Hi all, this is the start of my devlog for my WIP game currently titled "Exilium".

Exilium is an isometric horror game in which you play as a ghost hunter and priest to hunt and exorcise ghosts.

The game is still very early in development so there is nothing fancy to show and no playable prototype yet, but I will be updating the project routinely with new updates, screenshots, and some playable builds.

Here is a screenshot of my unity project to show what I currently have. 

Here is a link to the project: https://finnduction.itch.io/exilium

I look forward to working on this project and sharing my progress and I hope to create a game that you will all enjoy playing. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!

Hi all, the project is coming along smoothly and a playable build is currently being worked on.

Today I would like to share some more details about the game and what it's about.

Exilium will be an isometric, action-horror game in which you play as a ghost hunter and priest hunting and exorcising ghosts from locations. I hope to achieve a horror-like feel without using cheap tricks. The atmosphere and gameplay should feel intense and chilling.

The gameplay will consist of two phases. A preparation phase and a hunt phase. The missions begin with the preparation phase in which you will play as the ghost hunter setting up equipment around the location such as surveillance, traps, etc. (I will have a post about the equipment once I figure everything out). You will then end the preparation phase and begin the hunt phase. You will enter the location again, but this time as the priest. As the priest you must exorcise the ghost to complete the mission. I am still deciding between two different methods of exorcising the ghost for the priest to follow. One will involve facing the ghost head on and the other will involve avoiding the ghost while purifying objects within the location. (More info on this will be provided soon).

The following screenshot is of a moodboard that I put together to get a feel for the art style and general visuals of the game. I want the game to look good and amplify the chilling atmosphere I am aiming for.

This moodboard shows some games I've used for both artistic inspiration and gameplay inspiration.

This project is a solo project, so everything will be done by myself. I hope to create an enjoyable experience and a game that I will be proud of.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more updates soon!

Hi all, In my last post I briefly discussed some of the gameplay of the game. In this post I will elaborate a little more and show some slides of a pitch I prepared 2 weeks ago.

The main gameplay loop consists of a preparation phase and then a hunt phase. In the preparation phase you enter the location as a ghost-hunter to set up equipment such as cameras, motion sensors, traps, incense, and other ghost-hunting related equipment. During this phase you are free to take your time and strategically place equipment around the area as you see fit. During this phase you are also unable to be harmed by the ghost as it is not yet time for the ghost to be active. Once you are sufficiently prepared, you may enter the hunt phase.

The hunt phase is where you will enter the location as a priest. The ghost becomes active during this phase and it is your duty to exorcise/banish the ghost from the location. In the following slides there will be some further explanation and possible reworks of mechanics/ideas for new mechanics.

As I continue to work on creating the game's first build, I will be testing these mechanics and tuning them according to feedback and how I feel.

I am open to any feedback regarding these mechanics or new ideas that any of you may be interested in sharing, so feel free to leave a reply and share your opinions. 

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more!

Hi all, today I want to share some of the work I've done over the past 2 weeks.

As I work towards a playable build due sometime next week, I have began to implement some objectives for the player, as well as obstacles to avoid and equipment to utilize to achieve these objectives. 

Around the location there are lit-up objects in which the player must find and "purify". The player must use the equipment around the location to keep track of the ghost in order to avoid it and successfully purify the objects.

If the player is found and successfully caught by the ghost, the player will lose HP. When the player loses all HP, they will lose. I hope to elaborate on this mechanic later on to make it more interesting and unique, however, getting something simple done for the prototype is more important.

I have also implemented some UI for a pause screen, as well as an objectives screen and a controls screen.

For the build due next week I hope to have some simple art for the HP UI, and I also hope to allow players to move and place equipment. This would mean that I will hopefully be able to implement the preparation phase and the hunt phase.

I am excited to have a playable build soon and I am interested in any feedback you may have regarding the game.

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more!

Hi all, I am excited to announce that the game is in a playable state. 

The game is currently in a state that is playable and ready to gather feedback. I will give a brief description of the things currently implemented for testing and what will be hopefully coming soon.

So far there are 3 pieces of equipment implemented for testing: Motion sensors, incense, and a slowing trap.

The enemy AI is implemented. It is currently quite basic as I am still conceptualizing ways for the enemy to become more complex and interesting.

I was able to implement the preparation phase and hunt phase earlier this week in a simplified form for testing.

The current level is strictly for testing and is in no way a representation for how I plan to design maps in the future. I hope to implement a new and improved map later on this month.

Things I am looking to work on adding soon are: Some sound effects and ambience, a new and improved map, improving enemy AI, more equipment, quality of life improvements, improving the UI.

Hopefully I can get some of these added by next the 16th as I have an internal playtest with my college by then. I am also currently working on a Game Design Doc for the game so I am hoping that that will help me visualize and improve upon my concepts/ideas going forward.

That is all for now, I will leave a link to the project page in case anyone reading wishes to play the game and give some feedback. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!

https://finnduction.itch.io/exilium

Hi all, It's been over a week since my last update and within that time a lot has happened.

The game saw it's first playable build last week and today I have launched an updated version of the build which iterates on feedback I gathered from the first build. You can find the latest build here: https://finnduction.itch.io/exilium

My college held an internal playtest today where I got to play some great looking games and have other people play my own game. Thanks to their effort I gathered some great feedback and have gotten to work on compiling the feedback and deciding where to go from here.

I have gotten to work on creating a game design document for an assignment, here is a small preview of what I have so far;

There is a lot more to it than just this which will be shown in the near future!

I have also finally created a twitter for the game which you can follow at: https://twitter.com/ExiliumGame

You will find more updates on the twitter related to the game a long with cool screenshots I manage to gather as I develop the game.

That is all for now, hopefully I will have some even more exciting news in the near future to share. As always, thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!

Hi all, it's been a long 2 weeks since my last post. I've come up with a lot of new ideas to share regarding my game. First of all I would like to discuss the art.

I am not a very art focussed person, the majority of my experience being programming. However, I still want my game to look and feel like a horror game. 2 games in particular that I have been thinking about over the past 2 weeks are Hamilton and Granny. I really like they're low res art styles and visuals, and I feel like if I can make something similar work in my game, it will work great.

I am unsure yet which one I will lean towards the most, it will take some time and testing before I come to a decision. However, it is a much needed starting point.

Audio in Exilium will be a heavy focus for me. I really want promote a tense and chilling atmosphere and I believe a heavy emphasis on audio will help me achieve that. A week ago I stumbled upon The Caretaker and his project Everywhere at the end of time. Here is a link to it if you are intereste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJWksPWDKOc
I didn't know what to expect when I first started listening, but I was soon mesmerised by how hauntingly beautiful it was to me. I just thought that I absolutely had to have something like this in my game in some way. It has inspired me to attempt to make something similar myself for both my game and an assignment for my audio module in college. I feel like if I can capture the essence of this music and implement it correctly into my game, it will work wonders for creating a horrifying atmosphere.

There are some more ideas that I have been thinking about but have not yet gotten them to the stage where I wish to share them. I will hopefully be back soon with an update on the game itself (hopefully a new build within the new 2 weeks). That is all for now, Thank you for taking your time to read this post, and stay tuned for more.

Hi all. Exilium is progressing slowly but surely. After a round of playtesting yesterday, I have compiled the feedback and am adding a lot of necessary changes to the game. I have added a new build which I would love for anyone interested to play and give some feedback on. It can be surprising how much extra feedback you get as a developer after only adding 1 or 2 minor changes, but feedback is a huge thing for me while developing Exilium, especially because I am a solo dev.

A big milestone is approaching for development. On the 20th, I aim to have a vertical slice of Exilium ready for download and playing. There is an immense amount of work to be done on the game to bring it up to the standard I am looking for before then. It can be a struggle at times, but I have no doubt that Exilium has the potential to be a great game. 

A new mechanic has also made its way into the game recently, and I think it was a very much needed feature. The enemy AI seems a little too strong at times right now. I have begun implementing various "hideable areas" around the current level to test out potential ways out alluding the ghost easier. The ghost will be receiving heavy changes soon, hopefully in time for the build on the 20th. These changes will hopefully make the ghost and the overall gameplay loop feel better and scarier. 

Art and sound assets will hopefully be added for the 20th, although with the number of mechanical changes I want to work on, art and sound may suffer, unfortunately. I would rather the gameplay feel good and have everything come together before I worry about getting into art or sound.

That is all for now, I hope the build on the 20th will pique your interest and encourage you to follow me on this development journey. Thank you for reading.

Hi all, I am excited to say that I have uploaded a vertical slice for Exilium! It isn't perfect as it was a rough week and there was a tonne of work to do to get it to the standard of a demo, but I believe that the game is in a good state right now. 

For those of you who have played the previous builds you will immediately notice large changes, most notably art and sound assets! Although a lot of the assets are placeholder right now, it is a little representation of how Exilium may be when it's finished. I hope that development continues to be as fun and as successful as it has been so far. I am excited to see what Exilium can be and honestly a little nervous as I want Exilium to be a game that many will play and enjoy.

The art style is a little different from what I originally imagined, but I believe that it suits the game in a way, although I admit that I could do a much better job. I'm interested in how the art style may progress over the course of development. I am not an artist, but I want Exilium to look and feel good.

I believe the sound effects and style could do with a bit of work as they are fairly rough around the edges right now, but for a first try at making and implementing a lot of my own sounds I don't think it's a bad effort.

There were a lot of things I had to cut for the vertical slice as there was simply too much that I wanted to implement. One of the things I cut just for the vertical slice was updating the equipment models and adding a new piece of equipment. I figured that getting the art style and some sound effects in the game along with making sure all the mechanics were bug-free and working.

The newest build is available on the games page at: https://finnduction.itch.io/exilium

If you're interested in seeing what Exilium could be, feel free to give a try and send me some feedback on what you think works/doesn't work, and any bugs you may encounter.

It has been an interesting year for the development, I believe I may take a little break from working on the game to focus on upcoming college assignments. I will try to keep this devlog updated whenever I begin working again or if I have anything cool I want to share.

That is all for now. I hope you all enjoy Exilium and have a happy holidays!