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Deep Sea Horror Diving Game || Looking For Feedback
Lacuna Corporation
Hi everyone!
Today our indie dev team was having a brainstorming session and we came up with a new game idea. In less than 2 hours, we managed to build a concept project so we can start work immediately. This is what we have so far.
So, here's the story.
You're an explorer. Someone who knows that there is more to the sea than we know of. And you intend to prove it. In Darkest Depths, you can go deeper than any other game has taken you before, and descend into the terrifying ocean void. Who knows what you will find down there?
This game has two sides to it. If you've ever played the Endless Ocean games then you'll be familiar with the diving system. You can discover new species of fish (not new species per say, just ones which you haven't personally encountered before), and interact with them to learn more about them. We want to provide the same system, so you can go diving and interact with a huge variety of wildlife.
But there is a much more extreme side to the game. Not for the faint of heart, the true adventurer can swim thousands of metres down into the unknown waters, and see what horrors are lurking in the depths.
We aim to provide a realistic diving game, with many real-world species to discover, but we plan on adding in our own twist. For the sea monsters, you can expect to see the real-world giant squid, colossal squid, oarfish, giant siphonophore, large jellyfish, and powerful sharks. But we will also bring you creations from our own minds, which aren't necessarily real but are still believable. Something people forget is that we've only explored 5% of the world's oceans. That means that 95% of the water is still unknown to us, so it's anoyone's guess as to what is actually out there. Could the Kraken be a real-life creature?
The species which we will bring to the game are along the lines of giant (GIANT) squid, enormous jellyfish, and terrifying vicious deep-sea giants. You are free to go and interact with these in their natural habitats. Will they be peaceful? Or will you stumble across the largest predator on the planet in amidst the blackness?
You will be given money for your new discoveries, which you can then use to purchase new and better equipment, so you can go even deeper. Or, if you're not in the mood for diving, you can kick back and relax on your private yacht (which you can sail, upgrade, or even buy a bigger yacht).
The game will take place on several prebuilt maps, which will provide different landscapes for you to explore. If you want to go out in safety, then a shallow map will let you explore the beautiful, warm waters of tropical destinations. But if you're determined to find the Kraken or God-knows-what at the deepest points on the planet, then take a journey to the bottom of an abyss.
We'd love to know what everyone thinks of this idea. We're open to any feedback, suggestions, comment, or anything else you have to say.
Today our indie dev team was having a brainstorming session and we came up with a new game idea. In less than 2 hours, we managed to build a concept project so we can start work immediately. This is what we have so far.
So, here's the story.
You're an explorer. Someone who knows that there is more to the sea than we know of. And you intend to prove it. In Darkest Depths, you can go deeper than any other game has taken you before, and descend into the terrifying ocean void. Who knows what you will find down there?
This game has two sides to it. If you've ever played the Endless Ocean games then you'll be familiar with the diving system. You can discover new species of fish (not new species per say, just ones which you haven't personally encountered before), and interact with them to learn more about them. We want to provide the same system, so you can go diving and interact with a huge variety of wildlife.
But there is a much more extreme side to the game. Not for the faint of heart, the true adventurer can swim thousands of metres down into the unknown waters, and see what horrors are lurking in the depths.
We aim to provide a realistic diving game, with many real-world species to discover, but we plan on adding in our own twist. For the sea monsters, you can expect to see the real-world giant squid, colossal squid, oarfish, giant siphonophore, large jellyfish, and powerful sharks. But we will also bring you creations from our own minds, which aren't necessarily real but are still believable. Something people forget is that we've only explored 5% of the world's oceans. That means that 95% of the water is still unknown to us, so it's anoyone's guess as to what is actually out there. Could the Kraken be a real-life creature?
The species which we will bring to the game are along the lines of giant (GIANT) squid, enormous jellyfish, and terrifying vicious deep-sea giants. You are free to go and interact with these in their natural habitats. Will they be peaceful? Or will you stumble across the largest predator on the planet in amidst the blackness?
You will be given money for your new discoveries, which you can then use to purchase new and better equipment, so you can go even deeper. Or, if you're not in the mood for diving, you can kick back and relax on your private yacht (which you can sail, upgrade, or even buy a bigger yacht).
The game will take place on several prebuilt maps, which will provide different landscapes for you to explore. If you want to go out in safety, then a shallow map will let you explore the beautiful, warm waters of tropical destinations. But if you're determined to find the Kraken or God-knows-what at the deepest points on the planet, then take a journey to the bottom of an abyss.
We'd love to know what everyone thinks of this idea. We're open to any feedback, suggestions, comment, or anything else you have to say.
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LetheRapier*sigh* I've always wanted to learn how to code games, and have always found it impossible. I wish I could have gotten it as fast as I get HTML and CSS.
How did you learn? Is there any way I can learn to be as good as you? :'c
By the way, check out the MC News website.
http://www.mcnews.eu/home
Well, I started out making mods for Minecraft (this is my old channel, I did modding tutorials so you could learn java here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw_4Psy ... n_70138061), then I moved onto Fallout and Skyrim modding. I was very experienced with Java at that point, so I moved into Unity. I found out that Unity supports C# and JavaScript (Java and JavaScript are very different, I hate JS), so I had to learn C#. Luckily I found that it was pretty easy to pick up, and I haven't looked back since then. I know quite a few other languages, but I rarely use anything but C# these days since I'm in Unity so much.
To learn to make games, I simply read the Unity API (just Google Unity API, it's on their website and they have loads of pages) and started messing around with it. Don't worry if what you make is terrible, that put me off loads at the beginning but now I know that it was really helpful, since it taught me how to use Unity.
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i'd play this
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*sigh* I've always wanted to learn how to code games, and have always found it impossible. I wish I could have gotten it as fast as I get HTML and CSS.
How did you learn? Is there any way I can learn to be as good as you? :'c
By the way, check out the MC News website.
www.mcnews.eu/home
How did you learn? Is there any way I can learn to be as good as you? :'c
By the way, check out the MC News website.
www.mcnews.eu/home
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Why does everyone hate Unity? It's good! Sure there's better programs but Unity is more than capable of pulling it off.
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I hear you man, Unity gets a lot of bad press. I think it's because it's so accessible, so people automatically assume that it's a noob's engine or something haha. That makes it seem unprofessional, since it's so easy to get ahold of. People think that the professional engines are the less well-known ones, but actually pretty much all AAA studios just build their own engines. Unfortunately I'm far too lazy to build one
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Eww unity.
Idea sounds good, method of pulling said idea off.. Impossible.
Idea sounds good, method of pulling said idea off.. Impossible.
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Unity Indie can be pretty limited, we have a $1500 dollar pro version which is much more capable than anything else we could have used. People who aren't developers seem to think that it all comes down to the engine, in reality it's all about optimisation and good coding. Plus Unity Pro lets us use mesh optimisation, and much faster algorithms, so the final game should be very fast. I'm pulling around 90FPS in the editor (which is fast for a non-built version), so the output game should be fast.
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Ab Aeternostarcatcher77It's already beautiful. 2 days and you already have beauty. Anyway am I on board?
I posted on the last page, I guess you missed it Anyway, just to sum up, we will eventaully be adding in NPCs once we get the core features done, then we'll need a dialogue writer. We'll also want some radio dialogue (probably), just to make it a bit more immersive. I'll get in touch with you when we're at that stage. I know quite a few voice actors from other projects so we'll be able to have everything voiced as well.
Oh I'm sorry, I just scrolled right by it. Alright!
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starcatcher77It's already beautiful. 2 days and you already have beauty. Anyway am I on board?
I posted on the last page, I guess you missed it Anyway, just to sum up, we will eventaully be adding in NPCs once we get the core features done, then we'll need a dialogue writer. We'll also want some radio dialogue (probably), just to make it a bit more immersive. I'll get in touch with you when we're at that stage. I know quite a few voice actors from other projects so we'll be able to have everything voiced as well.
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It's already beautiful. 2 days and you already have beauty. Anyway am I on board? Sorry I'm so impatient, just the anticipation!
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Just figured out our AI system. I've only been able to test it with goldfish models so far, but we're going to get to work making a load of new creatures. Please not that the game has only been in development for 48 hours, which is why it still looks very basic.
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Do you need music producers/composers?
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Thanks for asking, we've actually already got our own sound engineer who composes the tracks for all of our work though.
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Lucky you, most indie teams like you don't. :p
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[deleted]
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Thanks
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So, we've decided that the first map will be based on the Blue Hole. Here is an image of the real thing.
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Nice!
I assume your still contemplating my "application"?
I assume your still contemplating my "application"?
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We were talking about the story today, and we've decided against a set storyline for simplicity's sake. But we will probably end up adding in NPCs (and maybe radio chatter), so we'll need some dialogue writing for that. We need to build the core features first, but when we move into dialogue and writing I'll send you a PM
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Love the idea, i'd play it! I'd even pay a good 20 dollars for it. Some ideas, I recommend looking at wikipedia's list of cryptids and looking for some underwater ones, then make them creatures in the game. Also, remember to add the ability to get the bends. Also maybe make submarines that can be damaged by creatures, but allow for going deeper, and make technologies that you can unlock that allow for diving deeper without a submarine. Also I'd love to join your team, pm me if you'd like me on your team.
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We will definitely be using an upgrade system where you can buy better tanks, equipment, etc. and eventually minisubs and so on. The game is based off your private yacht, which you can sail around and even use (interactive beds, tvs, furniture, alcohol, etc. just to make it a little more interesting). The bends would be a good idea I think, but as an optional difficulty setting. Just because people who want to explore a lot may end up surfacing quickly.
As for joining the team, what exactly would you be interested in working on? We have a pretty full team right now, but extra help is usually great.
As for joining the team, what exactly would you be interested in working on? We have a pretty full team right now, but extra help is usually great.
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I'm not much of a use with coding, modelling, texturing, art or anything like that. I'd mostly be helpful in these areas: Writing, Motivational Support, Ideas, 8Bit texturing, Dialogue writing, random quoting. Working on learning to code though! I really want this game to capture this paragraph:
-Leslie, Bridge to Terabithia (2007 Film)
Proof of my skill at random quoting (:
Click to reveal
"I'm moving gently forward,
over the wild and beautiful,
unexplored world below me.
I'm floating in silence,
and breaking it up
with the sound of my breath.
Above me, there's nothing
but shimmery light,
the place where I've come from,
and will go back to
when I am done here.
I'm diving.
I'm a scuba diver.
I'm going deeper past
the wrinkled rocks and dark seaweed
toward a deep blueness
where a school of silver fish wait.
As I swim through the water,
bubbles burst from me,
wobbling like little jellyfish
as they rise.
I check my air.
I don't have as much time
as I need to see everything,
but that is what makes it so special."
over the wild and beautiful,
unexplored world below me.
I'm floating in silence,
and breaking it up
with the sound of my breath.
Above me, there's nothing
but shimmery light,
the place where I've come from,
and will go back to
when I am done here.
I'm diving.
I'm a scuba diver.
I'm going deeper past
the wrinkled rocks and dark seaweed
toward a deep blueness
where a school of silver fish wait.
As I swim through the water,
bubbles burst from me,
wobbling like little jellyfish
as they rise.
I check my air.
I don't have as much time
as I need to see everything,
but that is what makes it so special."
-Leslie, Bridge to Terabithia (2007 Film)
Proof of my skill at random quoting (:
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Oh yeah, and I just wanted to share this with everyone. Take a look closely at this image- the black dot you can easily see is a blue whale. There's an even smaller black dot representing an average, 6-foot-tall human being above the whale.
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So ocean exploration with some scripted events?
Sounds pretty fun, maybe have some quests that involve you getting some pictures/video of certain creatures? Or maybe a storyline along those lines, just anything to give it a bit of story, unless you want it to be storyless.
Tbh I really like this idea, it could be very, very cool if done right. If you do make it, maybe consider 4 player co-op? Imagine exploring a really dark cave, near the bottom of the ocean. A horrifying sound is heard then two of your friends are taken by a mass of tentacles. You and your remaining friend rush to your boat, only to never make it in time, the last thing you see is the gaping beak of the Kraken (roll credits).
Also, lastly, Steam Workshop? Seeing other peoples maps would be kinda cool!
Sounds pretty fun, maybe have some quests that involve you getting some pictures/video of certain creatures? Or maybe a storyline along those lines, just anything to give it a bit of story, unless you want it to be storyless.
Tbh I really like this idea, it could be very, very cool if done right. If you do make it, maybe consider 4 player co-op? Imagine exploring a really dark cave, near the bottom of the ocean. A horrifying sound is heard then two of your friends are taken by a mass of tentacles. You and your remaining friend rush to your boat, only to never make it in time, the last thing you see is the gaping beak of the Kraken (roll credits).
Also, lastly, Steam Workshop? Seeing other peoples maps would be kinda cool!
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I was thinking of something like that, photography would be a great way to let the player earn money for their exploration skills. As for multiplayer, we still don't have a network programmer so we are limited to single player for now. But if we do make this game fully, I don't see why we won't push out a multiplayer update in the future after our first Steam release. Something which is good about this project is that we'll be able to go into early access on Steam pretty fast, all we'll need are the core mechanics then updates will just be about adding in new creatures and locations, and optimising the game.
Steam Workshop could be a good way of letting modders add in their own maps and creatures, but you'd have to be a modder. We aren't doing this on random code right now, although the AI will have different fish swimming in the correct habitats, everything will have to be carefully designed, so custom maps would take some game development knowledge.
Steam Workshop could be a good way of letting modders add in their own maps and creatures, but you'd have to be a modder. We aren't doing this on random code right now, although the AI will have different fish swimming in the correct habitats, everything will have to be carefully designed, so custom maps would take some game development knowledge.
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Thanks for the positive feedback everyone, hopefully we'll have some screenshots to show you in the next couple of days.
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yay
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Looks very fun <3
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Sounds great!
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Make some creatures suddenly sneak up to you and pop up in your face
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We've decided to start working on this project properly. Our team is already designing the core features. You'll be able to choose a map to explore, then you'll get to sail your yacht to wherever you want to dive from. Everything is free-play, so it's up to you to decide what to do. You can go and look at the small, pretty fish in the warm, tropical shallow waters, or you can head straight down to the bottom of the sea. We plan on recreating the Marianas trench, which is the deepest trench in the world. The bottom of the trench is the lowest point on the planet. In real life, only a few people have ever travelled into it. There are some scary places on Earth, but the Marianas trench brings a whole new kind of meaning to the world fear. You can barely see ahead of you, so you don't know what's down there. It's around 11km deep, and we plan on letting you dive that far down to uncover the mysteries for yourself.
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So, this is basically Endless Ocean, but with demons from the sea?
Will there be shipwrecks and stuff?
Will there be shipwrecks and stuff?
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Yeah, there'll be a lot of stuff to explore down there. Shipwrecks, plane crashes, caves, tunnels, etc.
As for demons from the sea, there's going to be some pretty scary stuff. Your standard viperfish, lancetfish, oarfish, pelican eels, giant and colossal squid, etc. will be around, and they're scary in their own right. But there will be squid much larger than the standard giant ones, eels which are large enough to swallow you up in one gulp, and jellyfish which trail for hundreds of metres.
As for demons from the sea, there's going to be some pretty scary stuff. Your standard viperfish, lancetfish, oarfish, pelican eels, giant and colossal squid, etc. will be around, and they're scary in their own right. But there will be squid much larger than the standard giant ones, eels which are large enough to swallow you up in one gulp, and jellyfish which trail for hundreds of metres.
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So it would be like Outlast, but underwater?
That would be awesome.
That would be awesome.
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I guess so in a way, especially with the jumpscares. The difference is that in outlast, stuff can come from 4 directions. In this, you're out in the open water, so hostile creatures can approach you from your sides, back, front, below you, or even from above you. And when you're in the darkest parts of the ocean, you can end up just stumbling into a gigantic tentacled monster.
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It's okay, I don't need sleep.
