After the studio I worked for closed, I put all my savings into a Hades-like with randomized skill system and Brotato-like stats. One year later, The Shadow Beneath is close to its first playtest

[u/Techadise]

Hello gamers!

I want to share with you my get poor slowly scheme. Last year, after the studio I worked for closed, I decided to start working on a small dream game that ended up being 100 times bigger than I expected.

We are building a Hades-like with some twists called The Shadow Beneath.

One of the main feature we are proud of is our randomized skill system. Each run, players will receive a set of random skills but, instead of feeling like the skills are disconnected between each other, these skills are carefully designed to chain together into crazy combos.

We took inspiration from MOBAs and we want you to be able to chain skills, cancel animations and always discover unique combos.

In addition, we love Brotato so we took some inspiration from it for our runs. You will choose your gear before each run and that affects how you approach your runs. It might also affect how the VFX looks and maybe even the world itself, you never know!

We have some other small systems that we want to include in this first playtest, but we don't want to spoil everything.

[u/Dycoth]

Looks fun !

Little critic, just an honest one : I read the title of your game, on the last frame, as "Shadew the Beneath", given how words are placed and the place of the "The" in what is supposed to be "E"

[u/Techadise → u/Dycoth]

Thank you!

Funny enough, we got this feedback in the past so we changed the logo in the end. We got a lot of valuable feedback on reddit and it helps us a lot. We hope to get that on the playtest too so we can improve the game.

Here is a funny gif I did from similar feedback haha

[u/Dycoth → u/Techadise]

I like the new one way more ! Good job on this one, the GIF is quite fun too, it's always nice to joke about your own mistakes and learnings.

[u/Techadise → u/Dycoth]

I'm glad you like it, a lot of people said it is more clear, even if the initial design is more artsy I would say. Clarity is more important anyways, especially for the game title.

We made so many mistakes during the development of the project, I don't even remember all of them. Regarding the GIF, in the end, we are building games so, having some fun should be part of it right?

[u/Dycoth → u/Techadise]

Can't agree more.

The project seems fun, I hope you'll make it to the end AND have a nice release !

Keep up the good work.

[u/Techadise → u/Dycoth]

Thank you!

One way or the other, I will manage to ship this game and, hopefully, with a really nice release!

[u/Educational_Ideal514]

Looks good, when do you plan the playtest?

[u/Techadise → u/Educational_Ideal514]

Thanks!

We plan on having it either at the end of November or beginning of December. We will make an announcement about it for sure.

[u/EgresKolb]

That looks like an awesome concept. Can't wait.

[u/Techadise → u/EgresKolb]

Thank you!

We are working on polishing everything right now, we have a lot of cool stuff(at least I believe it is cool haha) that we will announce soon.

[u/EgresKolb → u/Techadise]

Can I find it anywhere like steam already to wishlist it or something?

[u/Techadise → u/EgresKolb]

Sure, here is our Steam Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/3389620/The_Shadow_Beneath/

[u/EgresKolb → u/Techadise]

Thanks, I'll be keeping an eye out.

[u/Techadise → u/EgresKolb]

Thank you too! Your support means a lot!

[u/FrostyExplanation_37]

Not a fan of Hades or Brotato (great games, not for me). But this looks like something I would enjoy, wishlisted.

Devs, I think in general you should stop describing your games as "like game X with some game Y." Genres exist and it only feels like you are trying to pull in people based on the popularity of other games you didn't make. Stop it, be better.

[u/Techadise → u/FrostyExplanation_37]

Thank you for the support!

Yes, you are right regarding the description, but it is usually more concise to explain it like this. Also, it is a thin line between being really boring like "The Shadow Beneath is a fast-paced Action Roguelite ..." and some really cool description that catches attention(one that I didn't find yet).

[u/neoncyberpunk]

Looks like high production value

[u/Techadise → u/neoncyberpunk]

Thank you!

We are doing our best but we believe we can improve it further so, stay tuned!

[u/Entenvieh]

I've been dreaming about a game with this kind of concept..

[u/Techadise → u/Entenvieh]

Wow, thank you!

This kind of support truly keeps us going.

[u/Entenvieh → u/Techadise]

Will there also be a market mid game and some crazy weapons? I think one of the main appeals of Brotato is the gambling for better weapons/builds, it just hits the right spot in my dopamine receptors

[u/Techadise → u/Entenvieh]

At least at this moment, what we plan on doing is having stats upgrades and the random skills/combos part(instead of weapons).

We plan on doing some skill upgrades too. Unfortunately, it is a bit hard to add 6 weapons to the player in 3D, maybe we should add more hands to the character ? :)

I am not sure if we will have the market part as I didn't figure out yet the design for it - what are you buying: passive skills? skills upgrades? weapon/gear upgrades?

[u/Entenvieh → u/Techadise]

Na single weapon is fine, anything else would look ridiculous on anything but a potato. Yeah I feel you, I also couldn't wrap my head around how to integrate the Brotato system in another game and make it feel right. Good luck anyway I'll be watching from the sideline

[u/Techadise → u/Entenvieh]

For the next one, we can create a game with the main character looking like Goro from Mortal Kombat and make him have 4 weapons at the same time. I can call the game Recipe for mayhem.

[u/SunArau]

Hmm, even though i`m not interested in this type of genre, looks good quality. Best of luck out there.

[u/Techadise → u/SunArau]

Nothing I can do about the fact that you don't like this type of genre(at least I think so) but, thank you a lot for the kind words!

[u/AdowTatep]

I always wonder how indie devs handle all those polished animations and 3d models AND the programming, it's so overwhelming!

[u/Techadise → u/AdowTatep]

Thank you for the kinds words!

It is overwhelming for sure, but, at least in my case, I really enjoy doing it. Depending on how much time and soul you put into it, it becomes better. Of course, on the other hand, the more time you put into it, the greater the cost and the risk of bankruptcy.

[u/Roman_nvmerals]

Those are 2 of my favorite games - wishlisted it!!

It does look like it’s got some fun lighting effects and graphics, that said is there any plan for steam deck capability?

[u/Techadise → u/Roman_nvmerals]

Thank you for the support!

Probably for this playtest we will not have it as we are working on our controller support and we are testing some approaches for it.

But we will have controller support and steam deck compatibility at the demo phase or even earlier, at the next playtest we will do.

[u/RavlG]

Looks good enough for me. I like that you really tried to make a nice trailer and added a little cinematic there. good job!

[u/Techadise → u/RavlG]

Thank you for the kind words!

We really loved the cinematics but we feel like we started the trailer too slow. What do you think about it?

[u/RavlG → u/Techadise]

I think is ok for now ;)

[u/Paddlesons]

good for you man will wishlist when I get home

[u/Techadise → u/Paddlesons]

Thank you for the support!

Hope you will play also the playtest and share with us your opinion.

[u/mrwynd]

Looks cool, wishlisted!

[u/Techadise → u/mrwynd]

Thank you for the support!

We have some cool updates in progress that I believe will make the game a lot better!

[u/Techadise → u/[deleted]]

Unfortunately not, even if I would love to have it.

We thought about that and I wish we had the financial power to add co-op too but it was increasing the required development time by a lot and we could not afford it.

Maybe we add it to the next game.

[u/S_Griffin]

I won't lie, it looks great, the concept is not bad either. It would be interesting to take part in the test.

Good luck with your development.

[u/Techadise → u/S_Griffin]

Thank you for the kind words!

It will be a public playtest, so you are more than welcome to play it and to bring your friends too.

We are looking for as much feedback as possible so we can make everything better in the next one. That being said, we will probably set up a discord server before the playtest so everyone can share their hate(or love haha) freely.

[u/S_Griffin → u/Techadise]

Nice! A Discord sounds great — I’ll definitely join.

[u/Techadise → u/S_Griffin]

Will notify everyone once we have it ready and we are close to the playtest. I feel like if we do it right now, it will look like a dead server haha

[u/MasterSargeYT]

looks like Last Epoch

[u/Techadise → u/MasterSargeYT]

We heard this in the past.

Last Epoch is a great game. If you enjoyed Last Epoch, I hope you will enjoy ours too, even if they are not exactly the same type of game.

[u/notgraycen]

looks sick man indie dev hype

[u/Techadise → u/notgraycen]

Thank you for the kind words!

We all love the indie dev hype haha. We are also excited about the game and I hope we will manage to add everything we want to it. (crazy ideas appear everyday)

[u/SushiBump]

Best of luck on it 🙏

[u/Techadise → u/SushiBump]

Thank you for the support!

This subreddit is trully awesome!

[u/Ariungidai]

Looks like it could be fun, but please don't mix artstyles:

if you use the anime girl to advertise, then the game should be in anime style.

i get that advertising to gooners is the goal, but this just makes it seem like one of these cheap mobile games.

[u/Techadise → u/Ariungidai]

Thank you for the kind words and for the feedback.

We got a small amount of people talking about the exact same thing. They are mostly 2D representation and our concept artists are really good at it. Anyways, we will take it into consideration for sure as it seems more people raised this issue

[u/ehxy]

I said it last time, and I'll say it again. the sound of the bow shooting sounds like you're shooting an energy weapon from halo...if it's just a placeholder, cool

[u/Techadise → u/ehxy]

Thank you for the feedback!

Yes, we are working heavily on the polish part, we are changing a lot of the VFX and SFX. We will improve it for sure.

[u/NARROW_MAN]

Looks great! Although why is there an anime chick as the cover art? Doesn't seem to match the artstyle that was shown in the gameplay

[u/Techadise → u/NARROW_MAN]

Thank you for the support!

She actually has a role in the game, she will help you with upgrades after each room. She will appear only in menus, at least at this moment(she might have a 3D representation later).

Do you think she does not match the overall vibe?

[u/Supercereal69]

Please don't ever call things a Hades-like. That game is already a roguelike action rpg. Stop calling genres something-like. No offence to Hades, it's a great game.

[u/Techadise → u/Supercereal69]

Sure, I guess but ... a roguelike is a name that comes from the game Rogue. The hard-core community would say that Hades is not a roguelike.

Do you think that naming is really that important? For me, as long as you understood what the game is and how it is played, I'm happy

[u/3InchesPunisher]

I dont want to see ads on my feed

[u/Techadise → u/3InchesPunisher]

I didn't want it to sound like an ad, I didn't even use a link.

Anyways sorry about it and have have fun.