u/totallymadbro

I'm developing Iris Dissolution 👁️, a fixed-camera survival horror game inspired by PS1-era classics. I kept the fixed cameras on purpose, but ultimately decided that some spaces needed to be shown more clearly or accentuated, and fixed cameras wouldn't cut it, so I added a few dynamic cameras for these cases.

The setup uses two splines. One defines a "desired path" for the player and tracks their position as they move; the other one is the camera's path. The latter advances as players move through the former.

Decoupling them means I have better control of how the player and scenery are framed as the character moves through the space. In a way, it keeps the fixed-camera feeling even while moving, and also helps me keep some of the tension that true fixed cameras produce.

I'll still be using fixed cameras by default, and dynamic cameras only when a static angle would confuse you about the geometry, or when a moment earns the emphasis.

Iris Dissolution 👁️ is a fixed-camera survival horror game I'm making solo. It's inspired by classic survival horror, and fixed cameras are a good portion of the appeal and help keep the tension by controlling what the player can see.

However, as I was modeling some of the newer rooms for the game, I started to notice some spaces just don't feel as impactful/cinematic when using only fixed angles. In this case, I had a rather long spiral staircase and was having trouble placing cameras around, trying to clearly communicate the space and geometry of the place while keeping the angles neither confusing nor repetitive.

Then I remembered watching some Dino Crisis gameplay and thinking, "wow, I really like this approach of having some moving cameras for key parts of the level," and ultimately decided it would be OK to break some of my own rules and add dynamic cameras to the game. I'm planning to use them sparingly and specifically for rooms that could be confusing otherwise, and to give certain moments more weight.

Curious how this sub feels about moving cameras in a fixed-camera game. Where's the line for you between "this is a good change of pace" and "breaks the tension"?

Iris Dissolution 👁️ is a fixed-camera survival horror game I'm making alone. The demo launched on June 1st, and since then a few streamers have played through it. I cut 30 seconds together here.

The demo is the game's second act, free on Steam. If you play it, don't hesitate to record yourself and send it my way. I really love watching people have a good time with it :)

Credits to Jana Gamer, Yippee Ki Yay Mr Falcon & blackxshinobi.

The demo for Iris Dissolution launched on June 1st as part of the Horror Game Awards' Midsummer Night's Scream showcase.

If you haven't seen the game: fixed-camera survival horror, resource management, puzzles. Iris is searching for her missing brother through environments that get progressively more surreal. It's built around grief as the core theme.

First week numbers: over 1,200 people played the demo. The thing that made me genuinely happy. Median play time in the first days came in around an hour and a half, which Steam flagged as above average. Seeing that the people who love this genre stayed with it means a lot. That's exactly who I was building it for.

The spike from the event is still trailing off and the demo is still live. If you haven't tried it yet, now's a good time to jump in. Would love to know what you think.

It's been a solo project since mid-2025. This was the first time people outside my immediate circle played it and the reception was warmer than I knew how to hope for.

Demo is still live: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution/

In late 2024, I started Iris Dissolution with a team of five people. By mid-2025 the project had become mine to finish alone. I kept going.

It's a fixed-camera survival horror. Resource management, puzzles, combat. The protagonist Iris is searching for her lost brother through environments that get increasingly surreal, a she tries to overcome grief and loss, which are the central themes of the game.

The demo launched on June 1st following the Horror Game Awards' Midsummer Night's Scream showcase. Here's the breakdown:

The spike on the graph corresponds to said event. By the end of that week the game got ~1000 new wishlist. It is now sitting on almost 5000. I'm really happy about it!

Over 1,200 people played the demo. Median play time in the first days was around an hour and a half. Steam flagged it as above average. That number surprised me more than the wishlist count honestly. It means people who showed up actually stayed and enjoyed the game.

I also wanted to thank the kind people who came into the Discord to report issues. They helped me test some hotfixes and I was able to patch the demo twice during launch week thanks to them. That kind of thing isn't something you plan for.

Reception was warmer than I knew how to anticipate. Still taking it in a little as I prepare myself to continue working on the rest of the game.

Here is the Steam link! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution/

Iris Dissolution, my solo fixed-camera survival horror game, will be showing at the Horror Game Awards Midsummer Scream on June 1st.

A brand new trailer will be shown that day, and the demo goes live at the same time. The video you see is part of the demo and is shown in the new trailer!

Some of you have been following for some time now. The demo exists partly because of that: Your test runs, feedback and support.

This project started as a five-person project and I ended up as a solo dev. The release of the demo is a very emotional moment for me :').

June 1st.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution/

Iris Dissolution is a fixed-camera survival horror game about grief.

It started as a five-person project. One by one, people moved on. I kept going alone, learning things I had no background in. I've been putting a lot of work, and I'm happy to make this announcement.

On June 1st, it's showing at the Horror Game Awards Midsummer Scream with a world premiere trailer. The demo releases the same day.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution/

Solo dev here. Cy is a character I modeled for the new trailer of Iris Dissolution, my survival horror game.

A week ago I posted here on Reddit asking for testers for my solo survival horror game and the post really took off. That was the first time I put the game out openly on the internet and I feel really happy it caught that much attention. I've received some great feedback and I'm really thankful for that.

A lot of you reached out after the keys ran out, so I'm doing one more round.

I'll be giving out 20 more keys, and after that I'm closing testing as I already have quite a big list of things to work on.

About the game: Iris Dissolution is a single-player survival horror game with fixed cameras. I've been developing it on my own over the last 6 months.

• The build covers almost a full level and takes ~2 hours to complete
• I've been working on fixes and improvements since the last round, but there are still things that can break or feel rough
• Keys are temporary and won't carry over to the final release
• I'll send a short feedback form. Just a few questions, the best way for me to keep feedback centralized
• Translations are still in progress, so playing in English is recommended for now

Steam page here if you want to see more of the game first.

If it sounds interesting, DM me or drop a comment and I'll reach out to you.

Thanks again to all of you for the reception this had. It really made my week :)

I've been busy working on a new trailer for the game and thought you guys would like this.

Also, today I made a post asking for playtesters and ran out of keys in an hour or so, so I'm both excited and nervous to see what people think of it! I'll be doing more testing rounds next week so if you're interested, hit me up and wishlist the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution/

Hey everyone!

I've been building Iris Dissolution, a single-player survival horror game with fixed cameras. I've been making it on my own for the last 6 months. It's been a learning process across the board, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

The game is still in active development. I'm working toward a demo, but before that I want to get real eyes on the current build, not to show it off, but to actually test it.

I have 20 tester keys to give out.

A few things worth knowing before you ask for one:

- These are temporary keys. They'll stop working before the official release. If you're mainly looking for a free copy of the finished game, this isn't that.

- The build covers almost a full game level and usually takes around 2 hours to reach the end.

- That said, it may rough edges and that's the point. I need to know where things break, where the game stops being fun, and where players get stuck or crash out.

- Translations are still in progress, so I'd recommend playing in English for now.

Here's the link to the Steam page if you want to know more before deciding.

If that sounds like something you're up for, drop a comment or send me a DM. I'll reach out to you as long as I still have keys!

After you've finished, I'll ask you to fill out a short feedback form. No essay required. Even rough notes are genuinely useful at this stage.

Thanks for reading!

Been working on some particles for my survival horror game and thought I'd ask for some feedback on how to make them look a bit more retro.
I'm working on Unity 6 Built In RP and using PSXEffect camera filter.

Here's the Steam link if you want to follow along & help me with your wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution/

Been working on adding translations to my game and the system is finally in place, so adding more languages is relatively easy now.
So far I have Spanish (I'm a native speaker), and Portuguese + Chinese thanks to some friends who are helping me out.

Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to add Russian, Japanese and Korean translations.

I'm curious how other devs handle this. I'd love to hire people for every language but budget is tight and don't want to end up having cursed RE1-like translations.

Do you rely on friends, community volunteers, automatic translation?

What languages do you think are a must-have for an indie game?

I've just recently finished working on this cutscene and figured I wanted to do a short dev-log sharing more about why I'm making this game.

As I briefly addressed previously, the game started with a team of five. Over time each of them moved on because of life changes, new opportunities, priorities shifting, etc.

That's just life, but suddenly I found myself alone with a project that was almost a year deep in development and I really wasn't sure about what to do next. I thought about shelving the project and starting something smaller, more manageable. But ultimately I decided to keep working on it.

Why?

Well, this game is about grief and loss. It always was, but as time passed, I found some more perspective on what I really wanted to say through it.

Specifically, it's a story about the fact that you don't know when things end and at some point, without a warning, you might lose the chance to do something you meant to do or say something you wanted out of your chest.

By the time I started developing solo, I had lost the dog I grew up with, and I didn't know it yet but I would also lose my grandpa a few months after due to a stroke. I don't mean to be tacky and say you should live every day like it's your last but I just recently found out how important it is to be deliberate with your time and the choices you make because of this. Otherwise things just drift away infront of you.

I wanted to express this to others, and this game had become a great canvas for me to do so.

So I took a break, reorganized the scope of the project and decided to continue. That was around six months ago, and since then I've been picking up everything I didn't know how to do and improving so I could create a better experience.

This cutscene is one of the quieter moments in the story. Iris returns something small that belongs to someone else, even when she doesn't notice how much it matters to others. It's a small piece of what she will need to learn across the game.

My last post here got a great response (thank you all!) so figured I'd share a bit more of my fixed-camera survival horror game. Hope you like it!

As I said previously I've been working on this project solo since my team dissolved last year. Currently focused on testing and polishing it before releasing the demo.

Here's the Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3349520/Iris_Dissolution