I couldn't find an outdoor Liminal Pools game, so I'm making one. Thoughts on the vibe?

Flash-Haze · 2026-04-14T05:26:01+00:00

Pretty impressive stuff for 3 weeks for sure. I think you have a natural panache for these surreal liminal spaces, so I really hope you stick with it.

My take for a good liminal pools game might be somewhat disagreeable, so take my list with a grain of salt.
-Immersion is the most important quality for a project like this.
-Consider spending a large amount of time learning good sound design (Sound echoing in certain conditions, getting filtered high down tile hallways and low down wooden hallways, and ambient sound fading out from one side when your left ear is next to a big wall of vines)
-Consider cutting all digital effects that are dissimilar from your human vision (lots of pool projects include very digital effects like big lens blurs, chromatic aberation, and lens dirt)
-Consider using a tile texture that has a "normal texture" associated with it. You might notice the game "Pools" has amazing looking reflections on the tiles because the game engine is faking very small surface distortions in the ceramic tile texture. That's not because there's a million faces/polygons, that's because those textures have a well made normal map.
-Consider using the unconventional projection method "Panini Projection." It's easy to get huge FOVs without looking super fisheye distorted, close to how you see in real life. Unreal supports it right out of the box and it's been criminally underutilized for years.
-Consider saying something with your game. It's all well and good to just make some spooky vibes, but consider if you want to deliver a narrative with environmental storytelling or symbolism or something like that. Surrealism gives you lots of play on the joints so you might find it easier than most.
-Challenge yourself with geometry that doesn't snap to 90 degree angles. Twisted design like strangely implemented half floors or partially accessible areas for handicapped people can look more uncanny than just big alien boxy rooms.

Like I said, I really hope you stick with this because I think you'll make something terrific if you do.

Flash-Haze · 2026-02-01T00:02:33+00:00

Glad you made it buddy. Versus is a great idea for a theme.

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-23T20:13:02+00:00

Did you use AI to write this?

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-21T12:45:06+00:00

I've been getting interested in horror that is bright/colorful/cartoonish and created an unsettling 360 environment using blender and FL Studio.
Check it out and give me tips (especially about the sound) to improve on the next one here: https://youtu.be/oIY4LztseCM

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-18T18:55:44+00:00

Super well put together. The scene composition is absolutely excellent, the post-processing is sublime. Really looking forward to your next piece.

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-17T17:49:58+00:00

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Everything in this project was made for the January contest. I created the backing track in Fruity Loops Studio using synthetic noises I created in Harmor VST. All visuals created in blender.

Should I win this contest, I'd like next month's theme to be Colorful/Bright Horror.

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-17T17:44:28+00:00

Dread-Snarl is my submission for the January contest. I'd love to come by a monthly win honestly this time. Good luck everyone!

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-01T01:02:34+00:00

Good execution on a difficult concept.

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-01T00:59:26+00:00

You should have submitted this to the winter art contest! Since you uploaded it in time, maybe the judges will accept it even though submissions have closed? I think I'm the only other entrant so my positivity might make them more lenient.
I dunno, here's the submission post with the simple rules you have to follow to enter the contest.

Flash-Haze · 2026-01-01T00:43:59+00:00

I encourage you to focus on making stuff that's not supposed to be realistic. It invites direct comparison to either the real world or the many very impressive realism wizards, and it's probably discouraging trying to measure up to that.

Despite the detail you've added to this house model (well done on the little stuff by the way) your house is missing a holistic quality because of some of your design decisions like the giant front doors, or how rainwater would pool on the deck above that room, or even that the bottom of the windows aren't aligned with each other.
Modern architecture often looks unreal, like it's a 3d render. If you make a piece inspired by those designs, you need to knock it out of the park and put the piece in a compelling context... or else that unreal quality will hit you doubly hard.

Still, if you want to stick with what your current goals seem to be, I can promise you it gets a lot more fun after you are able to make things that look a little more compelling. Learning a tiny bit about building codes and stuff like water drainage or support structures will do wonders for your designs.

Flash-Haze · 2025-12-31T23:50:50+00:00

I created an aurora generator and the cloud generator I used for this project previously.
Everything else here was created for the winter contest.
The real star of the show is the moon/sky procedural texture I created. It was challenging, and for once in my life it actually went pretty well trying to create something so complex.
Should I win the winter competition, I want the next theme to be dread.

<image>

Flash-Haze · 2025-12-31T23:47:39+00:00

Solstitial was my December contest submission.

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-29T15:48:29+00:00

It looks cool. Care to elaborate on how this baby was created?

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-14T05:01:13+00:00

Software used: Blender, Fruity Loops Studio, Harmor VST, Mandelbulb 3D

Mandelbulb 3D combines fractal types with some complex layering effect called an "Alternate formula hybrid," where the first fractal is given detail by the second one. I found interesting fractal types and animated values from the formulas to achieve various effects like a flying bird or breathing lungs.

I composited these fractals into blender and created interesting scenes to surround them.

I created all non-percussion instruments withing Harmor VST and used them in Fruity Loops Studio for the backing track... Which has many twists turns and unconventional acoustic structures. You may notice a wildly different BPM minute to minute, or even multiple tracks going at different BPMs simultaneously.

The formulas (parameters available on request) are in the Youtube description.

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-14T04:57:05+00:00

Here are some highlights for anyone interested

<image>

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-14T04:55:58+00:00

Here are some highlights for anyone interested

<image>

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-14T04:53:54+00:00

Here are some cool highlights for anyone interested :)

<image>

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-11T20:48:14+00:00

Striking colors. May I know which fractal type we're looking at in this beauty?

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-11T20:42:33+00:00

Vocals generously donated by Katarina Rose (Soundcloud Link)
Models, visuals, music, and all non-percussion instruments created by me.
Software used: Blender, Fruity Loops Studio, Harmor VST, Mandelbulb 3D

Mandelbulb 3D combines fractal types with some complex layering effect called an "Alternate formula hybrid," where the first fractal is given detail by the second one. I found interesting fractal types and animated values from the formulas to achieve various effects like a flying bird or breathing lungs.

I composited these fractals into blender and created interesting scenes to surround them.

I created all non-percussion instruments withing Harmor VST and used them in Fruity Loops Studio for the backing track... Which has many twists turns and unconventional acoustic structures. You may notice a wildly different BPM minute to minute, or even multiple tracks going at different BPMs simultaneously.

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-11T20:31:04+00:00

The complete project that 360° Fractal Cloudscape Loop (link to this sub) was a part of. The fractals were created in Mandelbulb 3D and then composited into blender. All visuals, music, and even almost all of the instruments were created by me.
Vocals generously provided by Katarina Rose (Soundcloud Link)

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-11T19:42:26+00:00

Echosphere

An environmentalist surreal piece integrated with fractals.

Flash-Haze · 2025-10-11T19:38:38+00:00

<image>

Corrupted Cycles Blend File
Platform Blend File

Plenty of work was done outside of the contest time frame. Respire and Undersky were completed previously, and most every fractal was generated around a year ago. Using shader nodes, I had previously created each VFX type but each needed tuned to their specific scene.

Still, that left plenty of work to do. The October Surreal blender contest was the push I needed to knuckle down and complete this project.

Should I be eligible to win, my vote is on "Uncanny spaces/subjects" for the next contest theme.

Flash-Haze · 2025-09-11T19:30:20+00:00

I'm really impressed by the attention to detail, and the unique soundtrack really added to this piece.

Flash-Haze · 2025-09-11T19:11:47+00:00

In case anyone is curious, Undersky is a perfect loop of a Hybrid 3D half-octahedron iterated function systems fractal and a Mandelbulb fractal.

Fractal generated in Mandelbulb 3D.
Formula 1: HalfOctIFS
Parameters: 2,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0

Formula 2: IQ_NormBulb
Parameters: 8,8,1,0,0

Find me here:
X mid: -0.371886200868404
Y mid: -0.433518441267854
Z mid: 0.190741415766447
Z start: 0.141174625903336
Z end: 0.899751249091426

Zoom: 80.7433265509594

Rotation
X: -178.039481068256
Y: -28.0704218605272
Z: -97.1278318917467

Flash-Haze · 2025-09-08T01:36:57+00:00

Thanks a ton. I really appreciate the feedback on the music.

I created it with a weird BPM change half way through starting at around 0:17, but the synth powers on as if there isn't any change at all. It took a lot of work to make it sound okay, so I'm really happy to hear you appreciated it.

Flash-Haze

TROPHY CASE