Nanda // Star Banner Games

DEVLOG #0 // Who? What? Why? // My Game // Disjointed Rambling

Who? What? Why?

Hey there! I'm Nanda and I'm an Indie Game Developer currently working on my first Steam Release, Abyss of Kings. I'm in the early phases of building up the marketing for the game and recently saw this devlog from Wandermarch. For some reason it really inspired me to do something similar. I'm not the kind of person to read blogs or devlogs unless its a coding tutorial, but I always have a lot swarming on my mind that i'd like to share. In future entries, I want to talk about progress on my game, ideas and feelings i have about games/creativity and maaybe even some tutorials, as I create a lot of custom tools to extend unity and there don't seem to be many resources about it out there.

My Game - Abyss of Kings

Dark Corridor Abyss of Kings is a dark fantasy Action-Adventure about exploring forgotten caverns and fighting sentient chess pieces. It's main inspirations include Zelda, Dark Souls, Lunacid, Dungeons of Blood and Dream as well as Vermis and Berserk. Another massive influence on the game comes from Dungeon Synth music, especially the works of Jim Kirkwood, Atlantean Sword and Quest Master. I want to heavily focus on exploration, atmosphere and the unique combat mechanics involving the chess pieces. While I'm not the best writer, I have always wanted to make games with a strong narrative aspect. Even if it turns out silly or a bit generic, I really want to tell a full story, start to finish, and hopefully learn some lessons along the way.

Originally the game was made for the Black & White Jam in 2023. You can play that version here. I've been expanding on it in my spare time, though I was also juggling that with other personal projects. In 2024 I finally decided to make this my main project and stick with it until its out on steam. Earlier this year, I made the extremely responsible choice of quitting my job, moving to a different country and using my savings to make this thing full-time. Whether I will regret that remains to be seen, but I've been blessed with finding a new home in a co-living space full of fellow gamedevs, who have been nothing but kind, supportive and really damn talented. I am also extremely grateful to have found Narbaiz, who has been working on an original soundtrack for the game, which really just elevates it much further than I could do with free-use or licensed music.

Current Progress

So... how is the game coming along? I've been working fulltime for roughly 4 months now. The first areas are taking shape and a lot of the core mechanics are there, if unpolished. A lot of time went into a custom level editor, which thankfully works pretty well at speeding up my workflow and is continously being updated. I'm trying to get a steam page up as soons as i can, but admin stuff is holding that up at the moment. I am also aiming for a demo sometime next year, which will hopefully encompass the first 3 areas of the game.

Links & Stuff

Feedback, Comments & Questions encouraged! :]