Instead, LIMINALITY became my environment project for Art class. All the produced renders of environments were used as part of my portfolio. I learned a lot about lighting, optimization, and level design while creating these dark locations. So, at least for now, LIMINALITY's environments will not be touched. The renders on Artstation page and in this blog post are final.

Also, I think I have to mention something about being overambitious. When our tiny team tried to take on something as grandiose as LIMINALITY we didn't expect the number of complications we faced. Combined with a nearly complete lack of experience, we got stuck quite fast. We did not know how to make things work as intended with this level of detail and realism.

So, we decided to take on something simpler - Into the Hive. One of our teammates suggested that we should take on something easier instead of trying to create LIMINALITY. Therefore, we agreed to use gameplay & level design ideas initially meant for LIMINALITY in our new project. The first working build was developed for 32BitJam in just 2 weeks.

And IT WORKED! Players liked unusual mechanics, confusing layouts, and overall tone. We gathered a lot of useful feedback from players during the jam for future developments of Into the Hive. We had a lot of changes to our team after that, but we now have 6 people who are working on Into the Hive, which is amazing.

With that in mind, Into the Hive is still not LIMINALITY. It is simpler in many ways. Also, it is completely different in many aspects. Instead of being just a quick test, ITH became something bigger and is slowly turning into real survival horror. You can follow the updates on Twitter. Or play the demo right now.

I was trying my skills in different programs, studied  3D modeling and lighting on online courses for the past year and I think I am ready. I finally started working on a full-fledged game. 

Everything came along quite neatly because I found a team to help with this project the moment I told my friends about my project. I am discussing game design with two people. One of them is a very passionate horror fan and a part-time musician, the other one has experience in game making. 

None of us is really proficient in game design yet, so we are taking inspiration and ideas from different games and trying to properly combine the best ideas from them while learning what made them work so well. We are basically studying during the development process.

Despite the team's efforts to create as much as we can by our own hand, our team still utilizes some Quixel Megascans assets to create a much more detailed environment because there is no way for a small team of only 5 people to create a full game with a photorealistic presentation.

Additionally, our team has two coders and a musician/2D artist. We are trying to make our music unusual and weird so it fit the atmosphere.

And now about the game itself. It is a survival horror based on backdoors creepypasta. The name of the project is Liminality. We are trying to recreate the so-called "liminal spaces" which were described in that creepypasta and pictures of which you can find on the internet. 

By creating this environment we hope to make the game disturbing, unnerving, and uncanny. The first part of the game will take place in a shopping center. Usually, it is a very crowded place, but now completely empty. This part of the game will be released as the demo so we can gather some feedback about work before moving forward.

The main character is a woman who is trying to move with her life, going through a transitional period. But her past still holds her back. She will encounter not only places from her childhood but monsters that are going to be the embodiment of her past.

The game is in the very early stages of development with basic locations drafts, mechanics testings, and active discussion about every aspect of the game. I hope that whoever reads that will be interested in what I am doing with that project. Thank you!

Additional screenshots are available in my portfolio: LIMINILITY project