u/Dante268

My game is done gameplay-wise, however what was mostly criticized on it is that it looked like tech demo. I agree that game being software ray-traced was seriously punching below its visual potential, however my old editor was very simple and clunky to edit levels visuals comfortably.

I was working at nights on new editor, which would allow me to improve existing levels visually. I have finally new editor in usable state. These are just first 2 very simple introductory levels from the game, which I quickly improved with new editor.

Do you consider new visuals still being "tech demo" look or it already clicks "it's usable game art" feeling in you?

Please note, game is not using any HW acceleration. Every pixel is computed in C++ through costly ray-tracing. That's why it's not "full HD" nor "4K" and that's why it's low-poly, low-res. I try to balance that deficit with everything ray-tracing is offering for free (lights, shadows, reflections, etc..).

My game Steam page:

RTG on Steam

There're another screenshots there (still from old editor version).

Still crunching on RTG Editor, my internal editor for enhancing levels for my game, which hopefully I will release also publicly with the game.

Last feature implemented is orthographic projection, which is useful when precision is required (to align boxes with zero gap or overlap). Most useful feature in orthographic projection is resizing boxes by dragging their edges with automatic rounding to grid for snappy alignment. If one needs fine stepping, it's still possible by holding Shift while resizing.

In example animation, I added reflective back-wall into one of the levels very fast, thanks to new ortho view.

From technical details, my simple software ray-tracer is C++, engine and editor are in C#, both communicating through Interop. Ray-tracer is limited, goal is to have functional game with good fps, not photorealistic sceneries. I have still some optimizations in mind plus it's still single-threaded, so potential for perf boost is still big.

The game is sci-fi puzzle/platformer about a guy with no memories, stranded inside strange world, accompanied by some mysterious entities talking to him through terminals scattered in levels.

RTG on Steam
My Discord

Hi! I believe my post may be suitable for this subreddit as my game has both retro and CGI in its DNA.

I'm working on a game which is using my own software ray-tracing engine. The result of using this method is quite distinctive look of the game which may look like some old 90's renders (I would say something from 3DStudio 4 era). As I don't use GPU acceleration for rendering, the game is deliberately low-poly/low-res which is giving it its retro look, but it's combined with modern games shading (shadow castings, specular, reflections, per-pixel lighting, etc..), which was not possible in real-time on old HW before.

The game name is RTG. It's narrative sci-fi puzzle/platformer about a guy with no memories stranded inside simulation (in fact, being in simulation is excuse for "strangeness" of the game world).

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4032050/RTG
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/aRAsxCnPQ5

I will want to release editor with game, so it will be possible to improve existing levels visually or later create whole new levels (game is puzzle/platformer). I plan to reuse engine with editor for creating some other simple games using my software ray-tracer.

Game's name is RTG. It's sci-fi puzzle/platformer about a guy with no memories, who will soon find out he's inside computer simulation. Pivotal gameplay is solving puzzles, but there are also few platforming parts. Puzzles start super easy but are quite challenging later.

You can wishlist it on Steam: RTG on Steam

Steam page has bit outdated trailer / screenshots. Actor is no more just blue stick, but has an eye which do wink-wink time to time. :) The game is gameplay-wise or story-wise done, but I'm still working on graphical improvements as currently it looks too much technical.

All in all, it's hard as fk to find target audience for my game. Genre is sci-fi puzzle/platformer, not very popular. Moreover, I'm using own engine with software ray-tracing, but most players don't know, don't care, for them it's nerdy, technically looking thing and they will prefer any game in Unity, even placeholder with some free assets thrown in and minimal coding.

For next: I will try to make game more visually appealing (procedural backgrounds, particles and give game more consistent coloring across levels) and promote more gameplay/story parts to appeal a bit more to regular players. But I still want to retain this tech side of game, but not as first selling point. Cause it's satisfying if someone who knows a bit of tech will choose the game just because of that.

Hopefully, in another 2 weeks it will be 98 and not 96. 😄

• Ray-tracer is C++, no GPU acceleration, all other logic is C#
• only allowed shape is AABB
• I don't have full BVH, just simple manual grouping to clusters (for simple puzzle/platforming it suffice)
• for now, it's only single-thread (I plan do MT, to be able boost visuals more)
• apart from classic phong model lighting and shadow casting, I have only reflections. I'd like to add refractions as well.
• I have some perf measurement there. On 1 thread of my old Ryzen 3600, I can have around ~100 millions ray vs box intersections per second (MBIsec/s). So with full MT, with newer CPU-s, I can count to be somewhere in 1-10GBIsec/s range, which is 2 orders of magnitude lower than 5090 (plus of course, my ray-tracer have much easier work with AABB only and very simple scenes, thus full arbitrary geometry and complicated scenes can knock down one order of magnitude more)

Game engine is mine own, that's why this simplistic-retro look.

RTG on Steam

It's WIP. The game will be upgraded visually still (mainly addressing empty backgrounds), however gameplay-wise and story-wise it's done.

My profile: VDIndie - itch.io

The game is about a guy with no memories, stranded inside simulation. It's narrative puzzle, so apart from resolving puzzles and moving forward, background story (found through terminals, not much different from Talos Principle) is strong element of the game.

Demo is early and does not represent final visual state of the game. That's why it's only on itch now, not yet on Steam.

It's quite exhausting making promo vids and develop your game. Of course, still having day job and family. Started as hobby, ending like challenge.

Most wishlists I made in first 1-2 months after making page public.

First was organic boost of Steam in first week or two of page being public, then part of wishlists came through one Discord server were I was promoted by admin, who liked and reviewed my previous game. Last bunch came from Czech & Slovak Games Week event in Nov 2025 in which I participated.

Since then, I made maybe 15-20 wishlists in 6 months, with my occasional (and many time low quality) social media posts, where I basically just recycled old animated gif/webps.

My self-confidence is quite low TBH, but I know there's rationale to it. Tons of games competing. My game has quite nerdy gfx, probably will need bit of improvement. And as I said, I'm not very active on social media and I'm just learning to post higher quality content.

Hope my info will find someone useful, and if anyone has some advice, will be glad to read it.

I'll buy bottle of high quality cognac when I'll reach 100.

Link: RTG on Steam

Edit / AI clarification: in screenshot, you can see that game is tagged with "Artificial Intelligence". This is almost toxic tag. I did NOT use AI in game's creation (except for texts proof-reading). It's honest C++/C# work in own editor and own engine. The tag is there because game's antagonist is AI. But I'm thinking about removing that tag completely as many can understand it wrong and consider the game AI slop.

Feel free to be honest. At least I can adjust my expectations. Thanks for any feedback.

Edit: regarding genre, it's narrative sci-fi puzzle/platformer.