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We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss

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We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss

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Follow the story of "Frei K", an artist who is searching for answers about his eventful past, yet he is someone that is starved for love, putting others ahead of himself first. Experience unique multiple areas, side-stories, collectables, mini-games, and different endings.

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Devlog #13 - A List Of Future Mechanics | New Screenshots!

Mar 22, 2025

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.

We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss

Devlog #12 - Model Progress | Demo Talk | Overall Development

Dec 30, 2024

Heyo peeps! It's back to the grind.

So, let me show you what I've finally made progress on. I found something I've been happy to work with, for a long while I've been struggling on my modeling skills and what I want for the style of the town. But thankfully, I feel like I got a good style for the game. I might also go with a complete redesign of the game when it comes to art. Originally, the game was meant to be textures that were real looking. But uh, dunno what I was going for on that. I guess the high PBR world got to me. And I want to keep the style of the game real and still kinda cartoonish, but still dark in some areas and light. So, I might go over everything and hand paint the textures by color instead of a premade substance material. I'll update people on this.

Take a look at the first ever model I created for the jazz club building, it sucks, right?

Now, I have something even better to represent. While it isn't finished, It's going to be way more better down the line. Take a look at one of the buildings I have in the game and I'll share off way more down the line. Obviously, to some people, this isn't that interesting, but to me, I'd like to share off any game development progress. All is history and it is amazing how interesting this can be down til the end.

I also had an idea with the models to add something interesting to try out. When going up to the building door, it'll transition to a door opening animation and bwomp, just a small and nice detail instead of somethin' like HOLD "E". I love when games look more alive. Here's an example:

Now to the demo part,

I've been writing the story of the demo for a minute, but I think I finally got it. The demo will be free, as it should be, it states demo. It is more of a short story game. It'll be a first person click and point while playing as a character from the main game itself. But you'll be talking with Frei face to face. It is basically an opening to the game and shows off the story of the game, but in a different game form. When I thought of this game, I wanted to call it "A Date With Frei." Which is the main character in the game you play as. While it isn't the main title of the game, consider it a date with him, I guess.

Okay, I can share just a bit about this, I guuueeeessssss. You've all been very patient. :)

So, I have a lovely artist who is very talented, I wish he would make a public social media or something because I'd love to share what lovely talented work he has been making for me, and he is just a lovely artist overall. If he ever does make a social media, I'll most likely update this devlog (if I forget, someone update me, I'm extremely ADHD forgetful if that makes sense.)

Seriously, he's talented and here is what he has made for me and I can talk more about what I want to do:

I've been thinking of working on a story demo for a minute and it's just going to be a dumb prologue, but it is going to be in a low-poly and simplistic modern style. The 3D model of Frei is currently untextured and not fully finished but when it is, I'll update peeps, this person who worked on it is a friend, and seriously, a great artist.

The demo finish date? Unknown, but it isn't my big focus right now, as I have this artist doing the models for me while I still work on the main game, when I have everything else, I can work on this small prologue, this won't take me a lot of time since it is a simple low-poly scene and basically small tell-tale like game. It's super silly, but at least it is something that is canon and something I can represent fully for the Steam page. It will be free and downloadable for all. Here is another screenshot of the fellow. He is the depression goat.

When I have more details about this, I'll update everyone.

The main game-play itself, yaayyy! And me yapping.

I feel the game-play in my head is constantly changing. I'd like it to be story focused but still have some silly elements to it as well. Mini-games around the map, collectables, side-stories, y'know, open world stuff. The main story is something I want to focus on first before I go doing other things. I'm trying to tweak the big stuff, like the player controller. I want it to feel nice and smooth. Right now, it's janky. I feel like it's because of the animation, currently the animation is not final. But I want to get a good player animation that feels right. I also want the speed to feel just right. And not worry about collision as much. Basically, I'm just working on the main sprite of the character before I do this. I don't know why I haven't done much progress on this. I think it's because I want to save time and

My biggest focus right now and development is getting the town done and getting the map layout done. This is going to take a good minute. Mostly because modeling, I'm not limit players from seeing the same model over and over again. Details will be on models for players who enjoy to take a peek. Don't worry, for people who also see the filters and such, I'll have options to disable these things. Accessibility is big for me too, if I have anything on release that isn't there, please let me know.

I feel like a lot of mechanics come up over the time of development and it kinda works to me. I had an idea to add a camera system, and I'm still thinking it over. Camera system meaning you snap photos and it saves to an album in game. If I add that then it might be something I'll add for a purpose. But players who just enjoy snapping photos for memories would enjoy this. Because I'm one of them. I'm also thinking of a mechanic that would make the interiors a first person view always. But this is still a thought. I'm just thinking, if I make the view a 3rd person perspective in the interiors, then I'd have to think of a better way to layout the buildings for the 3D modeling part. Which is simple, I just like to be fancy with my work, I guess haha. Anyway, who knows. I might just do both at the end of the day. Doubt it, but we'll see.

I want this game to be a lot less annoying when it comes to mechanics and feeling responsive, also really quick. This meaning interactions don't feel way too slow, things don't feel overly complicated, players can actually understand things. After playing countless amounts of games recently, you can tell some polish or not a lot of polish went into it. I probably keep mentioning this stuff a lot, don't I? It's the ADHD talking. I want the main area to feel polished and look great. As I want this to be HIGHLY memorable to myself, and at least the players. But I promise, no sewer level will be added, wooo.

This Devlog was supposed to be released a lot sooner but Christmas, I am someone who spends the holidays alone really, development time slows down through this time of year for me to kinda relax and chill. I am taking just about a small break, literally a week, so this doesn't matter, haha. Then back to the grind, this week break kinda already started like, a few days ago. So, I'm about to get back to work in a few days. I would like to release this near new years. So have a great one, people.

We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss is about a lot of things that I can't really express, every time I try and think about the story in my head, I get fuzzy. I get a lot of emotions I can't really express, but I feel excited because I can't wait to show off what I've really been feeling deep down to others all along. Thank you for all the support during development and I hope not to be slow next year around. You'll see a lot more of me.

DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/tkWcbjsBvr

We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss

Devlog #11 - What is WGDITA? The Artist Initiative, who is Frei? Lot more!

Oct 28, 2024

Heyo, heyo. So it's been a good minute! But back to it.

Let's start with the fun interesting stuff. I keep mentioning GRAPHICAL CHANGES! But hey, instead of mentioning this stuff constantly, I'm just going to say this. THIS GAME IS GOING TO CONSTANTLY CHANGE VISUALLY. It is in development after all, and I'm still experimenting with the style of the game. And I'd like to talk about something.

THE ARTIST INITIATIVE!

So, what I mean by this is uh, well. Originally, I wanted to work on this game alone, and I still do, won't lie. But, I have been inspired by some other artists and their lovely stories. And I'd love to have some artist around (whether it be music, 2D, 3D art, or even writing) have their work featured in the game. What do I also mean by this?

Well, I have an idea where you can waddle around the town and see posters, maybe even movies in a theater. I'd LOVE to have some other smaller creators featured if I enjoy their work and have it plastered around the town. For the people who are probably feeling iffy about this, I wouldn't feel too worried. Because if I do anything about this, I'd only like it to be on in-game CDs, posters, or like I said, small 2-5 minute animations of an in-game theater where players can watch. Soon, I'll be talking more about this.

OKAY! What is WE'RE GETTING DEEPER INTO THE ABYSS? I get asked this question a bit, and I'd like to finally answer this question without stuttering.

We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss is a story-based, interactive 2.5D adventure game. Focused on characters, music, and the world around you. There will be secrets, side-stories, and a main story. Follow the story of a lone music artist, Frei Kay. Who sometimes falls in and out of the "abyss." There is no timer, it's all open world exploration. If I had to compare a couple games, then take a look.

- NIGHT IN THE WOODS
- THE "YAKUZA" SERIES

I plan for the game to be as unique as possible. Prefer to not reuse assets, and not buy any game ready assets. Also, if you'd like to know... What even is the "abyss..." Well, this question is hard to answer without actual spoilers, but hey. There will be some answers eventually because with THE ARTIST INITIATIVE I have been working behind the scenes to work on a 3D model for the main character. Soon, I'll share progress if this comes to light. Well, the person I've been talking with has been working on it, not really me. They deserve all the credit. So, huge props to them for working on this silly lil' guy. Once I have more information on this, I'll get back to everyone! (Such as their socials, n' such.)

Who is Frei Kay?

Well, I wrote a Patreon post about this, but I'll be honest, I don't really write on that place much. It's more of a supportive place if you want to support me and get benefits. Here's what I wrote about the main character and I still stand by this fact. Take a look:

So, yes, I'm still working on other things. Designing the town is still a lot of work and I'm working on the map layout as I wasn't happy with the original in my head. I started modeling it and played around with it. Here is an example.

It wasn't something I enjoy personally, so I wanna have something I like and also something players could like. This map is going to evolve a lot, so keep with me on this. What is in the screenshot? Well, the game is in a fun lil' town, I'm going to redesign this town as I'm not happy with the previous models and previous design. So, give me some time here. This is going to take a lot more time than expected. Modeling is a pain and time consuming, but it's something that I don't want to slack on either. As this is something that is visually important. Also, optimization. Womp womp.

The previous models are most likely going to be scrapped. Well, the BUILDINGs that I've posted before. Take a look-

See, this sucks. I don't like that. See the grass in it too? I've already remodeled the grass, and trees, and already reworking the building. Because I've gotten a lot better. What changed? I just took some references for the building for once, finally. And when this is closer to being finished, I'll share more. For now, this thing is pretty meh. But, I'd like to talk about the time that we went from. It's about a year into development and it's still not that far into it. Won't lie, it's just me learning still. My previous projects, if you didn't know... Were all bad horror games. And this is still extremely new to me. The gameplay is going to be pretty large. Meaning uh, well. Players can do a few things at once, really.

"Well, darn. I kinda wanna do that side-quest, that sounds kinda funny to do..."
"I dunno, I prefer to just explore for a bit. Wonder what other silly SECRETS I can find."
god so much more.

I've already announced that this game is my child and I'll take care of it til' the end. And before the end of 2025, I want to try and say early 2025, but knowing my track record, let's just say 2025... An extremely short demo will be playable. And I mean, extremely short. Don't expect a lot. It is just something to tell the beginning of the story.

While this wasn't a *huge* content render to show off, it still does go over some important details, I promise to be a lil' more consistent. these devlogs aren't too important but I feel it keeps me and you connected, y'know? Yeah, you get it.

I'll post more, but if you have questions, feel free to ask away, yay.

Patreon: patreon.com/freggs (Rarely upload here as I should, but as mentioned before, benefits are here.)
BSky: https://bsky.app/profile/chainsawdev.bsky.social
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ChainsawDev

We're Getting Deeper Into The Abyss

Small Common Q&A

What am I going to offer? I'm an indie developer, but I plan on offering a lot with this game. There is more than just the main story, there will be side content. Mini-games and fun stuff like that. I'm still planning this stuff out, so please keep with me here. The game will have a lot. What will the game cost? Unsure yet, but I guarantee you it won't cost something like $60. That is a nono for me. It will be cheaper than that. I'm hoping to have a cost for maybe $15, depending on the con...

Freggles

Mar 15, 2024 @ 8:09pm

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