Abysm — Vincent Aliquo

Rauvine is a young warrior on a quest to revive a long-lost land. Armed with a variety of weapons and abilities, Rauvine must cross a labyrinth of dungeons, palaces, and strange forgotten lands. But for those who deal with gods, a cursed fate awaits.

Rauvine in a forest clearing, with the health, ability and arrow count in the corner and the rest of the map still dark

A giant black beetle-like creature crashing through autumn trees

I led Abysm as a student at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science, as my Flex Friday project, and wrote most of its code in GameMaker: the player, the enemies’ behavior, and the dungeons. We started in October 2014. The first years were trial and error, which made us a hardy group of developers.

A pale stone room with a red carpet, Rauvine surrounded by enemies and a defense bonus on screen

A dark stone room with Rauvine swinging a blade at two enemies near a key

Rauvine and a crawling creature in a blood-stained stone chamber

An arrow in flight down a corridor toward a hulking creature

A blood-red corridor with a creature in a wheelchair and a pale figure fleeing

Rauvine alone in a narrow stone corridor as long pale arms reach in from the top of the frame

The finished game has more than 30 levels across six worlds, over 20 enemy types, and a dozen player upgrades—about two and a half hours of play. We cut an update trailer at each step, and the progression video strings all of them together. The official soundtrack, eight tracks and 22 minutes, is on Bandcamp at name your price.