Context

So... I got this idea I wanted to develop for a while.

Back in the early 2000's, I was already enjoying the very first Fallout game. A few years later, I was absolutely stunned by Deus Ex, the way it worked, the way the story started like many action stories to evolve into philosophical debates about society, boomer conspiracies and politics. Around the same era, I was also trying to tinker some "games" with a tool called 3D Games Creator (or DarkBasic) which was, as the name implies, a 3D Engine and IDE to make games with a variant of BASIC, on top of DirectX 7 or 8.

I wasn't very good at it (I was 11, a bit more proficient with The Games Factory and DOS' Batch, but not actual game programming), but at some point, thought: what if I tried to merge the two, Fallout and Deus EX? I managed to put together a sandy terrain, a weapon on screen and basic movement, and there it started. Kind of. I started talking about it and some people got interested. Had amazing concept and 3D artists (hello MacDuff and Agarix, if you read me here).

But it was a pain in the ass to even import simple 3DSMax asset (yeah, artists rejected Blender quite heavily at the time) into DarkBasic Pro. Eventually, the idea of this "Fallout 3D" evolved into a community project called "Misleading Lands" (my idea, a dumb name, but anyway) and you can find some bits of it on the Internet.

I eventually lost interest in the project, which was way more too ambitious for a team of amateurs on the Web 1.0. Since then, I became a professional developer (backend, not game dev) and did some C++/SDL/SFML, as well as small Rust projects.

So, what is this bullshit all about?

Synopsis

I will be building an Immersive sim, using this project page as a devlog to share ideas, game design insights. I will use AI for placeholder graphics, sounds, musics, as well as to implement game mechanics. All the game design and writing will be done by myself, since this is something that I love to do.

The theme of this prototype isn't strictly defined yet. I was thinking of a post-apocalyptic setting, and I got a fairly precise idea about exact geography, locations and lore, but I will focus on building actual gameplay and tech :)

I will be using the following tech and tools:

- Rust and Bevy; I like the IDE-centric philosophy and I'm not too much into Game Editor-centric frameworks. I also like ECS, I know it has well-deserved backlash, but I genuinely like the decoupling and re-usable component approach it allows. Bevy also hides a lot of Rust's internals. Plus, I will be using Claude Code, which I believe will give good results with both.

- TrenchBroom for levels; I love UT99/2004 and Quake 2/3's geometry. I love the idea of making new content with old tech; Ion Fury, or the most recent Duke Nukem 3D World Tour are good examples of good neoretro experiences using old engines and tools. I also love BSPs and their limitations, for the creative "sandboxes" they create.

- JSFXR for basic SFX, maybe will also try to learn sound engineering on the go.

- MilkyTracker for soundtrack. Please note that this is an intention, I know absolutely zero about music composition. I am a huge fan of ambient soundtracks such as the ones produced by Mark Morgan, as well as all the work produced by Alexander Brandon, as well as Michiel van den Bos. The soundtracks of Fallout and Deus Ex or unreal aren't exactly of the same genre, but I will try to take inspirations from them once I'm settled with an art direction. Like TrenchBroom, I like the limitations of trackers. I just haven't taken the time to set mine with a proper soundfont library.

- Blender, as a 3D tool intention. I will initially use either public low poly assets, or generate some with AI.

As stated before, all game design decisions and text will be done by hand from the start. I will try to replace placeholders on the go, once the setting is done.

This isn't a commercial project, just a passionate guy's dream project. I will try to dedicate myself to realistic but relatively tight deadlines, at least to share thoughts and shape my mind, but will remain solo. I do not want to manage a team and everyone's ego.

My initial goal is to build a vertical slice: a set of levels interconnected, with systems that make sense for the setting. I will document my choices and arguments on this project's devlog :)

Thank you,
eMakks