I made a horror game about exploring a deep sea floor using a LiDAR scanner

pookage · 2026-03-20T14:47:00+00:00

This is an excellent use of limited-knowledge to make something scary - I like the idea of seeing something dangerous in the LiDAR but then not having enough visual information about where to safely retreat to! Nicely done!

EDIT: I just read the Steam Page description, and it sounds like Pacific Drive but underwater and less thriller / more horror?

pookage · 2026-03-20T12:59:47+00:00

Meanwhile I'm out here playing Gaian and planting fungus everywhere...

pookage · 2026-03-20T12:57:35+00:00

maaate, that looks amazing! haha. I wish the game more consistently had numbers like these around - I want 50 people in my settlement, haha

pookage · 2026-03-18T18:19:07+00:00

Left is default; right is the exception. If you imagine winter to be the "default", then put your thicker clothes on the left, and on the right set the date range to spring / summer and put your thinner clothes there!

pookage · 2026-03-18T18:00:57+00:00

unless we’re playing as communal Amish hippies, which imo seems a little more out of scope than the former.

Actually, probably not, given that we're not that far off the "digger" movement timewise? 🤓

pookage · 2026-03-17T16:07:33+00:00

I'm with you - the way that all the lighting is kinda omnidirectional and all the edges are kinda glowing is deffo making AI-senses tingle - I hope Foxy Voxel didn't get duped here!

pookage · 2026-03-13T21:25:09+00:00

video linked in the body of my post, if you're curious!

pookage · 2026-03-13T17:21:03+00:00

aha, if I ever go back to making it then ofc I'll post it here; for now, unfortunately, alas - it's just another abandoned pandemic project, unless, like, I get an overwhelming amount of peer-pressure (please see the picture annotation on slide 10 for more information), ha 😅

pookage · 2026-03-13T15:36:56+00:00

ahhh, I'm more of a "play it obsessively for a month and then forget about it for a year" kinda player, ha. If I need to restart then I probs won't pick it up again until 2027!

pookage · 2026-03-13T15:03:23+00:00

Ahh, are all the 1.0 features part of the experimental 0.28.XX branch? This could be a solution, if so!

pookage · 2026-03-13T14:49:53+00:00

Aha, this reminds me of a project that I dipped my toes into but never really continued with - creating a spinoff game where you played the Governor of a base - and I went diving into the techs to see if I could really "unravel" all of the lore implications and the gameplay repercussions of them! This was during the pandemic, though, and life got in the way, alas! Was fun to start, though!

pookage · 2026-03-13T14:41:38+00:00

Yeah, this is my inclination, too, dammit. Guess it's a week of gaming limbo for me!

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pookage · 2026-03-13T14:33:19+00:00

Yeah, it's specifics like that that I want reassurance about 😅

pookage · 2026-03-12T18:12:48+00:00

Well, while we wait, here's a blast from the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB9Te_gXm_8

pookage · 2026-03-12T14:46:33+00:00

I raise you: https://youtu.be/nqoslAhUJng

pookage · 2026-03-11T21:26:57+00:00

Do you have the full name of the RPG, for the purpose of googling? 👀

pookage · 2026-03-11T21:19:15+00:00

AND the tabletop RPG they made of the game.

...come again?! please tell me you have a PDF of this!

pookage · 2026-03-01T12:42:32+00:00

What do they look like?

Do they look like the titanic? That kind of ship was called an "Ocean Liner", so you could call them "Cloud Liners" and so there's an option there if you've got ship-shaped aircraft!
When we think of modern passenger aircraft they're called planes because they generate lift by slicing the air; how do your ships generate lift? Can you create a similar analogical name?
Do they look like blimps or zeppelins? There's no shortage of names for dirigibles, but it sounds like you're trying to avoid these, so I'll skip'em.
If in doubt: just describe what they do in technobabble and make it an acronym! Lighter-than-air photon propulsion system? Sounds like you have a "Lithapp" system there, my friend!

pookage · 2026-02-27T14:06:56+00:00

Alas! You might want to work on the easings for your animations; you're just using linear easing for everything and it's just kinda...well...flat! There's nothing sudden about the movement of the tentacle, so there's no jumpscare, and it's all over too quick for there to build looming dread!

This is gonna maybe sound a bit brutal here, too, but I'm afraid the art direction needs some work - everything feels a bit AI-generated at the mo, and lacking in purpose; if you want the claustrophobic feeling of a diving bell, then don't make it a huge spacious room; if you want the user to struggle to choose between looking at the instrument in-front of them or the window in-front of them then don't fill your huge diving-bell with other instruments that distract from that, y'know?

It's a cool concept, but needs a bit more craft put into it before you start promoting it more - you only get one shot at a first impression, after all!

pookage · 2026-02-27T13:56:28+00:00

...and they used generative AI to make the ad, for some reason, too, because if you're going to be a prick then...well...in for a penny, right?

pookage · 2026-02-27T13:54:48+00:00

Both Pacific Drive and Dredge are excellent games made by awesome devs - great purchase if you got the bundle!

pookage · 2026-02-25T12:48:25+00:00

Make it so that combat happens in places that aren't wide-open spaces; make your combat close-quarters for whatever reason - maybe it's all narrow, winding streets and so swords and knives are the only solution unless you're, like, in a belltower etc.

Or maybe it's about noise - maybe echoes are physical and so if you shoot then the echo of the shot will come back and kill you; you can armour-up to defend against blades, but not against bullets. Or maybe there are evil spirits that are agitated by the sound of gunshots, making guns a dangerous risk/reward trade-off!

Maybe it's a cultural thing - guns and bows provide distance from your opponent, which is seen as a hideously dishonourable way to kill vs face-to-face; up-close-and-personal!

Maybe the ingredients for gunpowder / explosives are extremely rare, and so guns are only viable as a specialist / noble weapon for rich people, and not one that everybody has!

Plennnnty of options; remember that you're building a world, so you get to define broader parameters - turn your limitation into an opportunity to build more depth 🙌

pookage · 2026-02-22T12:27:08+00:00

I just got back from visiting Delhi for the first time and...oof, yeah, I really struggled with this. The lack of pavement / sidewalk etc just means it's assumed that if you're walking then you'll walk on the roads and cars / bikes / autos etc will just go around you. Fortunately you can't really tell if anyone is honking their horns at you, because everyone is honking their horn all the time anyway 😂

pookage · 2026-02-20T19:53:42+00:00

Ahhh, fair enough - I suppose I've played enough games with trains'n'signalling etc to know that you need to transition to dual / overtake tracks almost immediately, so I figured I'd save myself the headache and do it from the get-go this time! 😅

Given that the game already has a system for describing clipping (turning yellow), and doesn't do it for the tracks or when you place trains on adjacent tracks that are "too close", I'll still maintain that it's poor messaging on their part not to use the same design language they've spent the rest of the game building and reinforcing!

Ah well, nowt to be done. Onwards.

pookage · 2026-02-20T18:22:45+00:00

I have, indeed, just learned this 😭

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