First level done and the anxiety settles in

It is currently the 24th of December. I just finished last major part of the 1st level (It took me 2 weeks to find good kitchen furniture photos and I ended up having to draw them myself. That's why they looks so shit) and the last room is decorated. Funny, how I'm both afraid of over cluttering the ship and want to add more props to the scene. Also funny how I want to move on to the 2nd level and yet I still want to sit here and add crap to the first one for the next 2 weeks.

This is my first major project in UE5, previously the only 3D game engine I worked on was Source from 2004. I had to learn stuff like 3D modeling in Blender just to make the floor for player to walk on. Sound design, level design, texturing, all of it I had to learn and all of it is crap.

About a week ago, one month into making of this game of mine, I have learned of a great game called "Iron Lung" which is one of the best underwater horror games I've ever played. It's also strikingly similar to my game due to one of the biggest coincidences of my life. I have played this game for the first time about 3 days ago and it changed how I look at my project. I might make another dev log about it on another occasion, but it was a real rollercoaster of negative emotions. Even now, after making my peace with it, Iron Lung still poses a quality standard for a game that's not even related to it. I'm afraid of other people comparing these two, and how could they not? My game obviously looking like a cheap knock off with a generic name to a standard passer-by. In the end, I believe Iron Lung is good for Deep Dark (Or however I will end up naming this game, "deep dark" sounds generic, but I'm not good at naming things). I made improvements to audio design on the ship and solved my window problem with a cheeky reference, welding the problematic window shut, but I cannot expect my personal acceptance to be shared by my players.

I can't even expect to actually release this game, as my 1st level alone goes above the 1 GB of the site's game size limit. While I'm writing this post, the game's site isn't even public yet.

Writing my thoughts into the void where no one can or cares enough to read. Ironic, that the game's protagonist does the same.

But hey, no one reads dev logs to listen dev's whining. The cover of the log is actually a screenshot from a very early environment prototype. I wish I had more from the development of the submarine, but I don't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯