Abstraction Point was a Horror FPS game I have been working on for the past 5 months, and it's one of my best works yet. Sadly, the game did not live up to the expectations people gave from before the release. In fact, it was a huge letdown, and as such, it is discontinued indefinitely. I am not so sure if I want to continue game development at all at this point, definitely not for a good while.

The game would have focused on environmental horror and atmosphere, rather than jumpscares. It has a collection of weapons, and the system for them is quite good. There is an inventory in place, with a weight system, notes, audiotapes, equipment, items, consumables, and so on. While there are weapons, fighting is not necessary, and sometimes it is not the better option, getting around enemies and threats might be a better idea instead (I would have implemented a stealth system). There was meant to be a story as well, but it's unfinished.

The latest build, Test Version 0.1.2-R2 comes with a demo, that was meant to show what the later builds and the final release would have looked like. It also fixes the issues found in previous builds.

The GameJolt page is still active for download if anyone wants to try it out the last build:
https://gamejolt.com/games/abstraction_point/536360

my man i don't know what kinda expectation people had from this game that you disappointed them so much that you had to discontinue it, but i played it and despite being rough in some aspects its a clean, complex and varied horror game, vastly better than some indie stuff i played belonging to the same genre, and you should be damn proud of how it came out

@nuskadamo Right, let me tell you a bit about things.

During development, I have been making a lot of updates, mostly about everything, to document the entire process of the game's making. On November 1st, the game was set to release, alongside the trailer. People were hyped even a few days before release.
You guys know me quite well, and so the fact that when someone plays it, I really am looking forward to someone's in-depth feedback.

Well, I got nothing other from the "Oh this is broken, oh that is broken, why are there no savestates/checkpoints". Almost no one said that maybe the music selection was good, or the sound effect choice, or the level itself, the atmosphere. No, the inventory and the resolution settings having a smaller bug was more important. Oh yeah, and that you can only play this game on one monitor (WTF?). Yeah, great stuff...

The other thing that broke me down was the reception of the game. The GameJolt page itself is doing fine, which is good I guess, but there was something else. I wanted to ask a few people personally to give it a shot, classmates, friends, smaller streamers, even a few bigger ones. Now don't get me wrong, I don't care about the views and exposure, the streams wouldn't bring a single one to the house, feedback is the main goal when I ask someone to play it.
As you might have imagined, they either haven't seen the message I sent them (sometimes on multiple platforms), or they turned it down (or some lazy moderator didn't have 5 minutes to forward the message). The ONLY person who I asked, replied, and even played it, was falefee. I asked him about crediting his work in-game, told me to send him a link when it's done, so yeah, he was interested!

As I'm writing this, I have been thinking for almost 2 weeks now about what to do next, now that I didn't want to continue along. I feel like these 5 years of game development went a bit like this: I got a taste, I loved it, went onwards, tried my best, and...nothing. Most of my latest games died out completely at this point, Abstraction Point being the only one to somehow, magically, sustain 1-3 views a day (which is good, consistency matters more). I really can't do anything else than to continue the development of Abstraction Point, even if I'm struggling along to get any sort of motivation to do so.

Thanks for the nice reply, really matters a lot! I guess you can look forward to the alpha release (if there will be any).

In my honest opinion, as  a gamedev, NEVER bulid early hype. It's either going to get overhyped (and the release is going to be trashy) or just die out during development. Only bulid hype when you are 1000 % sure you are going to release the game on THAT exact date.

Also I played the game too, the atmosphere is good, gameplay is on a really good starting point, the lore is having a good starting point, shortly, it's a really great start. Yes I cried out in your discord server because your game didn't had any save game feature like HL1/HL2, but I remember saying that everything else is mostly good.

Also as a fact: I've seen other devs with games that have a overally really good impression/rating etc, and still get a mental breakdown from few negative reviews. The irony.

i guess it's because we have a different approach on how we handle playtesting, but i never minded when the whole feedback i receive is bug reports. at least it means that they are playing the game deep enough to notice these things, that in itself is an accomplishment in my book lol
most people give for granted that certain things in a videogame being the way they are is the default, and if they're not developers they have no idea of the kind of efforts you have to go through to make these things possible, nor they should be imo
your game is really good for being made by a single person, but it's still a game made by a single person, it's going to turn out to be broken in some aspects you may not expect, instead of taking these reports as a negative, see them as a way to improve your skills, to make the best game possible once everything is finished
AND, if it's the personal stress of hearing these things from people you know personally, instead of asking personal friends for these things try expanding your Game Jolt/Itch.io pages by following more people and spamming your games there. having strangers, especially if they're developers themselves, dissect your game is a lot better in my experience

I might have said it in a way that I meant that bug reports are useless/bad, because yes, bug reports are very important indeed, but the feedback about everything else is just as important IMO. You sometimes want to know someone else's perspective on something, what they liked/disliked, what they thought matched well, and even what they would like to see implemented/changed. It's not as important as polishing, it's more of a reassurance that your game matches with more and more people.

The other thing, I never really liked the idea of any sort of spamming, especially if it's my work, even if it's something very interesting/important. There was one guy who followed the game's page, he makes videos about indie horror games. This was around 2 weeks ago, and I see people spamming his profile to make him play their games, and it would just feel humanly wrong for me to join as well. I would message him, but I worry that it wouldn't go any further, or it turns out to go even worse.
I don't know, maybe there is something wrong with me thinking that this sort of spamming is bad? Maybe I'm paranoid...

I also never wanted to earn any sort of "unfair advantage". I never liked getting unjustified views/downloads, because it doesn't feel as rewarding when you get it legitimately. But hey, once again, might be just me!

Good to see you guys are on my side tho, and that the game is indeed a pleasing experience, even tho it's still very raw. I'm very grateful for that!

fair enough
i'd suggest you, in that case, to be more upfront when it comes to reception. let the people playing your stuff know immediately that you want to know specific things from them, in order to not have any misunderstanding, and if even then they don't... well that's on them for being dicks, dont know how else to put it lol
and no, i get it, spamming is not something for everyone. i feel a bit dirty too, sometimes, but it's the best way i know to get people to play my games, and usually it works... sorta
plus, in the case of the horror youtuber, think of it from the other's perspective, he needs game like yours to bring to his channel, you're not bothering by asking him to showcase your game, you're just doing what he already expects. worse that could happen is that he either ignores you or says no. some nobody doesn't wanna play your game? big deal, the world is full of fishes, and if he does? having people play your games on video is pretty cool, i know from experience  
you gotta have some aggressiveness if you want to be recognized, letting a few negative experiences define your whole attitude does no good, or else you'll never improve

Well, good news, I made an updated version of 0.1.2, called Alpha Setup Version 0.1.3! It includes fixes and improvements but also has new custom levels, custom keybinds, a tutorial, and a few, other additions, for the upcoming Alpha release (that seems like will probably get canceled).

The bad news? Apparently, as I have seen, all the people I have shared with, none of them actually played it. The game was shared in a few places, also including my own server and friend, but, well, nothing. Sure, it is a smaller build, but it helps to enhance the experience. I have set up a Google forms document for feedback, with some questions for feedback. Been a week, nothing. Either the game is bad, generally hated, or something. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have done the game for free, or shouldn't have even started it, it's too late either way...

0.1.3 was a complete failure, nobody actually played it. After December, I quit the development of Abstraction Point, because I saw no point in working on the game further.

I started work on Alpha 0.2.0 around the end of January (but more so in around early to mid-March), but it's going very slowly. I have little to no hope for it, let alone any motivation or determination.
Some of the new features include:
- Overall fixes/improvements/tweaks
- A dynamic stealth system, which includes audibility and visibility
- Improved AI, WIP
- New levels, WIP

I cannot tell an exact release date, because I am unsure of whenever I want to continue working on it, or even releasing it. Guess we will see.

well, from what i can see from the vids, the music really is good - did you make it yourself? if so you are a genius, but it takes more than good music to make a good game, you have to match that with gameplay and yes, even functionality like save points matters, i personally think it's best not to go public until you have all the basics functioning. i'm not really into horror games so have not actually played it.

silly me, i was trying to interact with the picture thinking it was a playable game, only for a sec though...
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I'll be alright, i'm fine..

In my defense, i just got up, i need coffee...

@thelurker Sadly the music isn't mine, but it's more of a placeholder for what I want to achieve later down the line if that's possible. I mostly want to emphasize the atmosphere, which is a key part of the game.

Save states are not even in the way of making yet, since I have a hard time wrapping my head around it. I have a basic idea and "howto", but nothing else, for now.

Most of the basic ideas are there, they just lack volume/quantity. For weapons, I'm still missing most of the melee options (as run and gun isn't the main focus), equipment is quite scarce, even though I'm still planning on adding more, and items are...very few indeed, if we don't count notes, audiotapes, and ammunition. I can't spoil them yet, since the possibility of a new version is there, but you will see everything sooner or later (Although I might share some of them from time to time)!