Underworld Chronicles, Part 2

Under the Hood (and Deeper Underground)

Hey there – my name is Adam, and I’m the programmer on Into the Underworld. From gameplay systems to UI, tools for our designer, performance tuning, and overall day-to-day implementation – since the beginning of 2024, when I joined Awesome Games Studio – I have been responsible for bringing the ideas and designs to life in ITU (and a little bit in Yet Another Zombie Survivors 😉 ).

Over the past two months, we’ve made some pretty significant progress – not just in how the game looks and plays, but in how stable, responsive, and future-proof the underlying systems are. In other words, it’s been about laying down strong foundations - a lot of work that makes a big difference and is improving the experience along the way!

One of the biggest things just added is a brand-new dialogue system, created from the ground up to support in-game conversations or monologues. It's a face-to-face, cinematic-style presentation that integrates directly into gameplay. On the implementation side, it was important to make this system designer-friendly, allowing narrative content to be added and iterated on without code intervention – something that’s already starting to show its strengths.

Alongside that, several key scenes in the prologue were created or rebuilt using this system, laying the groundwork for a more engaging introduction to the world of Into the Underworld.

One of the most important locations in the game – the Citadel, our central hub – received a major visual and structural overhaul. We replaced the entire scene composition using a brand-new environment, which allowed us to significantly improve the mood, change the lighting, and spatial layout. This is the place the player always returns to between runs, so it was crucial to give it a stronger sense of atmosphere and purpose. The rework also sets a much clearer tone for the kind of world Into the Underworld is aiming to build. Still a work in progress, but closer to what we want to achieve!

^{Into the Underworld – Citadel scenery, work in progress}

We’ve also expanded the playable world with a new biome – the snow-covered zone introduces its own visual identity, challenges, and environmental feel. Each new area we introduce pushes us to make the game world more modular, robust, and flexible – and that work has been (and constantly is!) ongoing in the background as well.

^{Into the Underworld – new snow biome teaser}

As the programmer, it’s important to make sure that our workflow supports fast iteration, especially when collaborating with the designer and our recently joined UI artist. That’s why I’ve spent time improving in-editor tools and logging systems, including visual helpers and general QA-supporting features, which have helped us identify and squash bugs faster, without needing to dig into the code.

I always try to keep in mind the game's performance and smoothness. We’ve done a thorough pass on resource usage, cleaned up unused content, and optimized shader and texture usage. As a result, the game now loads faster, runs smoother, and consumes fewer resources, which is especially important as we’re preparing a stable and polished build for PGA 2025 (Poznań Game Arena) event in Poland.

The UI has seen constant evolution – we’ve introduced several new interface elements and updated layouts. We’re also working closely with a new artist to unify the look and feel of the interface. On top of that, we fixed some longstanding UI issues. This is an important step toward making the game more accessible and ready for broader testing and demos.

^{Into the Underworld – constant changes of user interfaces. Still a work in progress...}

The world of our game is growing – both in scope and in depth. While many of the changes aren’t directly visible during normal gameplay, they pave the way for more exciting features down the road – and, more importantly, ensure the game remains stable and scalable as it grows in complexity. We still have a long way to go, but with each iteration, Into the Underworld becomes more polished and robust.

As we gear up for PGA 2025, much of our focus is now shifting toward polish, clarity, and consistency. We want to show a build that not only plays well but feels cohesive, inviting, and snappy from the moment you press the start button. The work done over the past months brings us closer to that goal.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to wishlist the game on Steam – and stay tuned for more updates in the near future. Thanks for the read!

Stay awesome,
Adam @ Awesome Games Studio