Amygdala News

Amygdala is available now!

Welcome Nightmare Seeker, begin your adventure within the Amygdala.
Make your way through creatures, some hostile, some not, and immerse yourself in the nightmares generated by the Rulers of Nightmare.

I hope you will enjoy this "Horror" adventure and leave you with something unique than just the scare.

The game is approximately 2 hours long and was independently developed and published by me as a single developer.

Furthermore, below I will release 3 new unpublished screens featuring creatures that have never been shown before!

Knowledge eater - Nightmare of Insatiable Knowledge | Screen capture in-game with Amygdala's photo mode

Hunter - Nightmare of Beauty Screen capture in-game with Amygdala's photo mode

Beauty - Nightmare of Beauty Screen capture in-game with Amygdala's photo mode

These screenshots were taken with the game's photo mode! One of the strengths of Amygdala are the creatures and the imagery of the settings, which is why photomode was something necessary!

I also announce there will be an event dedicated to photomode!

Thank you all for the support!

With the release of Amygdala this event dedicated to players also opens!

Inside the world of Amygdala you can enter "Photomode" simply by pressing the "P" key at any time!



This will allow you to access a "Free cam" mode with various settings for taking and editing photos in real time. You can take photos with the basic Steam screenshots function, or via photomode!



Example shots done with Photomode

The event puts your artistic skills into play, have fun with this photo mode!

How do you participate?

• Take one or more screenshots of Amygdala in photomode and publish it on Steam or on X (Twitter) with the hashtag #Amygdala #AmygdalaVPhoto
  
• I will personally select 3 unique screenshots and they will then be inserted into Amygdala in the form of paintings with the credits of whoever took the photo.
  
• The event starts today and ends on 15 April 2024 at 21CET
  

Thanks to everyone who decides to participate!

With just a few days to go until the game's release, this is a call to all influencers, curators or members of the press, 30 game keys are available!

[h3]Call for press and influencers:[/h3]
You can request the key by filling out the following form:
REQUEST KEY FORM - PRESS / INFLUENCER

• There are currently 30 Keys available, but it is possible that more keys will be available in the future.
  
  ALL 30 KEYS HAVE BEEN SENT, I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN MORE WILL BE AVAILABLE
  
  
• You can only request one key per press / influencer.

At the moment these are not "Preview" keys but keys for the full game which will be available on March 15, 2024.

For all players, there will also be a special event on March 15, 2024 when the game comes out, more information soon!

PS. I'm a single person managing everything, so there may be some delays in sending codes or responding to emails.

Thank you for your understanding and patience
- Antonino

We are now only two weeks away from the release of Amygdala! So it's time to give you the latest information and tools before release, so you're ready to face the nightmares of Amygdala.

[h3]What will the price of Amygdala be at launch?[/h3]
The fixed price of Amygdala will be $9.94.
At the launch of the game there will be a 33% discount for 14 days.

[h3]Amygdala Performance Benchmark Tool[/h3]

Amygdala is a video game developed by a single person using Unreal Engine 5. Because of this the optimization is really limited for obvious reasons (resources, budget & much more). For more details, refer to the old "before buying" article.

This tool was designed to give everyone the opportunity to test Amygdala two weeks before release in order to evaluate whether or not to purchase it based on its correct functioning in terms of performance.

This benchmark test does not represent the final version of the game, in fact several aesthetic elements may be different, this is a test exclusively to test the performance of the title before purchasing.

This benchmark test will be included in the full game for free.


[hr][/hr][h3]Download[/h3] Amygdala Performance Benchmark Tool (6GB)
[h3]Preview Video[/h3]
Amygdala Performance Benchmark Tool - Preview
[hr][/hr]

[h3]How to use[/h3]
Before downloading, make sure you have approximately 6 GB of data space available on your computer

• Download the zip
  
• Extract the contents
  
• Open the folder "AmygdalaBenchmark" and start AmygdalaBenchmark.exe
  

[h3]Is this a Demo?[/h3]
No, it's not a demo, it's a tool.

[h3]What is a "Performance Benchmark Tool"?[/h3]

Performance Benchmark Tool is a stress test that will test your hardware in the most complex and demanding area of Amygdala on Unreal Engine 5.

Through different game shots in real time, the progress of your FPS (Frame per second) will be calculated over time and at the end of the test you will be given a summary evaluation.

[h3]How do I know if the game will work well?[/h3]

When you start the benchmark you will be able to evaluate the fluidity of the game and the visual quality yourself

I recommend a performance of 30FPS to ensure that the title is playable, 60FPS for the best possible experience.

But keep in mind that this is still a stress test, performance in the full game may be different.

[h3]Low FPS, high-performance PC, why?[/h3]
As previously mentioned, this situation it is given by the optimization, at the end of the benchmark an evaluation will be displayed with the components of your PC, if you want to share this info with the community it would help to understand on which hardware it works better or worse.

From personal experience, the game runs very well with an nvidia GPU. But here, I'm basing it on the limited testing of two PCs.

[hr][/hr]
[h3]Amygdala New Screenshots![/h3] In these new screenshots you will be able to see new creatures and areas!



[hr][/hr]
[h3]...More pre-launch info![/h3]

[h3]Will there be a demo of Amygdala?[/h3]
No, there will be no demos for Amygdala.
The title is already a short game in itself, it focuses a lot on the first experience and the surprise effect, in my vision a demo for Amygdala could compromise the final experience.

[h3]What is the completion time for Amygdala?[/h3]

Hard to say since I've only tried it myself. Knowing well where to find each object and the path to take. My longest run, exploring everything was about 2 hours. I won't lie and inflate the title;

But the game can be speedrun and finished in just under 30 minutes.
I didn't lengthen the game with bland content or make it difficult for the sake of locking the player into play time.

I hope you will appreciate this transparency, please do not abuse Steam's refund option.

[h3]Will there be achievements and cards?[/h3]
Yes, the achievements will be available at launch, as far as the compatibility of the cards is concerned, the title must first be eligible by the Steam regulation, once done it will have total compatibility!

[h3]Launch event[/h3]

I'm also happy to announce that during the first few days of the game's release there will be an Amygdala social event on steam, more information on this event later in time;

I hope I have been clear in everything, feel free to ask anything, I will try to answer everyone!

[hr][/hr]Thanks for the support ❤️
Antonino Truisi[hr][/hr]

Welcome to Amygdala;

In this post, I will provide some useful information to you before you purchase the game. I highly recommend taking all this information into consideration before making a purchase.

Amygdala is developed with Unreal Engine 5, version 5.3.2 to be precise, and uses Lumen, a dynamic lighting system proprietary to Unreal Engine 5.

I will summarize this information on the Steam store page, but reading this post is still highly recommended;

🛠️ Optimization Note: An Independent Journey

As an independent developer, I've aimed to create a unique and engaging experience, but I would like to openly address an important aspect: the limited optimization of "Amygdala".

The challenge of being a solo developer is both fascinating and demanding, but it inevitably comes with its own set of limitations. Optimization requires time and resources, and working independently means I must balance development needs with my limited availability/resources. Lack of optimization can be reflected in aspects such as loading speed, performance across different platforms, and other technical details.

Every piece of feedback I receive is invaluable and helps me identify areas that require priority attention. But still keep in mind that there won't be much post-launch support. Certainly any gamebreaking bugs will be fixed as soon as possible, but after the first 2 months of launch the title will no longer be supported with updates;

This is because I want to move on to other projects taking advantage of what I learned with Amygdala.

Your support and understanding in this journey are crucial. I am grateful for your patience and the opportunity to grow together. The road may be challenging, but with your support, I am confident we can overcome hurdles and deliver an increasingly better experience over time.

🛠️ Optimization Note: Graphics setting

Amygdala comes with 3 levels of graphics, information about them below

"Nightmare" Setting in Amygdala: it is a graphics setting that offers greater visual fidelity with lighting effects calculated in real time and a high level of detail, significantly impacting performance.

"Default" Setting in Amygdala: it is a setting that offers the graphical gaming experience as intended.

"Performance" Setting in Amygdala: it is a graphics setting that offers a graphics experience with less detail (particularly on the lighting side) giving more advantage in performance.

To enjoy the game as imagined, the "Default" setting is recommended

In the graphics settings you can mix these aspects, but it is recommended to choose a fixed one for everyone;



The "Performance" setting in Shadow Quality could drastically change the visual appearance of the lighting, given by the change in shadow rendering in game, appearing more "foggy" and darker.

🛠️ Optimization Note: Tested configurations

As mentioned, being an independent developer I don't have the resources to be able to test the title on multiple configurations and get the best out of them, so I was only able to test the title on some friends' configurations;

Configuration Tested:

1. Configuration
Resolution: 2560x1080 / 1920x1080
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
RAM 32GB
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
Setting "Default": 50/60 FPS
Setting "Performance": +60FPS Performance Setting

2. Configuration
Resolution: 3440x1440
CPU Ryzen 9 7950X3D
RAM 2x32GB DDR5 6000MHz C32
Galax RTX 4090 Hall of Fame
Setting "Default": 50/60 FPS
Setting "Performance": +60FPS Performance Setting

3. Configuration
Resolution: 2560x1440
CPU AMD Ryzen 3600
GPU NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
RAM 16GB
Setting "Default": 20/30FPS
Setting "Performance": 30FPS

As you can see the game is very heavy even on high configurations.
If I have the chance I will try to provide a demo benchmark test, so as to actually try before buying.

I apologize in advance for the poor optimization of the title, but I hope you appreciate the transparency.

🎙️ Note on Voice Production and Localization: An Independent Solution

I want to share some crucial considerations regarding voice production and localization in Amygdala.

As a solo independent developer I don't have the budget and tools needed to pay professional voice actors for such an amateur title as Amygdala. However, to improve accessibility and reach a broader audience, I've adopted innovative solutions that, while they may have some limitations, aim to provide an engaging gaming experience.

For dubbed voices, I've utilized an advanced voice synthesizer. This decision was made considering limited resources

Despite the differences, I've worked diligently to ensure that synthesized voices are clear, understandable, and positively contribute to the immersion in the gaming experience.

During the development process, some voice actors contacted me, even with some tests, but unfortunately, not having the necessary budget to hire them, the idea was no longer taken into consideration.

The text localization was done with automatic translators.
Thank you for your understanding

If Amygdala ever manages to have a reasonable economic impact in the first few months, I will redo the dubbing of the game with a professional voice actor & traslators.

🎨 Art: Creature & Assets

I would like to point out that no AI was used to create monsters or other visual elements.

All designs are original designs by Antonino Truisi (Me) as a creature artist. I have also worked on other titles in recent years and my distinctive aesthetic is the strong point of Amygdala.

All the monsters and creatures present were created by me starting from the concept up to the final 3D model. As well as some specific animations.

I also created over 200 characters present on the Unreal Engine Marketplace as assets for all developers;

Here you can find my works:

ArtStation Unreal Engine Marketplace

Some environment elements, sound elements and some animations are purchased third-party assets used creatively for the composition of something as unique as Amygdala.

That's all, I hope this post can help you make the right decision before buying.
Thank you so much if you support!