Show HN: Game demo made with my homemade game engine

(reprobate.site)

101 points | by delduca 13 days ago ago

56 comments

  • heeton 11 days ago ago

    Is this actually a game?

    It loads with one item in an inventory I can’t seem to use past the first room, and there seems to be nothing in the second room that is interactive except (spoilers) a cupboard door.

    Is this just a tech demo of some features? Or something bigger that everyone in the comments is missing?

    (That aside, the art is vibe is very cool. I love old-school point and clicks ever since Zak McKraken, and a horror themed one would be an instant buy from me)

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Maybe I went a bit overboard with the title. It’s still a work in progress, and quality pixel art really does take a lot of time.

      Thanks for the feedback though, I truly appreciate it.

      • ThePowerOfFuet 11 days ago ago

        You've done far more than I ever could, and you should be proud of it!

        • delduca 11 days ago ago

          Blood & tears. Thank you!

      • weatherlight 11 days ago ago

        love the little heart filled note you left in the game's files :) I hope Henrique finds it one day too.

  • krapp 11 days ago ago

    I think I remember this, you posted this once before. It looks like you've posted this a few times.

    And I think my comment was that the art style was good, but the game itself didn't have any substance. And I stand by that. It's difficult to know what to do and what to interact with, and the hand as a UI element isn't really helping as much as it should. My honest opinion is that this should have been a lot better between then and now and from what I remember it looks almost exactly the same.

    Please, for your own good, stop posting this until you've finished an actual playable game with this engine. Bad content doesn't even show off the capabilities of your engine very well.

    I'm trying not to be mean because I have a pile of unfinished projects of my own but you really shouldn't shortchange yourself.

    In fact, maybe you could put up a dev blog to show your progress. That might be a good way to get feedback as you work as well, and advertise your engine and games.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      HN allows posting multiple times, sorry about that. Thanks for your feedback, though! I’ll create a development blog — it was a great idea.

      All the best, and thank you for reviewing my demo so many times.

  • mlaux 11 days ago ago

    I love the art style! Echoing the others, I'm stuck in the second room - would be cool to have a few hints at the beginning to help out with discoverability.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Second room is the last one for now. Sorry for the lack of context.

      Thank you so much for your feedback!

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      For now this is the final stage. I am working to give a “game over” advisory.

      Thank you

  • HeckFeck 11 days ago ago

    I love the passion that has went into this, even if it is still wip. I would like to link to it from https://wmw.thran.uk if that's ok with you.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Thank you and yes, please, do it.

  • hei-lima 11 days ago ago

    The music starting so suddenly just gave me a big jumpscare. Great work, tho!

    • montag 11 days ago ago

      Yes...and it's LOUD!

      • delduca 11 days ago ago

        We will blow your amps - ManOwar

  • delduca 11 days ago ago
  • metabagel 11 days ago ago

    The animation is really cool.

    I want to replay the game, but it always starts me in the second room.

    I think I was confused about where the pointer is on the hand, because there are two fingers raised. Suggest you add a little flash (sparkle, smoke, etc.) animation to the index finger, if that's the one which is the pointer. I had decided that the symbol on the hand was like a targeting reticle.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Clear your cookies please.

  • drpizzamd 11 days ago ago

    Love this. It took me a little time to figure out what to do; however, I enjoyed exploring and figuring it out myself. I'm looking forward to the next 100 rooms to play through. And the big twist at the end. :)

  • riidom 11 days ago ago

    If you get stuck and need a hint, try right-click somewhere.

  • bcardarella 11 days ago ago

    How far should I be able to progress? I can out of the first room and open the cabinet in the second room, but cannot progress further.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      You concluded, and in another message I mention that I exaggerated in calling it a game instead of a demo. I hope you liked it.

      • dang 11 days ago ago

        Ok, we've changed the title to say 'demo' above - hopefully that will help!

  • delduca 11 days ago ago

    Thank you all for the feedback!

    If you ever get stuck forever, it’s probably an issue with Cloudflare Pages. Trying again might work—the game is made entirely of static files.

    For now, there’s nothing beyond the second scenario. Pixel art is a slow and expensive process, and I’ve been working on this game since the beginning of the year. Please be patient!

    Thanks again!

  • self_awareness 11 days ago ago

    Cool graphics. As someone who has finished Heretic + Hexen a few days ago, this was good timing for me.

    I kind of expected a point and click adventure game, not sure why (maybe because of Full Throttle), but first room is a hidden object game. Not sure what to do in the next room though.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      I am trying to improve the game design, thank you so much for your feedback.

      I am in contact with a former coworker who is very skilled in click adventures.

  • singpolyma3 11 days ago ago

    Loading... Forever

  • orblivion 11 days ago ago

    I'm on a slow system, but it seems to freeze when I pick up items sometimes. Sound continues though. If I reload the page and play again it shows up in my inventory.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Thank you for your feedback, I will check the issue.

      • delduca 11 days ago ago

        Mind to share your specs btw?

        • orblivion 10 days ago ago

          Firefox 128.14.0esr (64-bit) on Debian via QubesOS (i.e. it's in a VM)

  • orblivion 11 days ago ago

    It's suddenly the 90s again, this is awesome.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      You really got the spirit, I love this nostalgia.

  • delduca 11 days ago ago

    I’d like to take this opportunity of reaching #1 on HN to promote the pixel artist who has been working with me all this time.

    She is extremely competent. Professional. Creative. Dedicated. Skilled.

    https://linktr.ee/dandelion.pixelart

  • lovich 11 days ago ago

    A game engine is a pretty big solo project. Did you base it off monogame, Godot or something similar, or did you start from scratch?

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      I wrote everything from scratch[1], like old games. However, unlike them, I designed a flexible Lua API that’s powerful enough to create (small) games.

      I used SDL3 with hardware acceleration, OpenAL, Lua (via sol3), PhysFS, and nlohmann::json. (I could have used only Lua, but the engine needs to interface with the web via WebSockets.) For WebSockets, I use Boost only on desktop and mobile; on the web, I rely on the browser’s native API.

      1 - Code is like pasta — much more delicious when homemade.

    • sentinelsignal 8 days ago ago

      Agreed. Genuinely curious how long this has taken so far

  • metabagel 11 days ago ago

    I can't manipulate any objects nor leave the room. Firefox and Safari on latest MacOS.

    • metabagel 11 days ago ago

      Ah, works on Chrome. I like the design. I had difficulty acquiring the leftmost item in the list. I tried a number of times before it was recognized.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      In which stage, the second one is the last for now, I am working on more stages. Sorry for your frustration.

      PS. I test in all browsers, I make sure that works on non-Chrome.

  • jasonjmcghee 11 days ago ago

    Holy headphone / audio warning.

    The screaming goat nearly blew my ears out.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      You have found an ester egg that a friend of mine have suggested!

  • 11 days ago ago
    [deleted]
  • Skywalker13 11 days ago ago

    The atmosphere is amazing. Really good job... continue :-)

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Obrigado amigo <3

  • noufalibrahim 11 days ago ago

    It looks good but I'm not really sure what to do.

  • rsktaker 11 days ago ago

    Super cool art, can I ask how you did it?

  • cdelsolar 11 days ago ago

    cool game. i'm stuck though...

  • spicyusername 11 days ago ago

    Very cool, thanks for sharing.

  • curtisblaine 11 days ago ago

    Doesn't work on mobile.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Not intended to work on mobile, it is a desktop game, sorry!

  • Tr3nton 11 days ago ago

    [dead]

  • strongbond 11 days ago ago

    I think it sucks. Sorry to be the harbinger of negative opinion, but that's just what I feel about it.

    • delduca 11 days ago ago

      Mind to elaborate what sucks? Your comment adds nothing.