THE ABYSS AWAKENS

[h2]Hello everyone, this announcement marks the start of a series of posts about the development progress of MOULD.[/h2][p]Since I'm developing the game alone, I can't show anything major just yet. In these posts, I'll be sharing the most significant milestones from the development process. You can find much more frequent, "smaller" content on my social media; the links are below this post.[/p][p][/p][p]Wishlist now:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]I'll be brief about the game's history:[/h2][p]Development has been ongoing since 2021: progress is slow but steady as I move towards release. During this time, the game has changed several times—from its visuals to complete gameplay overhauls. Initially, it was just a shooter without any deeper meaning, inspired by the E3 trailer for Atomic Heart—you could say it was a parody of that very video.[/p][p][/p][carousel][/carousel][p]Then I thought: what if I tried to create something like that myself? And so, a joke turned into years of meticulous work. It started as a horror game with open-world elements, then became a strange analogue to Witchfire, inspired by its trailers, and later morphed into a retro-shooter, which eventually evolved into a separate project that I'm no longer involved with. I jumped from idea to idea, tried to create, but nothing felt right. In January 2024, I decided to start from scratch—to completely rethink the concept and bring together all the experience I had accumulated. This is how the current MOULD was born—a vile something, woven from nightmares.[/p][p]Due to my lack of skills in character modeling, I started with robots—they're simply easier to make and animate (you can see them in both trailers). However, this was a temporary solution. I didn't want to make a copy of Atomic Heart, so I got rid of the robots entirely—an old friend of mine, who is also a 2D/3D artist, helped me with this.[/p][p][/p][carousel][/carousel][h2]Current Status:[/h2][p][c]"One of the main goals of the game is to immerse the player in a repulsive, sometimes strange and frightening world. The player witnesses the final moments of life, a kind of death rattle of planet Earth. I want the player to be aware of their responsibility: either they will fix everything, or this beautiful world will perish for good."[/c][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The final gameplay involves exploring large, multi-level locations. The player can navigate them in different ways, and not every such choice will be a good one, but it's worth a try. During exploration, the player will encounter the terrifying inhabitants of this dying world. Combat will take place on arenas, each designed for a specific amount of time, during which the player must eliminate all enemies. If they fail, the alert level will increase, which is equivalent to a rise in difficulty.[/p][p]Sometimes, during exploration, the player will come across puzzles. They aren't overly complex and come in three types. For example, you might need to find a part, insert it into a device, and then move it from point A to point B.[/p][p]The player will have a companion—a kind of decommissioned robot that carries an antidote to the parasite's influence. Thanks to it, the player can learn details about the environment, get useful tips, go through a brief tutorial, and most importantly—stay alive.[/p][p][/p][p][c]"The difficulty level affects the number of enemy waves, their strength, and health. This is a dynamic system, but of course, there will also be fixed difficulty levels—from easy to hardcore."[/c][/p][p][/p][p]Right now, I'm actively working on a demo that reflects the final vision for the project. I'm planning its release for the end of this year, but I can't promise anything yet—the main work is done, and now it's all about polishing and closed beta tests. Who knows what could go wrong...[/p][p][/p][p]Nevertheless, this is just the beginning. My goal is to see this through to the end.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]