Heyo again, let's get into the yap session.
Over the years, We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss has changed. I'd like to think it has changed while developing it now. Originally, the game was meant to be a horror game while discussing mental health. While I wasn't happy with the idea of that, I feel a few horror games do that well already, and if you played horror games yourself, you can definitely name some. Silent Hill 2 being one of them or the Outlast Series. I feel I had a weird approach to it, so I'm happy to discuss what I originally had.
I even have old development screenshots and when I decided to scrap them. Originally, the game you started off in a hospital, still playing as the main character you do as today, Frei Kay. Funny enough, he hasn't changed one bit. Kinda.
This photo, he is on the stage, a flat lil' guy. The design was going to be different, flat colors and flat characters. It was heavily inspired by Gregory Horror Show. Funny, because I never saw much of the series, just the style. I enjoy it a lot. Props to the artists.
Early development was just models I never knew how to make and from Sketchup 3D Warehouse for templates until I learned how to do it, (congrats me, y'did it!) I can make 3D stuff now, everything you see in the screenshots for Steam are created by me with no assistance from AI. Eventually, I'll bring on some smaller artists.
I felt like the original story was too dark, and maybe I'll bring it to the light of day sometime. It is something I would like to discuss later on without deep detail, I would like to state I wrote this story multiple times and it has gone through many themes. That's why I think it is going to be unique, because it involves several themes at the end of the day.
Let me show you some before/afters.
This game was originally shown off pretty early on, and the terrain looked like this:
Then it evolved into this...
Well, funny. Because models kept getting changed because I think they looked bad and didn't really feel well with the environment. In 2025, I re-did the environment again completely. Now, take a look at this screenshot and be warned, it is VERY early. Let me go over what is new.
- The old terrain I already had rain particles hitting against the ground, though it wasn't accurate, so I'm going to see what I can do to tweak what I had. I'd rather use a particle system for the rain when it comes to the effects. I have a new idea to balance out the optimization. Updates soon! The new terrain has options for rain, I'd rather stick with what I currently have as it looks better and almost feels better.
- Trees are now animated, this is all done with rigging. All the trees have their own rig and weights. Optimization is already in the process for this. It doesn't seem to take up anything which is pretty rad. We'll see down the line. Updates soon.
- Working on a new grass placement system so it will be more optimized. Grass is always something that is uh, horrible to work on in games. But I will say this, new grass textures are here and look way more fitting in the scene.
- I added different fences, too. New rocks, new everything. Lower topology, better UV unwrapping, just so it'll work better with a baked scene when I can get to it. But better visuals too. I will make sure that meshes blend in with the terrain as much as possible instead of clipping through the ground. I'm still working on this. So far, only a few meshes work.
Now it evolved into THIS. These are currently the new and current screenshots, it isn't finished as I'm changing everything. The previous screenshots before are no longer used.
Here is a video version of it, pretty short but shows you some details. https://youtu.be/zo1OKytAaHM
FUTURE MECHANICS I'M THINKING ABOUT ADDING
This is stuff I usually talk about in my Discord or write down privately, but here is some stuff I really do want to add. This game really had changed a lot during development, originally it was going to be a music based game focused on rhythm, but I think this is only changing. If you're a bit upset at this, I wouldn't worry too much because I may still add some mini-games based around this. This game is only going to be bigger than I originally thought and I'll keep stating that.
- A LIBRARY WHERE BOOKS CAN BE READ, why is this cool? It isn't, but I'll make it cool. Because I'm going to make this extremely unique. Most games just make it to where a simple jpeg with text appears on the screen. See, Frei (the main character) has a very creative mind, when reading certain books, it will bring Frei into a certain world and play out in real-time. Only certain books will do this, the ones that Frei really enjoys the most. I think this mechanic isn't important, but it'll be pretty fun. I say but a lot, don't I?
- A notepad or book system where the player can see the settings and other things that are related to the game, I kinda want the UI to be very minimal, and a pause menu won't be very needed in this game now that I think about it except in some parts of the game. Which I'll talk about soon. I think I'd prefer a notepad more than a phone, we'll see down the line!
- A time mechanic system where certain things can happen at certain times of day. This means there will be a day/night cycle. Certain events and side-stories can only happen at certain times of day. Now, will there be a way to skip time? How will this work out?
I'm still very early on this idea, but originally I wanted the system to be similar to the game DEAD RISING, but I'm not really liking that. Since some players aren't a fan of that system, and there are some flaws in the time mechanic in that game too. So, I'm basically toning it down a bit. In my head, I'm thinking about a 16 minute day/night cycle, 8 minute day, 8 minute night. Some events can only happen at days and some at night. If you are finished with all the events at day, then want to skip that time? Sure, why not. I'll have a mechanic to where you can slowly/quickly skip time. I think I'll have the game go by ACT 1, ACT 2, ACT 3. Instead of DAY 1, DAY 2, DAY 3. But we'll see! Development has changed a lot already! If you have any recommendations yourself, feel free to toss em' to me here, or my Discord. I'm really not afraid of feedback. It is how a game (and everything else in the world) gets better.
- Frei will have idle stance animations, idle sound effects, and environment interaction with the world whenever he waddles around in it. Such as rain puddles, say he steps in a puddle while running, he may frown and change throw his arms around a bit. maybe a speech bubble will appear and say something. I'd like him to be extremely expressive. He won't just sit there and do nothing, this character is extremely important to me and I promise to make sure he gets represented well to others too. Sometimes, Frei can be idle and mention the situation that he is in if the player is currently lost on what to do.
- I might add an in-game guitar mechanic similar to the game WEBFISHING (seriously, great game too. Recommend it!) want to mess around with a guitar? I also might add a piano! I have met many players in that game and the players who could actually play it have told me they loved that they wish more games had something like this instead of PRESS SPACE TO PLAY GUITAR. So, I may do something more detailed.
- A BUSINESS RESTAURANT TYCOON mini-game, where Frei operates a jazz club building. Employees, songs, bar, etc. I'm still thinking about this mechanic, this is a mini-game that can only be done at night. More details on this in the future if I do go along with it. Most likely, I will. I'd love to have something like this. I did mention a pause menu, this is really one of those times where I can think of where to use a pause menu. So hey, here you go. This is uh, not really a lot to talk about.
- When walking past certain buildings in the world, it won't just be silent, you'll hear ambience, people talking, whatever the business (or building) is about. Only if you are near that building though! I'd like this world to be alive!
- Fast travel, I mean. This is kinda needed in every game that makes you run around a lot, right? Don't worry, I'll have this.
There is still SO much more I want, and I mean a lot more. For now, I've been working on art. I've realized something, I am going to re-texture a lot things. And I have been, I shown off the night club and that constantly changed. Let me show ya'
This was the original one at first, and it is not being used anymore.
Looks super bad, thankfully here is the 2nd model I re-made of it. But I hate to say, this one isn't being used either. It's scrapped too. I made another one not long ago.
So, I can show off a new model, it still isn't finished. I plan on texturing this. I know the style is supposed to be a more *realistic style* of texturing, eventually I am going to try something more different. You'll see this game have different styles and how I'll incorporate multiple styles. Reasons being because of lore, I really don't want to spoil a lot, I show off the beginning of the game a lot because it is technically finished, but it is also my testing area.
Anyway, this is my devlog. I have a lot more planned! In the past few months, I have gotten a lot more done than I thought. I kinda like to keep things private when it comes to story related things, as it really is *huge* spoilers. I wrote the town backstory, not leaving out any small details. I re-wrote the demo story, which also I'll be working on soon. I have plans for this still. The demo project isn't something I have abandoned. I'm still in early works for it. There is a lot behind the scenes and I'll show off way more in the future. Seriously, I'm so hype for this project. For now, I'll show off one image that makes no sense to you. Eventually, I'll show off more characters and more. Technically, I already have more characters made, just never really used them yet. I have a few designed already!
Thanks for supporting my project again, it means the world to me.
Here is the Discord server if you're interested!
https://discord.com/invite/tkWcbjsBvr
Or my Linktree for other links... https://linktr.ee/ChainsawDeveloper
Seriously, thank you. I mean that.