Memoirium: Building a Soulslike Retro Game as a Solo Developer

Memoirium is described as a retro Soulslike set in a chaotic and crumbling realm of dreams. What was the original creative spark for the game, and how did the ideas of dreams, nostalgia, and memory become its foundation?

I wanted to mix my background and love of writing with my favorite genre of soulslikes. It really all came together when I landed on the retro/PS1 aesthetic, which heightens or amplifies the feeling of nostalgia even further.

You have described Memoirium as a love letter to writing and games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Outer Wilds. What did each of those inspirations teach you, and how did you translate them into something that still feels personal?

For the writing portion, the lore or story of the game is layers of metaphor that talk about struggling with loss, pain, conflict, and learning to live with that. The "twist" of the game is the room that you can decorate and write in. None of the objects are meant to be obscure. I talk about some vulnerable experiences with the hope of encouraging others to be vulnerable with themselves.

Dark Souls inspired me to make an interconnected world where the experience of being lost is part of the fun. I've taken inspiration from places I've lived in the real world. As someone who was never trained in level design, it was easier for me to use existing spaces rather than make my own from scratch. Bloodborne showed me that aggressive combat and a really distinct tone can make a game an unforgettable masterpiece.

While I lean into the PS1 visuals, I made sure that I handcrafted everything so there is consistency throughout the whole game. Outer Wilds taught me that there is joy in discovering how a world works, rather than being told by a "tutorial." There are a lot of hidden mechanics within the game that I hope people will enjoy figuring out by themselves or with the community.

The game's world seems built around dream logic, with spaces that can shift from a modern school to a castle held together by wax. How do you design locations that feel surreal and unpredictable without making exploration confusing for players?

I tried my best to make each location feel distinct and to place markers for almost every room. So, especially since there is no map, players can consciously or subconsciously remark to themselves, "Oh, this is the room with all the glass statues." Though there is a "spell" that allows players to leave breadcrumbs around the world.

Soulslike combat depends heavily on timing, weight, readability, and consequence. How did you approach building Memoirium's combat around parries, blocking, timed attacks, weapons, and destructive lullaby incantations?

My favorite part of Soulslike combat is the idea of risk and reward. Everything revolves around the idea that your resource of "stamina" and "mana" fills up rather than depleting. You can push yourself to keep fighting, but it will be more dangerous because you are slower, or you end up hurting yourself by casting more Lullabies.

I would meticulously test every new attack and enemy whenever I added a new one. Their attacks needed to be legible and readable. There is nothing worse in an action game than being hit by an attack with no chance of reacting because it was either too fast or there was zero warning.

The Steam page mentions that most equipment changes your abilities and even affects the entities you encounter, such as armor influencing status duration or masks changing enemy behavior. How did you design gear to be more than just stat progression?

As a Solo Developer, one of the core tenets of my game's design was quality over quantity. And personally, as a gamer, I am not a big fan of collecting hundreds of pieces of loot and sorting through them to slowly increase my character's stats. I wanted to have build variety by introducing equipment that could drastically change your playstyle.

One example is a piece of armor that deals direct damage to enemies when you dodge their attacks. So while there aren't as many choices as you would find in other RPGs, I can say that each piece of gear adds a unique flavor to the player's experience.

Memoirium uses a retro visual style while also existing in 3D, with an atmosphere built around mystery, fantasy, and liminal dream spaces. How did you define the art direction, and what were the main visual rules for making the world feel cohesive?

From a technical standpoint, I believe I didn't use any textures larger than 256x256 pixels. Again, I made sure that I handcrafted all the assets in Blender, and I made sure that any other models I used still fit within the world and never stood out from anything else. Honestly, I didn't have any strict visual rules besides using the PS1 graphics within the world. I believe what truly makes it cohesive is that I built everything myself.

Can you walk us through your production pipeline as a Solo Developer, from writing and worldbuilding to level design, combat implementation, enemy creation, pixel/3D art, sound, testing, and final polish?

I first began by planning out the scope of my game. Having finished one game prior to this, I had an idea of what I could accomplish within 3-4 years, which was the timeline I had decided on for Memoirium. Before I even started on the story, I thought about how many areas I wanted to create and what would be within them. I knew each one would have unique mobs, a mini-boss, and a final boss. After that, I started to flesh out the story even further so I could actually connect these areas together and have relationships between these certain factions.

When I started working on the gameplay itself, I knew that the combat mechanics were the most important thing I wanted to focus on. So before I built anything else, I worked on creating a solid foundation for the fighting system. I went through many different iterations and versions, but my original design philosophy of having the resource bars serve more than one purpose remained intact.

For creating things like enemies and all the 3D art, I would start by finding inspirations or references. I would use the usual places like Pinterest, Google, etc. Then I would hop on Blender and do my very best with my limited skillset to create something that fits within the world and the area the enemy/item/object would be found in. There were rarely any cases wherein I would adjust the appearance of something I crafted. I knew that if I wanted to finish this game within my lifetime, I had to work quickly and efficiently. Since I am not an animator, I purchased the majority of the game’s animations from the Unreal Marketplace.

In terms of sound, I got the majority of the assets from the Sonniss GDC audio bundles. It’s a massive library of free audio sounds that has really saved me the time and effort of making it myself. As a Game Developer who prioritizes gameplay over everything, I knew that playtesting and playtesters would be an invaluable and vital part of development. Besides having close friends and family play the game, I recruited a decent number of playtesters through the platform playtester.net.

The system was efficient because players filled out a questionnaire after playing the game for at least 2 hours. The feedback they gave was essential to improving the game. Besides that, I myself consistently play and test out different parts of the game.

The game includes a mysterious safe room where Dreamers can rest, reflect, and treasure mementos from the journey. What role does that space play emotionally and mechanically in a game about memory and dreams?

The safe room serves as a place where the player can take a break from the stressful and challenging portions of the game. Mechanically, it serves no purpose in the game, as it exists as a completely optional part of the game. My true and honest hope is to encourage others to write and reflect on their own lives. I think it is too easy nowadays to get swept up and distracted. I believe it is a healthy exercise to think about our past and how it shaped us.

Outersloth is supporting Memoirium as a publisher. How has that partnership changed the development process, and what has it allowed you to do that would have been more difficult alone?

For the first two years of development, I had a job, and I would work on the game in my free time. Then, in 2024, when Outersloth picked me up, I was able to work on Memoirium full-time. They gave me all the resources I needed to make this game about dreams into the game of my dreams. Thanks to their support, I was able to commission music, hire marketing support, have the game localized, and hire a QA team as well.

For 80 Level's audience of artists and developers, what has been the hardest lesson from building a personal Soulslike as a solo developer, and what advice would you give to other creators trying to turn a dream project into a finished game?

The hardest lesson I had to deal with is the inevitability of there being bugs and glitches. Especially as the game's scope increases with more mechanics and systems, there will be a lot of frustration down the line. I had to learn not to let it frustrate me too much. No matter how much more experienced I thought I was, there was always something I missed or overlooked. It's natural, and even on larger teams, it will happen as well.

The advice I would give is to never give up. When you know you have a good game in your hands, then you should keep working on it, even if it's a few minutes at a time. It will all add up to a finished project eventually. But another important thing I want to add is not to ever let it get in the way of your physical or mental health. Eat well, exercise, take breaks, and socialize. When you are feeling well in your body and mind, then you give yourself the ability to make the best game that only you and no one else can make.

GoldenGratus, Game Developer

Interview conducted by David Jagneaux