How a Singaporean spent 3 years to create a horror video game all by himself
What happens when you find yourself trapped in a dark and hellish world full of demon-like creatures – and all you've got are your wits and a talking doll as a sidekick?
That's the premise of There Is No Tomorrow (TINT), a 3D horror adventure game released early this year on the Steam digital video game service, which has as well gotten some expert reviews in the gaming customs.
It likewise happens to be created by a Singaporean who, 3 years agone, decided he was going to create a game all by himself.
Indie game publisher and designer Choo Bin Yong is the 1-man prove behind Koex Studio and finally coming out with a 3D game was the fulfilment of a dream he's had ever since he started playing those early versions of Concluding Fantasy equally a child.
"Information technology'south just really fun to run across your ain cosmos come up to life," he told CNA Lifestyle.
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ANIME INSPIRATIONS
The 32-year-old Choo started making rudimentary 2d wink games equally a teenager before going on to study 3D animation at Nanyang Academy Of Fine Arts. He then went on to piece of work every bit an animator for pocket-sized local companies such every bit String Studio and Storieszing, and even had a short stint education 3D sculpting software to secondary school students at Hwa Chong Institution.
Merely Choo wanted something more than and in 2022 decided to get solo and make games for both mobile and the Steam platform. He launched Koex Studio and he hasn't looked back since.
Co-ordinate to him, TINT was inspired by various anime and fantasy series such equally Code Geass, from which he created his main character named Leon.
In the game, Leon finds himself in a futurity where humanity is on the brink of extinction at the hands of monstrous creatures called the RA.
Throughout the game, players have to make use of the environment and scavenge for objects and weapons to assist them in their survival – it's upward to the histrion whether he or she wants to go stealth a la James Bail or come up out guns a-blazing like Rambo.
There are also several puzzles to solve and choices to make for different endings, like to other multiple-ending games such as those from Telltale Games.
THE CHALLENGES OF GOING SOLO
Merely while TINT sounds rather complicated to make, Choo said it was a conscious decision to do it alone.
"I feel at that place'due south a lot of creative space (for me) when I am making a game," he said, adding that he actually wanted to learn equally much every bit he could with piddling to no feel every bit a professional game programmer.
And besides, finding other like-minded individuals was a challenge – many of his friends weren't into game development and he wasn't certain getting strangers on-board would exist worth information technology.
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"Working with strangers is a risk since they might merely go MIA," he said. "Working solo seems to have the least risk involved even if information technology will take a longer fourth dimension to make a game."
In that location were other downsides, likewise, to doing it past himself. It was hard to remain objective about the game and getting feedback was difficult – he had to test information technology out himself.
There were likewise some pocket-sized compromises given his ane-man show at home. Choo had to make his TINT world smaller (and manageable) and not too realistic, as both would accept up likewise much fourth dimension.
"That level of detail is very hard to achieve by myself. So my game tends to look a lilliputian more stylish merely with a mix of realism," he explained.
Creating the game all by himself meant doing everything from creating the environment to coding the AI for non-actor characters – and even getting the right music and sound furnishings. Thankfully, a musician volunteered to help Choo brand some of the game music, while he sourced for the sound furnishings online.
Being a jack-of-all-trades also meant he had to piece of work on the game when he wasn't working on the game – marketing and promotion of the game being handled entirely by himself.
And that included funding everything. "Everything comes from my own savings. To cutting costs, I oft had to detect means, for example, using free software or using free 3D models that allow commercial use," he said.
COMING Full CIRCLE
But it would eventually pay off and his game-in-the-making slowly got noticed. In 2017, TINT was a finalist for the Indie Prize Singapore and a year after it was showcased at the Square Enix Collective, a subsidiary of the company behind hitting RPG games such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. It had come full circle.
After his game was finally launched on Steam in January – 3 years since he began working on it – Choo felt both relief and feet. "The relief comes from finally able to publish the game out on Steam while the anxiety is from awaiting the responses from the players," he explained.
While information technology'due south not breaking any records in terms of downloads just yet, information technology'due south gotten some encouraging reviews for the interesting storyline and puzzles from gaming sites such every bit IGN Southeast Asia, JustGamer and IndieVoice.
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And if you think doing ane game for three years has sucked the life out of him, Choo said he'southward non done nonetheless – he's already in the process of developing a couple more PC and console games, which he plans to release this year.
Said Choo: "I want the globe to feel conceivable when players footstep into information technology."
At that place Is No Tomorrow is bachelor on Steam for S$thirteen here.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/singapore-video-game-there-is-no-tomorrow-koex-studio-steam-256276
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