Daniel Krafft creates an underwater horror game in 24 hours, showcasing rapid game development and unique gameplay mechanics.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Rapid game development is possible with focused effort and efficient use of tools.
- Innovative mechanics like the tether system can drive unique gameplay experiences.
- Sound design and environmental effects are crucial for creating immersive horror atmospheres.
- Modular asset creation helps speed up level design under tight deadlines.
- Playtesting by professionals provides valuable feedback even on quick projects.
What the video covers
- Daniel Krafft, a 3D artist, attempts to build an underwater open-world survival horror game within 24 hours.
- He blocks out a city environment with detailed buildings and a submarine as the central gameplay element.
- The game features a unique tether system linking the player to the submarine, creating challenging movement mechanics.
- Ambient lighting, fog, caustics, and a day-night cycle are implemented to enhance the underwater atmosphere.
- Modular assets including houses, furniture, and environmental props are created rapidly to populate the game world.
- Gameplay includes a sound-sensitive creature that reacts to player noise, adding tension and horror elements.
- Players have upgrades like tether length, speed, flashlight recharge, and ship repair to progress and survive.
- The game includes a health system and sound-based stealth mechanics to avoid the creature.
- After 24 hours, the game is playable and tested by other developers who praise the tether mechanic and horror vibe.
- The video also includes a sponsored segment promoting Displate metal posters.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I'm a 3D artist, and in this video, I made an entire game to harass my viewers with in only 24 hours, and I regretted every single minute of it. Three months ago, I made my very first game, if you can call it that, in only three weeks. I've never worked so hard on something in my entire life, but nobody believed I actually did it. It wasn't actually three weeks; he probably just looked it all up on the Internet, like I showed in the beginning of the video. As a game developer myself, this is physically impossible. He would have had to make the models in like two days. Oh, you guys want to see impossible? For this game, I'm thinking underwater open world survival simulator. Is that doable in 24 hours? I'm not going to think about that right now. I started by blocking out a city for players to explore. It's got solar panels and poor cable management. Check out the detail on these buildings. On this channel, I really like to hold myself to a high-quality standard. Next, I made this submarine, which does not look like toothpaste, thank you very much. Stick a cave on there real quick, and that's a level design if I've ever seen one. Finally, I put this big vault door on the cave. Maybe the creature goes in there. Maybe you unlock it later on. Honestly, for 45 minutes, it could be worse. I'm using GDAU for this because I, I mean, I'm basically an expert now, apparently, and it is looking pretty good, but it doesn't exactly scream underwater. I gave it some ambient lighting, some fog, and yeah, that's basically AAA quality. I think we can call it that. I guess the player shouldn't just be swimming around in pitch darkness, so I added a flashlight, and with that, lighting is finally complete. Not bad considering we're only two hours in, huh? You know, it probably wouldn't hurt to add some caustic. I have made a severe and continuous lapse in judgment, but the caustics look good, so I say it's worth it. I also added a world time, a day-night cycle. It rotates the sun, animates the decals, it even changes the brightness of the caustic effect to match the brightness of the sun. I don't even have a player yet. Why am I doing this? The city is great by itself, but it's not really a game. My idea is basically a tether system where the player is physically tied to the submarine. It could single-handedly carry the gameplay, and it wouldn't be too hard to make. Never let me brainstorm mechanics again. This is the worst idea I could have come up with for this. Basically, the tether has a length, and if you run out of length, the player stops. But they don't just stop, they also have to move and slide across this invisible sphere. Simple enough, right? Wrong. Then you got to introduce other objects. What happens if a cube gets in the way? You can't just pass right through it. It has to automatically subdivide itself and re-anchor across any point it hits, but it can't stay anchored because the player also has to backtrack. So I made the points detach themselves if the player is on the opposite side of the face normal for too long. The fun part is now we just have a bunch of points floating in space, so they have to automatically merge themselves back in line so we don't end up with this nonsense. Honestly, even thinking of this system was a mistake, but somehow I managed to finish it in just about five hours, and while this still is not a game, it's really fun to mess around with. One time, I launched myself so hard I broke the tether somehow, so hopefully that doesn't happen again. There's only 10 hours left before I release this to my audience, and we have one singular mechanic, so I got to wrap this up quick. I started making some modular pieces to build houses out of. This is not something you're supposed to do in two hours, but I'm doing my best. Okay, I ended up making a bench, a table, a few rocks, some kelp, and 25 individual building pieces with a total of about 2,000 vertices. So yeah, that's 37 assets in two hours. Is that impossible enough? Eh. These walls look kind of empty. If only there was a sturdy metal poster or something I could put on. Thankfully, this video is sponsored by Displate. They sell these really high-quality posters which look great, and they're made of metal. They're pretty impressive looking, and it's basically impossible to mess it up. Don't, please don't try. Displate has over 2 million artworks to choose from to fit whatever niche interest you may or may not have, and they're so simple to mount even I can do it. But hold on, but you know what the best part is? They made one just for me, baby. It's got the logo and 800k resolution. They even have this texture finish with these 3D contours, and as a 3D enthusiast myself, it doesn't get better than that. If you want this one, too bad, it's mine. But you can get your own on displate.com/dancraft to your doorstep in four to five business days, just in time for the holidays. You can use code DANIELCRAFT or my link in the description to get up to 38% off. Ladies and gentlemen, that's just a good deal. But that's enough of that. Let's get back to the video. Eight hours left to texture every asset in the game and make all of the gameplay. Plenty of time. I ended up making eight different textures out of this picture of a rock from my backyard. We got brick, concrete, sand, dark sand, kelp, metal, rock, and wood. Yes, this is from the same rock. Please ignore Walter. He will be relevant in just a minute. By some miracle, the assets worked first try, and I built this four-story house using about 400 different pieces. I even gave it a basement, which is bigger than the rest of the house, with a bunch of secret rooms and really small hallways. And with that, it's time to finish the gameplay. I want the creature to be sound sensitive, so I added a decibel label, started putting sounds on everything. The flashlight makes a noise, swimming makes a noise, you can bump into stuff and it'll make a noise based on how fast you were going and what angle you hit the wall at. I also made it damage the suit, so I guess we have HP now too. Yeah, this character controller is getting kind of out of hand. Enough about the player, let's talk about the creature. Basically, the way it works is when you're swimming through the house, there's a chance to hear this growling noise, which means you have to be quiet immediately. If you make a noise, the creature will start sniffing around the room you're in, following a preset path, and if it touches you, the game does not crash. It's on purpose. It does that. The house is split up into zones, which each have their own patrol frequency numbers. It'd probably be pretty boring if you're just waiting around to get eaten, so I made three different upgrades. Tether upgrade gives you more rope, suit upgrade makes you faster and recharges the flashlight, and scrap metal can be used to repair the ship, which is how you actually win the game. With that, the 24 hours was over, and I had successfully made a game. Not really the best game in the world, but for 24 hours, come on, that's pretty good. Just for fun, I added some better models for the creature, the upgrades, and some background music, but that's pretty much it. Before I give you guys the download, I got a bunch of game developers to playtest it to get a real professional opinion. The creature.exe is... Is this a horror game? It is a horror game. Thank you for noticing. Oh my God. Oh, ooh, yeah, the tether is really good. Wait, did you model these in 24 hours? Okay, okay, okay, I'm understanding. Dude, this is such a vibe. I'm terrified of the noises in my ears, trying to not die. That's like my strat right now. How did you manage this in 24 hours? What is this bomb package? Going to blow this whole place up? Don't bump. Hey, hey, God, I bumped to the table. Don't, don't make a sound. Don't make a sound. It's here. What? It's here. Stop. Oh dude, you don't want to turn off your flashlight either when it's here because no, bro, underwater cell, you must be kidding me. I hate this little cave. I'm out of here, bro. I like the animation, 10 out of 10. Dang, bro, I like the sound it makes. Sounds like Home Depot. Oh, there it is. No, leave me alone. No, don't run into the wall. Okay, Daniel.
Speaker A
that in only 3 weeks I've never worked so hard on something in my entire life but nobody believed I actually did it it wasn't actually 3 weeks he probably just looked it all up on the Internet like I
Speaker A
showed in the beginning of the video as a game developer myself this is physically impossible he would have had to make the models in like 2 days oh you guys want to see impossible for this game I'm thinking underwater
Speaker A
open world survival simulator is that doable in 24 hours I'm not going to think about that right now I started by blocking out a city for players to explore it's got solar panels and poor Cable Management check out the detail on
Speaker A
these buildings on this channel I really like to hold myself to a high quality standard next I made this submarine which does not look like toothpaste thank you very much stick a cave on there real quick and that's a level
Speaker A
design if I've ever seen one finally I put this big vault door on the cave maybe the creature goes in there maybe you unlock it later on honestly for 45 minutes it could be worse I'm using gdau for this because I I mean I'm basically
Speaker A
an expert now apparently and it is looking pretty good but it doesn't exactly scream underwater I gave it some ambient lighting some fog and yeah that's basically AAA quality I think we can call it that I guess the player
Speaker A
shouldn't just be swimming around in Pitch Darkness so I added a flashlight and with that lighting is finally complete not bad considering we're only 2 hours in huh you know it probably wouldn't hurt to add some costic I have
Speaker A
made a severe and continuous lapse in judgment but the cosics look good so I say it's worth it I also added a world time a day night cycle it rotates the sun animates the decals it even changes the brightness of the cosic effect to
Speaker A
match the brightness of the sun I don't even have a player yet why am I doing this the city is great by itself but it's not really a game my idea is basically a tether system where the player is physically tied to the
Speaker A
submarine it could single-handedly carry the game playay and it wouldn't be too hard to make never let me brainstorm mechanics again this is the worst idea I could have come up with for this basically the tether has a length and if
Speaker A
you run out of length the player stops but they don't just stop they also have to move and slide across this invisible sphere simple enough right wrong then you got to introduce other objects what happens if a cube gets in the way you
Speaker A
can't just pass right through it it has to automatically subdivide itself and re-anchor across any point it hits but it can't stay anchored because the player also has to backtrack so I made the points detach themselves if the
Speaker A
player is on the opposite side of the face normal for too long the fun part is now we just have a bunch of points floating in space so they have to automatically merge themselves back in line so we don't end up with this
Speaker A
nonsense honestly even thinking of this system was a mistake but somehow I managed to finish it in just about 5 hours and while this still is not a game it's really fun to mess around with one time I launched myself so hard I broke
Speaker A
the tether somehow so hopefully that doesn't happen again there's only 10 hours left left before I release this to my audience and we have One Singular mechanic so I got to wrap this up quick I started making some modular pieces to
Speaker A
build houses out of this is not something you're supposed to do in 2 hours but I'm doing my best okay I ended up making a bench a table a few rocks some kelp and 25 individual building pieces with a total of about 2,000
Speaker A
vertices so yeah that's 37 assets in 2 hours is that impossible enough eh these walls look kind of empty if only there was a sturdy metal poster or something I could put on thankfully this video is sponsored by displate they sell these
Speaker A
really high quality posters which look great and they're made of metal they're pretty impressive looking and it's basically impossible to mess it up don't please don't try displate has over 2 million artworks to choose from to fit whatever Niche interest you may or may
Speaker A
not have and they're so simple to mount even I can do it but hold on but you know what the best part is they made one just for me baby it's got the logo and 800k resolution they even have this
Speaker A
texture finish with these 3D Contours and as a 3D Enthusiast myself it doesn't get better than that if you want this one too bad it's mine but you can get your own on displate.com dancraft to your doorstep in four to five business
Speaker A
days just in time for the holidays you can use code Daniel craft or my link in the description to get up to 38% off ladies and gentlemen that's just a good deal but that's enough of that let's get
Speaker A
back to the video 8 hours left to texture every asset in the game and uh make all of the gamep playay plenty of time I ended up making eight different textures out of this picture of a rock from my backyard we got brick concrete
Speaker A
sand dark sand kelp metal Rock and wood yes this is from the same Rock please ignore Walter he will be relevant in just a minute by some miracle the assets worked first try and I built this four-story house using about 400
Speaker A
different pieces I even gave it a basement which is bigger than the rest of the house with a bunch of secret rooms and really small hallways and with that it's time to finish the game playay I want the creature to be sound
Speaker A
sensitive so I added a decibel label started putting sounds on everything the flashlight makes a noise swimming makes a noise you can bump into stuff and it'll make a noise based on how fast you were going and what angle you hit the
Speaker A
wall at I also made it damage the suit so I guess we have HP now too yeah this character controller is getting kind of out of hand enough about the player let's talk about the creature basically the way it works is when you're swimming
Speaker A
through the house there's a chance to hear this growling noise which means you have to be quiet immediately if you make a noise the creature will start sniffing around the room you're in following a preset path and if it touches you the
Speaker A
game does not crash it's on purpose it does that the house is split up into zones which each have their own Patrol frequency numbers it'd probably be pretty boring if you're just waiting around to get eaten so I made three
Speaker A
different upgrades tether upgrade gives you more rope suit upgrade makes you faster and recharges the flashlight and scrap metal can be used to repair the ship which is how you actually win the game with that the 24 hours was over and
Speaker A
I had successfully made a game not really the best game in the world but for 24 Hours come on that's pretty good just for fun I added some better models for the creature the upgrades and some background music but that's pretty much
Speaker A
it before I give you guys the download I got a bunch of game developers to play test it to get a real professional opinion the creature. exe is this is this a horror game it is a horror game
Speaker A
thank you for noticing oh my god oh ooh yeah the tether is really good wait did you model these in 24 hours okay okay okay I'm understanding dude this is such a Vibe I'm terrified of the noises in my
Speaker A
ears trying to not die that's like my my Strat right now how did you manage this in 24 hours what is this bomb bomb package going to blow this whole place up don't bump hey hey God I bumped to the table don't
Speaker A
don't make a sound don't make a sound it's here what it's here stop oh dude you don't want to turn off your flashlight either when it's here because no bro underwater cell you must be kidding me I hate this little cave
Speaker A
I'm out of here bro I like the animation 10 out of 10 dang bro I like the sound it makes sounds like Home Depot oh there it is no leave me alone no don't run into the wall okay Daniel this is the point of no
Speaker A
return careful just slip through the door reel in reel in get me the H out of here don't crash don't crash don't crash I'm my my armor is pounding right now the doors are right there Freedom oh my god dude you did it 1300 D
Speaker A
wait that's a pretty good time isn't it okay that's my record all right let's go 51 minutes I think the game itself is really cool I would emphasize the underwater portion by doing more out in the open things the real scary part
Speaker A
about underwater is that you are open on all sides 24 hours I might give you a 10 General game it probably go down to an eight that was a great experience dude the sound design is great the atmosphere
Speaker A
is like perfect I almost lost and I was like very actually scared The Vibes the feeling that was good I have to give this like a solid 9 out of 10 dude sound design 10 out of 10 Graphics 7.5 out of
Speaker A
10 I think the fish is Bullit though it it flicks around a lot it teleports not a fan of the fish yeah I'm going to give it any eight out of 10 but there's no buildings and the next game I see you
Speaker A
make I want to I want to see some buildings sorry man three out of 10 however if you factor the time8 out of 10 the tether is so good my heart is pounding dude if you want to play test
Speaker A
it yourself it's on my Discord and I'm giving 300 bucks to whoever can beat it the fastest in the end it's a bit rough around the edges but if players can enjoy it anyway that's a success in my book and
Speaker A
most importantly I did it all in 24 25 guys wait I can explain I didn't mean to [Music]
Topics:Daniel Kraffthorror gamegame development24 hour game jamunderwater gametether mechanicsound-based gameplay3D artindie gamegame design



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