Nothing Beyond This Point News

Hi everyone! Today, Nothing Beyond This Point hit 1000 wishlists on Steam! That's huge - especially for me, as it greatly helps with motivation and getting a wider reach. I thought I'd take this opportunity to provide a development update.

In short:

• Out of 16 areas, 10 are currently complete. For reference, at demo launch a few month ago, there were 7.
  
• For the next months, I'll work on getting the game "content complete". Meaning you can play it start to finish.
  
• The rest of the time will be spent playtesting, balancing, fixing bugs/crashes, and promoting the game.
  
• Release date is still set to be early 2026. If you wishlist the game, you'll be notified the day of!
  
• I've determined that the price will be 5$ (5 EUR, 4.29 GDP, 7.50 AUD). Don't be fooled by its low price, it's still a fairly content-heavy and decently long game, but I want it to be accessible.
  
• If you haven't already, follow me on Bluesky, join my Discord, and wishlist the game!
  

Let's get into a bit more detail.
[h2]Development Progress[/h2]
Nothing Beyond This Point is a Metroidvania, despite the fact that's not a side-scroller or platformer, and the fact that there's barely no walls. This makes an area-based development approach the best in my opinion: build one area at a time, connect them when done, and occasionally go back to fix or improve previous areas.
Now, the demo contained 3.5 complete areas - the Runes, Engine Junction, and Perpetual Decay, plus half of the Opening at the start. That should give you an idea how long/big each area is. Currently, 12 of the areas are laid out and filled up, and 2 of those are still missing bosses. When I'll continue at this pace, the game will be "content complete", with all areas and bosses and endings, end 2025. Hopefully.
Hm, there's supposed to be a timeline here... I shouldn't have made it black.

But then I won't be done. Going back and rebalancing and testing everything is also important - development progress isn't linear! The last areas will take significantly longer to make, as I'll need to make sure they're up to the latest in-game requirements. Bugs pop up constantly and take some time to fix without breaking something somewhere else. In addition, I need to get people excited, so recording footage and making posts everywhere is also quite time-consuming.

Everyone can be one-upped...

As for the cool stuff, 6 bosses (out of 12) are built, and their music is bangin'. (To prove it, here's a sample of the OST! It's one of the better songs if you ask me.). The bosses are key points of the game, most giving crucial abilities to progress in one way or another. I can't give you double-jump, so I had to get... creative.

What could this possibly be?

...anyway. I'm designing areas to make sense within the context of the Void. Navigation is a key point of the game, so each area needs to work carefully and guide you towards main objectives, without making it too obvious, and still allowing you to wander off and pursue something else. This is also where the Metroidvania abilities come into play, as they open new paths in rather unique ways. Here's an example of how much thought goes into just the area layout.

What's the point if you don't over-engineer everything!

With the current pace and how much there's still left to do, keeping the release date somewhere early 2026 still seems achievable. If that changes, I'll let you know. If you wishlist the game, you'll get a notification when you can finally play it!

[h2]Price Point[/h2]
My previous game, Full Gear, was initially priced at 10$. This made sense at the time, but I found later that for the quality/length of the game, it was still a bit high. Since the announcement of this game, I've permanently halved Full Gear's price to 5$, and I want to keep that price for NBTP too.
Now - Nothing Beyond This Point is much higher quality in pretty much every way (graphics, animations, effects, length, design, music, etc), but I still don't feel comfortable asking more for it. If it releases early 2026, I'll have worked on it for 1.5 years, which just isn't that long of a development cycle for videogames. Games take long to make, but it's a lot easier when you uhhh. don't have backgrounds.



So. There'll be a 5$ price tag for Nothing Beyond This Point. I haven't decided on discounts yet, but come on, 5 bucks is dirt cheap for a game you'll love for at least 6 hours. Even if it tries to kill you. So be sure to grab it when it comes out.
If you want to support me further, I'll also release the soundtrack - currently well over an hour long and still increasing! - for 1$ separately.

[h2]Rounding things off[/h2]
Maybe it doesn't seem much to you, but a thousand people interested in my solo-developed game is a lot. I'm seriously grateful for it. I'll keep working, polishing, doing the best I can. The wishlists and positive reactions really help keeping me going - after all, what's the point of making a game if nobody enjoys it?

Signing off. Good luck out there, and thank you all so much!
- Dieuwt

One of my Foundational Video Games is Mazeworld, an elder Apple Macintosh first-personifier in which you explore a Carollian landscape of blue-walled darkness and rainbow-shelled snails. I was a young slip of a boy when Mazeworld released, and prone to daymares about crocodiles floating through the ceiling. Imagine my reaction to a game in which you are immediately confronted by a slathering, bodiless Cheshire Cat, its face a grinning smear that is only visible when it's charging right at you.

I'm always looking for games that similarly hide themselves, throwing you into a chasm of occult potentiality from which anything might emerge, given the appropriate rites. Games like Nix Umbra, Death Of A Wish and now Nothing Beyond This Point, a topdown metroidvania in which you are a flaming cube surrounded by floating rods, dropped into a pixelart-scuffed void. RPS reader Mr_B recommended it in our last weekend plays thread, and I couldn't resist trying the demo.

Read more

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for playing the demo of Nothing Beyond This Point. The game was flawless and absolutely no things will need to be addressed. Just kidding.

It got a bunch of players, and there were quite a few issues - some expected, others coming out of nowhere. I will do my best to properly address all of them over time. Better now than at launch! But overall, the concept was well-liked and I'm happy. Therefore, I thought it'd be nice to give an overview of what will happen next.

[h2]Better Tutorial[/h2]
The biggest problem was the tutorial area, which experienced a lot of player drop-off. With the path having two whole corners to navigate through, it was hard to know where to go next, and many players kept backtracking or going the same way over and over. Once you get to the Obelisk and get the map, it's all a lot clearer, but I need to communicate this better.
To address it, I'm changing the layout of the rooms. It will be a straight line up that is clearly communicated via decoration and two early locks. I realize this is boring, but it prevents players from quitting too early. The Brewer and Cutter will be moved to the side, and indicated by a waypoint machine, so fewer players run into it and try to backtrack to it, getting lost. The rest will remain the same: slash, refuel, fireball, dash, combust/void locus, campfire.



[h2]Difficulty[/h2]
Difficulty isn't a major issue right now. I did have to nerf the two consecutive Void Locuses, to again make accessing the Obelisk and maps easier, but apart from that it's alright.
One thing that does bother me, is that most players are hesitant to do anything but Slashing. Fireballs are rarely used. Not using Dash or Combust in the demo is fine, they'll be more useful in the full game, but I'd still like to somehow teach players that fireballs are much more powerful than the Slash, and refueling is fast enough to do is consistently in combat. Maybe a new early-game enemy or changes in enemy behavior can fix this. It's not a huge issue, though - believe me, later areas give you plenty of reason to keep your distance.



[h2]Steam Deck support[/h2]
I want to add proper Steam Deck support, as I understand it's suboptimal right now. I don't have a deck to test it with, but will do my best to optimize for it anyway. Remember you can remap buttons for now!



[h2]Outside of the Demo[/h2]
I'm hardly worki- uh, hard at work on the latest areas and bosses. Here's a sneak peak! The game is pretty much completely planned out at this point, but I could add or remove some bosses depending on how much time I have. The game is set to release early 2026 with 16 areas, 12 bosses, and 3 endings... and you get to meet the Gods! But do they even like you?


I've decided that the demo will stay up for now. Also, progress from the demo will carry over into the full game. So be sure to complete it, you'll get fireworks in the room with the Engine beacon if you do.
Oh yeah! If you haven't already figured it out, there are two bosses in the demo, not one. You find the second boss by going east from the first boss, though you'll have to go around a Void Wind room via north/north/east/east/south/south.

Cheeri-o!

Hi everyone! The demo is live, just in time for Next Fest.

Give it a go, tell me what you think, and have fun. Report any bugs so I can fix them quickly, but of course hopefully there aren't any. Good luck and don't get lost!

Hi everyone! Great news: Nothing Beyond This Point is coming to Steam Next Fest in February 2025! The demo will release on February 24th, be sure to grab it and see what it's all about.

Wow! I look great today.

Nothing Beyond This Point is a unique take on the Metroidvania genre. You play as an entity made from pure fire, who uses Rods, Runes and Sigils to survive in the endless Void. Navigation is key, as the game will not easily tell you where to go, so pay attention to all the help that is available - waypoints, enemies, and helpful passerby's. Secrets are everywhere, so find them to become stronger and tackle increasingly powerful corrupted enemies. But don't be fooled: the Void is extremely empty, and wants you gone as well.

The demo is quite expansive: three areas, a full boss, four items, and so on. You can freely explore and play with how your inferno fights, or just rush straight into completion. A "hard mode" is available if you think you can handle it! I'm currently still polishing everything so it'll be the best possible version to release.

In the meantime: wishlist the game if you haven't already and tell your friends! When it rolls around, give it a play and tell me what you think. Good luck!

- Dieuwt

hm, maybe I should dodge that.