I Released a Demo For My Game... Players Immediately Broke It

Wishlist SINGULARIUM on Steam - store.steampowered.com/app/26...
Been a while since the last devlog! In that time I'vebeen working a lot on improving my game, plus I released a demo!
Support me on Patreon (and get access to early builds of SINGULARIUM) - / nivmizgames
Join my Discord - / discord
Play my games: nivmizzer.itch.io/
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:25 - Making the Demo
1:24 - Releasing the Demo
1:51 - The Gamedev Hydra
2:57 - The Aftermath
3:22 - Final Content
Funny paragraph you can ignore:
This is a devlog (DEVLOG) that's also a Video essay about lasers or LASERS CHALLENGE similar to mr beast or MR BEAST last video. The game is about black holes and is a Movement Shooter like Karlson or KARLSON (by dani). It's made in unity, like among us (AMONG US) and has been in development for 6 MONTHS. It is first person like minecraft (MINECRAFT).
#GameDev #devlog #essay #IndieDev #Unity #Unity3D #videoessay

[@outlawkaz6715]

I think the wall-run sound seems a bit loud or too much bass behind it. You're a nimble dude using black holes to fly through the air. The sounds of heavy stomps seems out of place. Just my opinion tho and with music and other sounds it might be leveled out more. You could also try different wall-run sounds for different surfaces. Running on the glass with a more tapping sound in the city vs running on the "Tron like" walls with a static or electric sound in the other level. You already put a lot of work into it and I don't want to overcomplicate things too much if you consider my feedback. Keep up the awesome work.

[@randomlittleidot]

you made an entire paragraph on someone running on walls and honestly i couldn’t agree more

[@LuckyLuckLuc]

I second this

[@nivmiz0]

I'll take it into account, thanks for the feedback!

[@Cherrypizzasquad]

I third this

[@Cratermus]

I fourth this

[@RepugnantWorm]

Finally, _audio!_

[@nivmiz0]

The long awaited secret feature

[@SolTheIdiot]

The _super secret_ settings ​@@nivmiz0

[@og.K7]

i appreciate the humility you have, it's always super important to not take criticism, even if its harsh, personally, and it's refreshing to see you be objective and use all of the feedback to help the game. good luck with your game :)

[@nivmiz0]

Thank you so much!

[@darkfire_ninja]

I think it might be cool if you can place white holes which push you away instead of pulling you in. Maybe you can place them with right click instead of left... The reason why i think this would be cool is because if you are facing the opposite direction to where you would need to place a black hole, you could just place a white hole and not need to turn. It would also be a sick mechanic if the black hole and white holes had their own seperate short cooldowns, because then the most effective way to gain momentum would be to place a black hole, turn around then place white hole, turn back around and place a black hole, etc. I think that mechanic would be cool Edit: Also i realy enjoy your videos NivMiz. And your game is looking great so far

[@5omebody]

speedruns would be pretty disorienting to watch though

[@genericperson4753]

S P E E N

[@fluffy7358]

@@5omebodyImagine a TAS of this. Speedrunning Epilepsy.

[@equinox-XVI]

I like the idea, but what if black holes and white holes shared the same "cooldown" (basically none) but ONLY 1 can exist at a time. That way it feels like more of a conscious choice to pick which one you want to use at a certain moment. There could also be a funny achievement for pressing both buttons at the same time and spawning a "grey hole", which does nothing. The achievement would be called, "What did you expect to happen?" or something like that.

[@yourfather8865]

I think when the sounds of the black hole is finished, it'll make it so much more satisfying

[@LuckyLuckLuc]

We do hate the game true true that's why we have been speedran so much at launch

[@nivmiz0]

You've got to REALLY hate a game to have like 20 hours on it's demo

[@qasn]

I only have 16 😢@@nivmiz0

[@SolTheIdiot]

​@@nivmiz0that's how you can figure out if you hate it not, totally

[@TheTrueUnknownCoder]

It would be cool if there are others black holes in the level by default They can be used either for shortcuts (like whormholes) or they can used as an obstacle that pulls things around including the player of course but also blackholes, that can add some difficulty cause the only way out is to win enough speed using blackholes before they got sucked in and pull yourself out (or u can just find another use if u liked the idea ; ))

[@dumaass]

Agreed. Banger idea.

[@darkfire_ninja]

yeah, this sounds cool. Maybe the already place black holes can have a specific color or amount of pulling you in, so they are more special then the black holes you can place.

[@i_cam]

Black holes are cool Placing black hole needs a cool sound See “outer wilds” for example of cool sound (there are many others too but basically it has to give distorting reality while not being too long either)

[@nivmiz0]

Oh yeah I'm planning a cool sound for black holes. The reason it didn't appear in the video is because I want it to be perfect, and I'm not done with it yet haha

[@Hack--rz1io]

I'll make sure to record sound for the next vid ^^

[@RobiCsontos-bt5tw]

Great video. The game you are making is amzing, can't wait.

[@nivmiz0]

Thank you so much!

[@gooseinatuxedo]

we really got clickbaited, video was more empty than the game

[@-Singularity-]

This is the first time I’ve ever seen your channel/ this game, but it’s an awesome concept! Good luck!

[@BigLum]

Me when a devlog comes out :yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe yippe

[@D100RandomEncounter]

99 little bugs in the game, 99 little bugs, You pick one, You fix one, 106 little bugs

[@ClyveProductions343]

Good luck with your game! :D

[@XeroShifter]

One way you can solve the cheesing issue is by putting in check points which keep the pollution height ceiling low until you touch them, effectively unlocking the ability to place the black holes higher and higher as you go. You could have them be fancy air filters if you wanted to keep the current theme. Also you don't have to entirely turn off black hole generation to make it worth doing the unlocks, you could do things like have them be smaller/less strong, have less placement range, longer cool down, etc, while placed in the pollution. Edit: You also could do something to add secondary goals to a level that might add a lot of replayability/optimization room for people, like the strawberries from Celeste. The strawberries are typically placed in challenging locations to get to, and allow people to speed run the game for absolute speed, but also speed run with 100% strawberries for the level. While your level design doesn't yet allow for a ton of challenging placement locations, placing them in various places still allows people to route for them in levels like the city. I feel like some sort of collectable being added like this could add a lot to the game for minimal development investment.

[@darkfire_ninja]

I fully agree

[@jeffie_pie5340]

I think it will be interesting (perhaps at a later date) to eventually be able to upload your own music to the background of custom levels

[@AngryecksButActually]

Very exiting, I’d suggest light wind sfx though for when you’re going really fast!

[@drishtantbehera9520]

Added to my wishlist. U earned it (:

[@nivmiz0]

Really appreciate it!

[@GooMain]

Just an idea, but what if for a update, maybe White holes? Black holes attact, white holes repel, and combining a white hole and black hole makes an explosion that makes you go very fast in a direction, at the cost of your sight for a few seconds.(Aka: like a flashbang) I did mean not* to wright a whole paragraph jeez.💀 Also i feel like probably somebody already mentioned this. Like Deja vu.

[@darkfire_ninja]

yea, me and a few others did

[@GooMain]

@@darkfire_ninja k 👍

[@user-xw4gn7do9x]

I’m probably much more of a bystander in the development of this game than other people in this comment section, but I would like to propose an idea. Black holes bend the movement of everything, especially light, so what if some lasers could be bent by black holes, maybe they could be a different color, idk. It could probably work by giving their start position a camera to look in the direction of the laser and find the trajectory (idk spelling) of the view it sees, or using a ray cast taking the black hole effects into how it moves. I am not a 3D game developer, and I don’t know how these things work. I just think it would be a cool idea (especially with pre-placed black holes in levels, not insinuating they will be used). This may or may not work, it’s just fun to think about!

[@user-xw4gn7do9x]

Holy moly I made that too long…

[@WolfRaven-jm1cm]

1:11 That's not how pollution works but whatever man; it's your game

[@Circle_boi]

Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:25 - Making the Demo 1:24 - Releasing the Demo 1:51 - The Gamedev Hydra 2:57 - The Aftermath 3:22 - Final Content

[@biphonic]

yooo lets go new upload

[@equalibrius8691]

instead of the black hole appearing out of no where i feel like it would be really cool to have some sort of animation to deploy it

[@nivmiz0]

It actually does have a little growing animation! Might be a little hard to see in the footage but it's definitely noticeable in-game

[@adicsbtw]

I think audio and audio design is probably the single most overlooked part of game design, both by players and devs. It's something you don't really think about, but if it's not there, or not done well, it stands out like a sore thumb. When you're developing a game, it's really easy to overlook until late in development, because your focus is mainly on the gameplay and mechanics, with things like audio design being placed in the "polish" category at the very end of everything else in the checklist

[@darkfire_ninja]

Great design(including particles), ambience, atmosphere, and audio, are important. But will go unnoticed and wont be appreciated unless they have a good base(which would be gameplay and mechanics). So I think it is more important to first make and focus on the gameplay and mechanics, then make the design, ambience and atmosphere of the game.

[@adicsbtw]

@@darkfire_ninja of course, but they're also a thing that can be easy to forget about until they're not there

[@glitchedgamerz]

When you get the chance, there should be a black hole spawn sound effect.

[@spark9189]

just played the demo. my biggest criticism is that some of the levels (a5 in particular) are way too open and it's difficult to find the end. aside from that, it's really fun

[@robocem256]

Nivmiz, remember when I said you could add a white hole mechanic? You said you could try adding it. I want to know what will you do with my idea :).

[@nivmiz0]

I've gotten that suggestion quite a lot! It's conceptually not a bad idea, but I've tried it and it's just not really fun to have to turn around backwards to boost yourself, or to look down to go higher. I might do something with it in the final game, but at the moment it's not in the works. Sorry about that!

[@robocem256]

Ok, thanks for letting me know!

[@idontcare4875]

Just a quick idea, for when you're more into the game. You could make it so that you could replay previous levels with modifiers once you've beaten the main game to add more replayability. You could have stuff like no wallrunning, stronger black holes, or even make the levels upside down. Just remember to not overload yourself with features so you don't get burnt out!

[@Particular-Player]

Some feedback on the sewer levels, add some sewer related obsacls, because right now it just looks like a box with hexagons on it

[@Themasterofkeys.]

2:06 bug fixing frenzy-BFF

[@ChrisDaGamer]

I feel to make the lore fit better you should make the fog more intense as you rise, and instead of just completely blocking black hole placement, make the black holes that do get placed less effective the higher you get and stopping placement all-together at a point pretty far in. ( could also be useful as a mechanic in future levels where you have to gain a bunch of momentum to get over a wall that is above the limit or something I'm not thinking of :D )

[@nivmiz0]

Thanks for the suggestions! There are some particles to show the intensity of the smog when you're high up, and the reason I totally limit black holes is because to me it was the most intuitive and readable solution I tried a few approaches, including what you suggested, but in the end the simplest one seemed most effective

[@ITR]

I would recommend setting up a build&publish script that handles uploading the correct build automatically.

[@armedpotato3617]

I think the opening of black holes needs a sort of whooshing sound, maybe a bit subtle since it is something you will be doing a lot.

[@blackwulf1830]

It would be epic if there were streets with cars on the ground for the city

[@FloopieWorld]

this game looks so good! dont worry i wishlisted it

[@nivmiz0]

Ayyy thanks a lot

[@FloopieWorld]

@@nivmiz0 no problem. i was looking for a cool speedrunning game like dis

[@44Hd22]

Do the black holes kill you? Maybe you can make them grow or absorb stuff if you add enemies. Also white holes could be added in some way. Maybe like as a part of the map or as a checkpoint. Maybe you can add puzzle elements as like mobility puzzles but doing that correctly seems very hard.

[@wooloobutbrave9151]

Let us make custom sounf effects!

[@g1gglebug]

the wallrun sound should be different depending on the material youre running on

[@mr_null1]

Yay! Finally

[@nivmiz0]

Agreed!

[@LzeniX]

The Way to Get Better at thing is to listen what wrong to learn and improved from the mistake

[@probierer7184]

Please make the ceiling and the floor have a different design than the walls.

[@heyer777]

player character never skipped leg day 💀

[@zskull162]

I think that you need some wind rushing by sounds, that get more intense with speed. And the black holes should emit a low droning sound, maybe with some doppler effect as well

[@nivmiz0]

There actually are some wind rushing sounds! I also included them in the clip I played but maybe they're not loud enough. I'm definitely planning on adding a black hole sound!

[@zskull162]

@@nivmiz0 Ah okay, yeah I think the wind should definitely be louder then. Besides that it’s just the footsteps, but I already see comments about that

What are the familiar mistakes? I understand you well when you are working so hard and you no longer have the strength to even test yourself. I have released game too, maybe someone likes the roguelike) Link in profile, if you want. Wishlist's wery important

[@MonsterJuiced]

Audio is often 50% of the entire experience.

[@spygun21]

It's dev logging time

[@spygun21]

Also, I can't wait for the level editor

[@nivmiz0]

Bout time!

[@KittenKatja]

At least you didn't code in Java, because that Hydra reproduces 10 heads, not just 2.

[@hendra_winata13]

Really nice and addictive game !! By the way, do you have any suggestion how to make demo from full game build? Thank you very much!

[@nivmiz0]

Thanks for your kind words! If you're asking about how you decide what to put in your game's demo, my advice would be to look at the full planned extent of your game (eg. How long it is, what features you want it to have) and take a fraction of that that you feel shows off what your game can offer. You generally want to aim for 10 minutes to 1 hour of gameplay, depending on how long the full game will be. Good luck!

[@hendra_winata13]

@@nivmiz0 Thank you very much for the advice. Yeah i still ongoing with my project and i am curious about how to make a Demo. Do you delete some content and build it just for Demo or use source control to do so? Or any other things you suggest? I am a little bit confused about that. Once again, thank you so much for the reply. Wish all the best for your games !! Cheers!

[@axospyeyes281]

I feel like there are a bit few steps when wallrunning how long are this person's legs?? also, how do they jump off the wall without making a step? (there's no step sound when jumping off of a wall) otherwise amazing! love following this

[@christopherrogers532]

lol programming in a nutshell. Many OOPS and Bug Replication moments. :)

[@mateush.]

i know that technically black holes don’t have sound since they absorb everything, but i think it’d be cool if whenever you get close to one, the sound gets a little distorted. maybe the pitch of the environment oscillates, idk just an idea :)

[@nivmiz0]

It's in the works right now! I definitely want the sound for the black hole to be satisfying, as you'll be hearing it all the time haha

[@Fexxis_]

that’s cool and all but i swear i heard that song in a minecraft timelapse

[@carbonbeaker409]

I've been challenging myself to complete the demo in as few black holes as possible. Iirc I got it done in around 6 last time I made a serious attempt.

[@nivmiz0]

That's super cool! I wonder what the minimum will be in the final game haha

[@hellcatanalian]

Well such mistakes are something that is guaranteed when coding anything specially games. The good thing is that the people who played the demo found them, told you and you managed to fix them. keep up the good work 👊

[@nivmiz0]

Absolutely! Fixing issues that come.up is part of the process

[@user-vf6qe4mk2v]

its sooooo fun i got b -3 in 10 sec!

[@litterbox019]

time to make bloodbath in singularium

[@nivmiz0]

Tidal wave Singularium edition

[@litterbox019]

@@nivmiz0 wtf based and dash pilled

[@user-xw4gn7do9x]

Honestly, a gd level with black hole you make could be possible with rotate triggers and advanced move, aswell as two player mode using touch trigger maybe.

[@Fredrick_Turner]

Gotta release a mode thats open world with no timer or end goal but you can get points for going fast for long periods of time. I just really wanna fly around fast You can call it a practice mode if u wanna

[@user-ws6be9yi7z]

when the full game is out is it free or priced

[@jgtb0pl]

-demo- open alpha

[@glitchydust4015]

The wall-run sound is not that great. I feel like it's like walking on grass. this might need an higher pitch and smaller sound. also you might need 3-4 differents "walk" sound that is picked at random everytime the sound is trigger, this trick the mind that it's always a new sound and feels way better. This game seems repetitive enough so you can make a lot of random sound to eliminate a lot of "repetition" inside the sound design. I love making sound for my game.

[@Mr.Masked.]

People should just be happy with what they try

[@ExzaktVid]

2 DAYS???

[@batbade1]

Yippeee!!!

[@liammcgovern5027]

could you add a setting to downgrade the graphics to the state that it was prior to the update

[@coffeecatdrinks7455]

im gonna break this game :D also gl its a good game

[@oscarguzman3017]

Are you the dragon mage, Niv Mizzet?

[@That_one_guy_gtag]

i think you need to add graphics settings

[@Doggykh]

how does thin air and pollution stop black holes from forming?

[@nivmiz0]

I'll tell you what the lore in the game is mostly implied so nothing very concrete like cutscenes or whatever. My official explanation is that the difficulty breathing when you're so high up taxes your body, and the black hole ability is a physical skill, so when breathing is hard you have trouble conjuring a black hole. That's my explanation, but come up with whatever headcannon you like haha

[@Doggykh]

@@nivmiz0 oh ok

[@pinkfluffyunicornishotaf]

would it be available native on linux?

[@nivmiz0]

I'm planning on it!

[@dream4sy]

What's the name of the VSCode Theme? 😅

[@nivmiz0]

It's the JetBrains Rider theme! The poor man's JetBrains lol

[@dream4sy]

@@nivmiz0 Thanks!

[@LordYvain]

I know that saying this is offensive but i mean it in a good heart. please make some interesting environments. (just wishlisted)

[@MCB_2]

Those sfx sound unnatural

[@commi5987]

What about the music?

[@nivmiz0]

Working on it!

[@TheKingdomOfAldenburg]

Your voice sounds a lot like Yanderedev tbh.

[@nivmiz0]

Oh god no 😭

[@SUNG0DRA]

you speak every sentence like its a mr beast intro

[@nivmiz0]

I'm honestly not sure if this is a compliment or not but sure I'll take it as one lol

[@SUNG0DRA]

@@nivmiz0no it was a personal attack

[@Cratermus]

@@SUNG0DRA Damn, who hurt you? 🤣

[@bignosh]

The levels look really bland and have no decor. Other speed games balance this out with props or having pretty graphics but so far the game doesn’t have that. I’d also recommend closing up the city level a lot more more, like maybe the city is on lock down or something and so lasers block off paths, it could lead to the few shortcuts on the city levels feeling much more rewarding then “oh theres a giant hole here that cuts through to the path again, i should take that route.l

[@Thisisdcode]

Me no join in discord cuz u prob turn off notif to avoid hate. But hello i am here on your notif to tell you w h e r e s o u n d

[@jacobandmichellebolton1348]

Make it for Xbox pls

[@Popirby]

Don't have steam or a pc so I can't play and this comment is me just yammering on about stupid ideas lol I thought other movement based abilities would be fun to use like a force push u might see in star wars and basics like dash maybe idk while more experience grants harder to control but more fun ability's over all it looks easy all you do is point and click and u kinda just fly around it would be fun if the black holes could affect the environment like props and junk also screw around with gravity on the map maybe some places have less gravity and some more idk it would be fun to race ppl in the game as u can use the abilities to slow down or even kill players and bring ur self to the first place and maybe have some sort of pressure to encourage players to go fast and unsafe like a flood or corruption all in all my brain is dumping bad ideas AwaouaWah

[@musemeghini]

Dude the game looks very promissing, but the sound effects you showed at the end are terrible I'm sorry. It needs to be more satisfying and maybe have some pitch variations. Now it kinda sounds like someone tapping a mic when the ball hits a wall

[@nivmiz0]

I'll take it into account, thanks for the feedback!

[@subscheme]

finally!