How I Designed Cosmic Horror For My Space Exploration Game

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[@elektra81516]

I think what could make the planet creature better is that the inside of it is fleshy while the outside is regular terrain

[@vodyanoy2]

I like the current version better. It's a lot like the alien from Nope and that design is cool.

[@Bane_Amesta]

I'd say keep like it is, but make the very center fleshy, like is the mouth ready to eat

[@KokamoJoe1]

I like it as-is because I don't need to see what it actually looks like. Its still wearing its 'camouflage.' If I see flesh, I'm going to immediately ask 'How does this thing eat enough to have the energy to open up like this?' Better remain outside our comprehension where we can slot it someplace we can still suspend disbelief.

[@jameswong937]

Thats- ew,just the mere thought of that design would make me squirm up into a ball

[@shapeswitch_mood7221]

Since it unfold its inside out into space, it would make sense that the inside isn't fleshy and vulnerable to space. I like the idea of a tentacle monster, that can flip side like a glove.

[@themichaelconnor42]

"too much mass to move around" like you couldn't have maxed out the truly incomprehensible nature with that

[@eclipsor7080]

I agree. An alien the mass of a planet (or at least a portion of it) is far scarier imo given the literal weight of the threat and leaves the audience pondering if it can find and consume other planets as well.

[@DrrZed]

Brother Moons are awake.

[@coltforceplayer]

@@DrrZedbro make us whole

[@sponge1234ify]

WE HAVE FOUND REMINA

[@troin3925]

I had no idea that the first creature was dead (explains why there's no heartbeat), and that the other ones were eggs. I, and a lot of other people, assumed that it was the same monster stalking you like the fish monster from Iron Lung (there's even a moment like in Iron Lung where you can briefly glimpse the monster in the background behind a planet which then immediately disappears the next time you photograph it). The idea that we're seeing more of its species, with one of them being dead and the other ones being _eggs_ of all things is such an awesome idea (the egg idea is also terrifying and brings up so many creepy implications and possibilities about its species)! Though, I think it's much creepier if it was just the one monster stalking you across the galaxy over the course of several years with no other lifeforms in sight and we're just supposed to assume that there might be more of its kind.

[@nathanpierce7681]

a lot of people actually theorized that all the creatures (including the dead one) were the same planet, and that we were watching it slowly grow over the course of our mission as it stalked us! this is so much cooler though

[@JuicyBurger29]

@@nathanpierce7681but then why would it be dead?

[@JuicyBurger29]

@@nathanpierce7681oh wait. That one jellyfish

[@chubbyGrimblr]

@@nathanpierce7681 This is exactly what I thought! Definitely the creepiest take for my tastes

[@imlivingunderyourbed7845]

A single astronaut being hunted by a planet-sized predator for several years may seem like a huge waste of time because of how little sustenance it can gain out of it. But a terrifying theory that can explain this is that the "thing" that caught the astronaut does not kill him, but probe information out of him so it can find out where the astronaut's home planet is, then make its way there to devour the entire population and ecosystem.

[@OnurErtas-q1o]

Space-Waterboarding

[@playlistmaker5169]

Space Mk-Ultra

[@idioticlight]

i always assumed comically large mimic predators like this feast on the souls of their prey as well to make up for the little nutrients of their bodies

[@Marioman73]

I wish for the final encounter with the planet monster we had enough power to *hear* it along with take photographs of it. I also think the gameplay suffered a little bit because you couldn't turn on most of your recording devices (camera or audio) while moving, or at the very least, it wasn't really encouraged in any way which meant less room to put scary stuff. Still neat though!

[@Bane_Amesta]

I think it was close enough to hear it even without the sound device on, maybe a bit muffled or something (I know there's not really a way to hear sound in space but is a game so it doesn't matter lol)

[@MLAM518]

@@Bane_Amesta Sound can't travel through space but once it grabs the ship the sound could go through the tether

[@nathanpierce7681]

hi marioman73 from mutant testing reborn!

[@rodrigocoockiemonster4460]

You can hear and photograph it tho, watch The Librarian's playthrough, he does just that

[@MasterOfTruck]

@@rodrigocoockiemonster4460 they meant hear it through the radio to hear what sound it was emitting. what you hear at the end was just the sound of your ship as its being pulled in, not the sound of the mimic itself.

[@hopemetal3440]

I thought that at some point you'd have to turn off life support momentarily to have enough power to do things.

[@camera9024]

Make the power mechanics similar to FNAF

[@jh4490]

I wasn't expecting the planet mimic but this is actually really cool! The only thing I could think of was having the radio pick up the sound of screaming, like a huge crowd of people screaming out into the void

[@nathanpierce7681]

too on the nose i think, also how would we hear them screaming within the planets? they might be similar to jean jacket but jean jacket is small enough for the sound to travel through him and reach the people outside, but these ones are the size of planets

[@CameronHuff]

@@nathanpierce7681 you got the connection to Nope just like I did. Seeing the monster made me think of Jean Jacket (R.I.P)

[@Nonexistentialism]

I really enjoyed this short little experience, and the idea of something hitching a ride on your space craft is also a neat concept.

[@dankshatter4906]

your games always have so much heart in them, simple and efficient too

[@complex_city]

dude the wing spiral thing design is so flipping freaky and weird and uncomfortable AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH

[@deathrobot10k58]

The best part of this game is hearing the heartbeat of the strangely organic looking planets (that sometimes disappear from navigation after taking a picture of another planet) and then finding what seems to be an Earth-like planet… before hearing that dreaded heartbeat. Realizing that _that,_ is not a planet.

[@miserablepile]

0:12 ohhhh I love how the tube moves as the player character moves their head!! It's somewhat subtle, but that effect immediately immersed me in the experience, and was just the right detail to have my brain spinning with the sensory input and the weight of the situation in the game! Brilliant!

[@whetshu2641]

Honestly, I thought the eggs were some quantum planet creature (like the quantum moon in Outer Wilds) that followed you around, learning what you are and how to lure you, before disguising itself as a habitable planet in the final system. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the first, dead one, but I at least figured that it wasn't alive, so it got the point across well. Overall, the game was very fun and definitely worth my money. I've seen some people who were disappointed by the (admittedly) short playtime, and while I wish I had more of this game, I can't be upset. The ideas and themes were executed so perfectly, with simple mechanics and controls that while intuitive, were just difficult enough to start fat-fingering in the tense moments. Everything in Voyager-19 is extremely intentional, and I think that at just and hour or two of playtime, its worth a lot more than 10 hours of fluff and extra padding. Even though I could return the game, I don't want to. I might not play it again any time soon, but I would rather support a developer executing on cool ideas to the utmost of his ability, than a Triple A team's overlord who wants to inflate their numbers to justify his paycheck. 10/10 - Go buy the cheapest drinks at Starbucks with my $3.

[@kikolektrique1737]

WAIT A MINUTE YOU MADE VOYAGER 19!!! How did i miss that

[@yahkimicki236]

Dude PLEASE make that astronaut ghost hitchhiker game. The concept is too good to go unused.

[@dinodrip12]

This may or may not be intentional, but the alien creature in the game is almost identical to the alien in the jordan peele movie NOPE. From the way disguises itself (as a cloud/planet) to the way it unfolds, to the twist of the monster being just an animal looking for food.

[@FleshBoi]

Such a cool concept for monster. It reminds me of Hellstar Remina

[@romaingraphiste]

I love this artstyle. I would call it industrial style horror theme. It seems Iron Lung created a new type of horror atmosphear and you perfectly recreated it. Please continue to make this kind of video game.

[@Beauregard42]

I have made some ideas on this creature's anatomy. Once I make a drawing/diagram, I'll find some way to get it across. I love the idea of a giant 'living planet', which is the nickname I made for this cutesy(not) little(definitely not) innocent(REALLY not) animal. Since I've been making up sci-fi stories for years, I made a little movie in my head about a ship that evaded the tongue, but flew inside anyway, to explore it, and I made some things up about its behaviour/etc, and how it camoufladges itself to look like a planet. Etc, etc, etc. Great idea! Makes for some awesome space chases. (You're flying on a mission, and a planet is chasing you at high speed. You have no idea how a planet is moving so fast until it opens its flaps, and nabs you)

[@IsraelStorey]

Oh, I thought the eggs were dyson sphere type things, or some other gigantic structure built by aliens. The fact that they're grey made me think they were made out of metal. Guess I never put two and two together with the heartbeats.

[@magshdz]

2:19 I interpreted it as the same creature following you, learning things about you and the type of planet you want to see and what type of planet to mimic itself as it grows more creepy and complex. Eventually, it grows enough to disguise itself without you even knowing

[@Cataclave]

I was thinking earlier “wow game theory is gonna make a good video on this!” But you explained everything lol

[@AhamkaraMommy]

"And if you don't like it you can just return it" THE BALLS ON THIS MAN.

[@lKlynI]

Your game came out on my Birthday! I’m a huge fan of cosmic horror and had a great time experiencing it!

[@shapeswitch_mood7221]

My interpretation of the fake planets before the "habitable" one is that they are hibernating creatures. So they dont care about fancy camouflage.

[@SpookyDeadeye]

You can always come back to the game and make a enhanced edition in the future.

[@pixelchu]

That’s a really cool concept. I do see some similarity with the creature from NOPE

[@moorederodeo]

Yeah, was thinking the same thing

[@Artistic_Toaster]

This game is absolutely amazing. Im amused by the creatures and that you included dead and egg versions of the creatures. Deserves a follow.

[@aloufin]

love your aesthetic, can't wait for you to tackle your take on a roguelike

[@texasred8424]

can't believe voyager 19 was made by the endoparasitic guy

[@nemossangeomatrix6841]

I didn't come up with this myself but another idea for shifting the power could have been if you had switches for it inside your pod, so the little environment your in feels more relevant. Only interacting with the monitor really makes you feel built into to the pod which is also good, so it's just anoter idea i found interesting. If you different ways to engage with your spaceship you could also have some of them deteriorate over time like being jammed or something.

[@Odd_Bin]

That monster was really cool. But I feel that snapping turtle log just kinda ruined it. The moment I read that log I knew exactly what was going to happen. Still I really liked this game and I was even having a good time just exploring space. You make me want to get into game design/coding whatever.

[@w1nterf0x_19]

You might've figured it out, but out of 100 people, I'd say around 15 would start second guessing the same idea. The rest of us wouldn't figure it out until more clues are revealed

[@theATSthetic]

I think if the player decides to cut life support at the end-it should count as a successful playthrough (much like being eaten by the planet) Very much a dying on your own terms thing. (You could only trigger that though once the twist happens and the mimic opens up)

[@prodjacket]

Amazing game, I loved it! Space is always scary for me, so I was glad to play it. Thank you for making it

[@richardcochrun3869]

I watched a playthrough of this. Neat idea, gave me some analog horror vibes. Ultimately though, games like this feel more like an art project to click through or something rather than a game I'm playing for my entertainment. Best of luck in your future endeavors.👍🏻

[@skiesquiggles7319]

Had an incredible time with this game

[@nathanpierce7681]

this was such an amazing behind the scenes look, i thought it was meant to be some kind of space octopus, didn't think it'd be a giant version of jean jacket! also, oh my god. i'm such an idiot, i didn't realize that the pseudo planets were a. all different aliens from the one that ate us and not just the same one following us around and b. had the SAME WING OUTLINES AS THE PSEUDO EARTH. god tier foreshadowing, though most of us misinterpreted it lol didn't know the dead ones looked like that, if so, how come it showed up as a brand new planet? if it's dead, it shouldn't have somehow drifted all the way into the system we were recording. does our craft just happen to detect them each time it's about to leave for the next system? so many awesome implications, this was an amazing game to watch

[@elchicofemenino]

Glad my favorite scifi lovecraft horror made it into the video - operation lovecraft

[@M4skedBoi]

This whole game reminded me heavily of the latest episode of the LOCAL58. Job really well done, you really captured that cosmic horror-esque vibe.

[@ultraplayer6418]

*DUDE, YOUR GAME SCARED THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME. GREAT JOB.*

[@Nonexistentialism]

I really enjoyed this short little experience, and the idea of something hitching a ride on your space craft is also neat.

[@bjaarki]

Really enjoyed it. I think you do yourself a disservice saying some of the ideas were unoriginal. Cosmic horror games obviously exist but I actually thought your implementation was really interesting and could be turned into a longer, fuller game. Looking forward to whatever's next :)

[@pintsizedkiwiYT]

I saw a video about this game and didn’t even realize it was from you! You’ve outdone yourself with this one.

[@mlggamer6943]

Oh wow thats crazy Ive been a subscribed to you for a bit and I didn't even realize you were the person that made this cool ass game lll

[@patenshreve8796]

There was a now cancelled game I was helping with that had a somewhat similar monster concept. In it, one of Jupiter’s moons would have been a living creature with a fleshy interior under the surface. Jupiter itself would also have been revealed to be alive, as the Great Red Spot would act as eyelids that open and show that it’s now awake

[@OnurErtas-q1o]

Thats a Big Eye. Would be a Shame if some sentient Species would Nuke the Shit out of it...

[@raymondconstantino9283]

Just beat this game, excellent work man. I've been watching a ton of space videos on here recently and this game is exactly what I didn't know I needed! I appreciate how so soon after release you're already analysing what you could've improved or done better. Looking forward to what you do in the future and hey, maybe you could add a bunch of those improved mechanics in a Voyager-20 someday lol.

[@commmander64]

I feel like player should be alowed to survive. Fast moving by usinging your one power bar to swtich to nav and then thrusters. That being said i love the planets that are actally eggs of even more monsters. One egg planet possubly holding hundreds of world sizes predators would be terrifyingly awsome. The idea that our real earth could be surrounded by a hostile ecosystem is just amazing.

[@gamefruitgames]

I like it a lot! Always like your game style, design and ideas ! Keep it up :)

[@MarkStillPlays]

i wish there was a continuation or something similar with this

[@neves5083]

I've just played it, and i like the idea. Liked the planet creature, reminded me of the alien in "Nope". But It was such an carbon copy of Iron lung (I refer to the events like the jumscares and finding weird stuff) that it was not as scary as i thought it would be because i could already predict what was going to happen. Even when the jumpscare got me at the end, i was tense, but it just got me because it was an jumpscare. But i like it keep making more :)

[@minermemecoffee8256]

when I played and got snatched, my first thought wasnt to keep taking pictures, it was to rush to set my navigation as far away from that thing as possible and then turn power onto my engines and skedaddle to try and break the tether. Woulda been cool if that was a secondary ending

[@aestheticcur]

I sort of have my own lore these monsters. The game mentions something about creatures living their lives in different scales, like cells living within our bodies all the way up to us (I dont now to explain it well, im really tired). My theory before seeing this video and diving around was that the golfball planets were equivalent to cells just minding their own business (the first one is a dead one or something). The last monster that was encountered was a equivalent to a white blood cell. I believed it was the infinite scale of life, and that humans/aliens were a virus or something similar to a living host that is our livable universe. Idk, for some reason, this idea makes the whole thing less creepy and more explainable to me in my sleep deprived state 😅

[@beavismount]

I enjoyed it! Would have been interesting to learn more about the critter's unique anatomy during the game.

[@mors3scod3]

I really enjoyed playing this on stream! It’s an amazing take on cosmic horror and was tons of fun.

[@s11MZ11]

I love the space ghost idea

[@VaunaKiller]

I wrecked my brain in attempts to escape the thing. 🤣😭 Tried snap radio and pics very quick and launch thrusters before it snatches me. Tried to get out of its grasp by changing directions and burning thrusters. Tried to find some hints around. Damn, I would love to have alternate ending here ;) Congrats on making a cool game, I really enjoyed it

[@shehansoysa571]

Just played it! It was a spooky fun time!

[@bertcarroll1243]

Great job making the monster is actually terrifying😅 2:18

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

Honestly I love the approach you took when it came to the monster it reminds me of Jean jacket from "Nope" but on a much larger and cosmic scale as you mentioned can't wait to see what else you cook up

[@FROSTYFISHER1]

You inspire me to start working on my project again I lost inspiration on it and coming across your channel has givin me inspiration thank you

[@McCoyFromSpace]

My little brother and I played this last week! Funny spooky game, good work!

[@watsonwrote]

I really enjoyed the game! You nailed the atmosphere.

[@KevynSaksitNupiyaMichel]

8-bitRyan played it and he saw a planet with a heart beat and it turned into a thing so horrifying, that he had said he would never played it

[@masterzoroark6664]

My interpretation of the eggs was that these were juveniles that have not learned how to impersonate a planet yet. I also like the idea you had with the fins- afterall, what it could use to travel would be solar winds (unless it worls like the Wolcryn from Nightflyers [the book] which used psionics to propell itself. Psionics so powerfull that would crush human minds btw)

[@aesthetics7649]

Here’s an idea you could do all of the ideas Eldritch Horror, Supernatural, Alien and Dangerous Space Animal and maybe even more and you can have the game randomly give you a monster that you end up encountering so you have no idea what you’ll be seeing and it would also make the game replayable

[@bruhistantv9806]

And for our next contestant of cosmic eldritch abomination championship 2024, we have... Uhh... "really big flower with a fishing line that pretends to be a planet." I certainly feel this one will win due to it's originality, as well as the intrinsically comical nature of it's existence giving it just the right amount of zest, which really adds to the whole experience, a true horror delight, without the excessive fat of melodramatic nervous breakdowns and blatant reality violation. But stay tuned, folks, much more craziness will follow soon!

[@ThinkWithGames]

Congrats on the game release!

[@jellyboy8191]

This still reminds me of Sahaquiel... 1:54

[@Earthygamingarts817]

What is Sahaquiel

[@jellyboy8191]

@@Earthygamingarts817 It's an angel from the anime Evangelion search it up... It also looks like a big planet-like creature... (Mainly the one from the movie)

[@Autser1]

Frfr

[@Ultrawave231]

add a one time use repair system to fix the dead pixels, make it into a one and done type of thing.

[@petrdolezal2604]

Even tho i saw most gameplay from some video. Had to get this game for myself anyway. Watching it and expiriencing it by myself is difference. Only thing i would add, when you beat the game , option to remove display or battery decay so you can explore it more :) But great game overall. Enjoyed every minute of it.

[@HeadmostCantaloupe]

finally, the video we've all been waiting for

[@kats-wi9vn]

I read Lovecraft stories several times now and this somehow is scarier than the books by Lovecraft. Good job Also my dad is an astronomer and agreed that this is well made

[@gergomolnar2193]

You know what makes this even scarier? For any species to evolve any kind of Aggressive mimicry, especially if the 'Luring prey' type we are talking about, is taking practically one thing: the prey and the mimiced thing needs to be common and abundent enough to worth the evolutionaraly invesment. This implies that in the Voyager-19's universe, sapient space traveling civilizations are common, and 99% of them are come from earth-like planets, or at least from planets with green plantlife.

[@kramkrum3672]

This is just a barebones Iron Lung/Voices of the Void.

[@orcabeast8006]

I think this was really cool my only complaint is i found the power draining thing to take away from the horror, the way i did things (navigate, thruster, camera, then audio) made it so i only got to see the last three or four images of the planet consuming the vessel, which was still awesome and terrifying but I didn't get to see the design, I think instead of the planet opening up being on a time based thing, it should just start when the first photo is taken and then have it continually play the animation. That way it's impossible to miss that awesome design, even still I was able to understand the planet was opening up and sucking me in, I just was unable to see it unwrap which would've been terrifying. Regardless, still an amazing game and 100% going to recommend it to some friends. 9/10, truly terrifying, when the planets started having heartbeats and me struggling to read the logs and trying to piece everything together. Realizing these things mimic planets and what happened to the other crew was terrifying, I enjoyed the pacing, when I went to the last planet it was set up in a way where I knew the end was near, all the logs and encounters had been leading up to this and now it was time to face my fate. Magnificent

[@scribblgames3443]

im the guy who got scared by a planet tweening :/

[@MartyDoesStuff]

Amazing game! I really enjoyed playing and it gave me a good fright! Unfortunately, cracked copies have already started to appear online. In my personal opinion, you and future developers should start adding an anti piracy feature to every game you or they make moving forward.

[@blitzkreg335]

Bro I remember getting home at like 12 AM or something cause I had a long day of work and went to visit a friend of mine. Sat down, started playing. I was so incredibly tired that the small asteroid impact on the ship scared the absolute shit out of me.

[@andreiaxolotl5137]

My head-cannon is that this creatures feed on the metal and fuel of the ships themselves. Even if it is hollow inside, to have the surface are to mimic a PLANET still takes a lot of energy. Maybe the ansestor of this creatures used to pull in asteroids to feed on their minerals.

[@_4y4m3_ch4n_]

The final planet opening up reminds me of how you can turn a sphere inside out (which is possible, there's a video of it somewhere in here)

[@CharemTheShadox]

I'm curious, are there easter eggs to find in this game? If I recall, Iron Lung had the required photographs, but you could with some real cleverness figure out additional things to photograph and see that were not part of the objectives and that you had to blindly move and rotate around to discover. Considering the vastness of a space environment, I wonder if there could be anything to find off the beaten path of your obvious nav points in this game?

[@Zanophane_Gaming]

this guy has been making BANGERS after BANGERS

[@SwankemasterSupreme]

Bro looks like Orgalorg from Adventure Time.

[@TamTroll]

thanks for the view on what the creature looked like in full! i was honestly unsure on what it was supposed to look like or what it was doing during the ending there. For what it's worth, i understood that they were a dead creature and several different eggs.

[@TheEnergizingbunny]

I counted the aforementioned dead creature and several eggs, then there was the "???" one that acts like the new neighbor with a habit of photobombing your pictures of gas giants (like a curious and mischievous adolescent), then the adult one that had just finished laying an egg and hibernated when you arrived (the system map shows them right next to each other), and finally the active one disguised as a habitable world.

[@jessecrafts2630]

I told my older brother about this game and when I brought up how the monster uses agreesive mimicry and how it's camouflage for predators he freaked out, thinking it meant the "Planet" was hiding from something, he did calm down when I explained how aggressive mimicry works but the thought of those planets having a predator is scary

[@spidey5558]

My interpretation of the "eggs" is that they are just the default form of the planet mimic.

[@fnafworldfredbear1492]

I'd like to see a 'child' mimic planet

[@auramaster2068]

The existence of the planet mimics implies that there must be a lot of space fairing aliens out there for them to get enough food

[@K3nshin23]

should add something when people go further to the map, because I bet people would try say "oh what would happen if I go to the edge of the map"

[@AngelinaAlejandre-mv6od]

I just want to say voyager 19 is incredible and as someone who loves cosmic horror [I do like hellstar remina] I really think this game you is amazing. I hope you'll be able to make more games like this but if you want to make something else then that's ok and most importantly take ALL the time you need making games is a lot of work and I bet you have other things to do in your life so in all I hope you have a great day 👍♥️

[@PoLygon05]

This guy always cook 🗣️🔥🔥🔥

[@ErtuldSuom]

If there was a game like this with no end and randomly generated planets and stars would be real cool to see

[@internetuser320]

These planet reminded me of Gunther (the cosmic form Gunther) on adventure time

[@goosifyed9717]

"space cthulu" "too unoriginal" "ghosts in space" "still to unoriginal" "the planet is a mimic." "sure why not"

[@HikidyMapping]

if there a corpse of the mimic then that means that there is a way to defeat it which makes the monster a little less scary

[@roaringbeardragon4531]

Based on how the corpse looks I think it just starved, and alternitivley it implies the existence of something that could kill such a thing at all

[@RepostGuy101]

looks like it starved or died of old age

[@camera9024]

There should be an escape ending where u make it back to the real Earth and tell us fellow Earthlings we aren’t alone.

[@seantaggart7382]

*then it follows*

[@thearjibarji9873]

Fun Fact you can actually reflect bullets by slashing at them and you can reflect them back at the shooter

[@PowerPointGaming]

Yay, manmade horrors within our comprehension!

[@baitposter]

Re: Space travel controls: consider The Banished Vault. The maps used in TBV are based on delta-V charts. We've seen more than enough games with aircraft controls in space.

[@TheMysteryMan-wt9lx]

What if you took this concept and made it where you were apart of some sort of space force and it was your job to identify the living planets so it was about using any info possible to identify but you needed to be careful or you die

[@justinmenorca5097]

I really want origins to the Earth sized alien predator.

[@borstenpinsel]

Nice. Seen a play through recently and new KZbin actually puts your video on my feed. Short and concise, interesting points and takeaways and a really unique game. You kinda spoiled it yourself but i might still grab it and play it in a few months or so (or never, looking at my steam library...). I subbed , looking forward to video content as well as new games. This is very refreshing. Can't wait to see what you can come up with in the future