Hello,
I'm the solo developer and creator of Antiutopia, which is a fast-paced, skill-based multiplayer first-person shooter set in a fractured sci-fi world, built in a custom engine.
When I was little, around 10 or 11 years old; my dad, whom at the time worked for some random Microsoft contractor, brought home a prototype original Xbox, along with a collectors edition of Halo 2. I was immediately hooked. I spent countless hours obsessing over the lore. I probably watched "The Making of Halo 2" so many times that I can recite the the dialogue. I would draw sketch diagrams of my own Covenant ship ships, vehicles, and how their alien technology could work as best as my 11 year-old mind could comprehend. I knew this is what I wanted to do.
Over the years I slowly created some very bad 2D games. I believe my first "hit" was a Left 4 Dead 2D clone which never actually got finished. I did eventually release a few 2D zombie games which are better in quality, but never really achieved much success.
Unfortunately, my junior year of high school, during (American) Football, I managed to receive not one, not two, but three extremely devastating concussions, which resulted in some major brain damage. I managed to crack a "concussion proof" helmet down the center. It was so bad to the point where I could barely function as a normal human; I could not remember simple instructions, I would exit one room and have no idea where I was going, I could barely hold my focus on a topic for more than 60 seconds, and I would get frustrated and angry over the smallest details. Doctors told my dad to expect these symptoms to last a lifetime, and that I would most likely never recover from my injuries.
Somehow, I managed to crawl out of that. Over the years I've slowly regained my cognitive abilities, and slowly and steady I dug myself out from that hole. I had to re-learn a lot of basics that a normal person would not even think about.
A few years later, I decided to go back to school to pursue Game Development (Computer Engineering, technically...). Throughout my coursework; I noticed I was able to pick up C/C++ exceptionally well. It's almost like my brain functions the same way, if that makes any sense. I was also able to pick up game engine easily. Working with Unreal, Unity, and Godot was so easy that it almost felt like I wasn't actually "working" in my classes.
So after that, I spent the next couple months over summer break developing a 2D game engine, and a single player 2D-zombie shoot 'em up game on top of that. Once my junior year of college came around; I knew I needed to push the bar. Game engines are too easy. I can do this.. I told myself I am one of the best, and I need to prove that.
This is where Antiutopia was born. I grew up a big fan of the original Halo trilogy. I loved that I had to earn the hayabusa armor to flex on others. Everything was earned, not bought. I played Halo Infinite, and realized the old Halo that I loved and adored was long gone.
I've played countless FPS games over the decades, and I've noticed a slow decline. Movement shooters. Extraction shooters. Pay-to-play. I want to bring back the simplistic nature of FPS games. I don't want to spend 4 hours grinding out for a special skin- just to see someone else bought it for $12.99.
I want a game where you get off work after a long ass day, jump in quickly, and have some fun. I want the average joe to have the same chance of winning as a streamer whose played 12 hours a day. If you want to spend the extra time to earn a special armor skin- then you have to earn it.
I've also noticed a trend in AAA titles; you spend forever in a loading menu, and the gameplay you do experience is usually poor unless you've spend thousands of dollars on PC upgrades. I want Antiutopia to break these barriers. My goal for this project is to bring back the old-school type of gameplay. Quick, reliable, and fast-paced. I want to bring high-quality gameplay to hardware that runs on a potato. You do not need high-end hardware to run this game effectively, while still seeing improved quality and performance.
This is where the idea of a custom engine came to fruition.
For a lab assignment in one of my classes in college, we had to develop a basic Client/Server communication using UDP-protocol in C++. I realized how powerful this information was; and slowly developed this system into a full-fledged Client-to-Server authoritative system. I could easily serialize binary data between a Client and Server, and this is what my entire engine was built upon. I purchased a textbook called "Game Programming in C++" by Sanjay Madhav, and this is where the basic fundamentals of my engine itself was built from.
For the last 2 years, I've worked day and night to develop this game engine and game itself into a full fledged commercial project.
Today, Antiutopia is a complete fast-paced online multiplayer FPS. It features multiple weapons and several maps. It has advanced collision, networking, and lighting that rivals AAA titles. I will admit most of the textures came from public domains, and is probably the most lacking quality of my game. But I hope I've done the best with what I have.
Post release, I plan on developing several additional game types and maps. If I can manage to get enough initial support, then creating a single-player story mode would be easy. I developed the engine to support this!
Unfortunately, the main concern I have for this project is that nothing actually stands out gameplay wise. It is just your typical FPS game. I hope that this post will resonate with some players who miss the old-school type of gameplay. I'm very close to the point of closed Alpha testing. And I hope I can manage to receive some feedback to make this game stand out.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading,
See you next time,
Nick.