Hi everyone, and welcome to my 8th Dev Log!

The Prologue has officially reached a massive milestone: all 402 renders are finalized! It’s been an intense two weeks of non-stop work, but seeing the visual foundation of The Darkness Within come to life makes every hour worth it. Now, since the renders are done, what have I been working on and what's next?

I’ve officially moved into the Ren’Py coding phase. For the UI, I’m aiming for something clean, intuitive, and evocative. Since this is the game’s first impression, I’m spending extra time ensuring the interface feels as polished as the story itself.

Simultaneously, I’ve been deep-diving into the soundscape. I’m meticulously crafting the music and SFX to capture that specific atmospheric "chill" I want for the Realm of Darkness. It’s a learning process, but finding the right audio cues to heighten the tension is proving to be incredibly rewarding. Shoutout to Valkyn Creations for being a massive help on this! His knowledge about music has helped me tons.

So what next? I am aiming to finish the code by next week so I have a playable Prologue that can be play-tested. Immediately after, I’m diving into Chapter 1. It’s shaping up to be 2-3x the size of the Prologue, with the narrative stakes growing much deeper.

I really can't wait to continue working on the renders for Chapter 1.

Community FAQ

In the meantime, I am considering making an FAQ post regarding the game in the following weeks. Let me know if you would be interested, and feel free to comment, DM me, or write on Discord your questions, and will make a post answering them.

To wrap things up, enjoy this render of Tiffany, on a typical day in the office, before she found out she was able to enter into the Realm of Darkness. She was a high-level consultant who fought tooth and nail for her professional life.

Thank you for the continuous support. The darkness is coming!

—MisheruMaxis