I've been working on the game, and honestly, this year has been one of the most rewarding creative experiences I've ever had.
Going full-time indie has been a pretty wild change. I've been learning Unreal Engine from the ground up, rediscovering my love for 3D art, designing levels, writing, prototyping, breaking things, fixing them, and generally learning a lot about what it actually means to make a game on your own.
And somewhere along the way, something really exciting happened:
S.A.S.S. started to feel like a real place.
Not just a collection of levels and mechanics, but a world with its own characters, stories, weird little details, and personality.
A huge part of that comes down to these four.
Cassie is the one who started asking questions that nobody else seemed interested in answering. She's observant, stubborn, organized, and absolutely the kind of person who will keep investigating something long after everyone else has decided it's probably fine.
Lena brings a completely different energy. She's intuitive, calm, and has a rather unusual relationship with the supernatural. She tends to look at things from an angle the rest of the group hasn't considered yet.
Marcus is our resident researcher and technical brain. If there's a strange reading, unexplained phenomenon, or piece of equipment that needs figuring out, Marcus is probably already taking notes. Lots of notes.
And then there's Jay, who has perhaps the strangest connection to all of this. He doesn't always understand exactly what is happening to him, but he's remarkably good at accepting the impossible and asking the much more important question:
"Okay... what do we do about it?"
Together, they are Students Against Spooky Stuff.
And that's really what I've wanted this game to be from the beginning. A spooky mystery adventure, sure, but also a story about four kids who care about each other enough to walk into places they absolutely should not be walking into.
The book has been a huge part of helping me understand who these characters are and why they work together. Now I'm getting to take all of that and translate it into something you can actually play.
That's been one of my favorite parts of development so far.
I'm not just making levels anymore. I'm thinking about how Cassie moves through a room, how Lena reacts when something feels wrong, what Marcus notices that everyone else misses, and what Jay does when things get genuinely scary.
Those little things are what make a game feel alive.
There is still a lot to do. I'm learning as I go, and being a solo game designer means progress isn't always as fast or as polished as I'd like. But every month, the game gets a little closer to the thing I've had in my head for so long.
And I'm really excited to eventually let you step into their world.
Thank you for following along, supporting the project, and giving me the chance to make something this weird and personal. ❤️
More spooky stuff soon. 👻
- Mikey