with playing Destiny 2 and DMC 5. I’m really enjoying my time with Sekiro as well since it’s an outstanding game visually etc. When it comes to old games — I feel nostalgic about Space Rangers 2, Morrowind, DMC 3, Neverwinter Nights 2, Dragon Age and many many others.

You can find more INSOMNIA related 3D-art from Ilya over here

I was introduced to the gamedev industry just like many other members of Mono Studio — by working on INSOMNIA. However, I started my first 3D-art experiments more than 10 years ago and became a part of the team in 2014 in a very unusual way.

At that point in time, the studio’s lead 3D artist was looking forward to building an effective pipeline for all 3D related work. We had a certain amount of existing objects that had to be imported into the Unreal Engine 4 editor and I was asked to build a tool that would automate this process. After this task was completed I continued to develop similar tools to improve our workflow. Eventually, I ended up doing the more usual 3D artist stuff — modeling objects.

I did quite a few things inside the game including the vulture’s statue in Vulture’s Nest and all kinds of trash which usually serve as an important decorating element of almost any location of Object 6. When it comes to inspiration — our office itself serves as a great source of ideas: it’s filled with an unbelievable mix of sketches, huge paintings, antiques, swords, and shields. And, of course, I enjoy reading books, watching movies, listening to some quality music and playing games.

I prefer RPGs mostly and my latest gaming sessions were dedicated to Horizon: Zero Dawn and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. My top list of games also includes Warcraft 2, Fable: Lost chapters and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

P.S. a few words regarding v1.5: as we have already mentioned in the comments to previous updates and in the Community Hub — this patch is undergoing testing at the moment and we expect QA to give us some news in the middle of next week. See you soon!