The Void: How to Create a Survival Horror FPS Inspired by The Mist Movie

Introduction

Hi, I'm Jeffy Zachariah (also known as Jeff or Peter Brand on Twitter/X). I'm from Kerala, India, and I've been working in games for over 15 years. The Void started from the disappointment of three years spent pitching a couple of projects to publishers and investors, none of which bore fruit. I had come to the conclusion that the old-school methods of building prototypes or proof of concept demos and pitching them to publishers are simply not going to work because publishers or investors are not going to take risks anymore.

They aren't taking risks from studios they know, let alone from somebody they don't. They would like to invest in a project that is already underway in development, probably about 30% at least, that has a good team backing and shows signs of success before they even consider putting money in it. This would require capital and time, which I didn't have.

Since 2009, I've learned and worked through multiple disciplines of game development, such as level design, environment art, technical art, pipeline development, art direction, lighting, and cinematography. I also worked with Graphics Engineers to develop lighting and rendering systems, engine modifications and a lot more, across various indie teams, AA studios like Slipgate Ironworks/3D Realms and some AAA stints with studios such as Ubisoft and projects associated with studios like Netflix, WB, etc.

So by now, that is 2026, I pretty much knew the "game" of game development very well at an artistic and deep technical level. My journey so far has taken me across a wide spectrum of disciplines that make up what a video game is. This knowledge would help me identify the scope and goals very early on for The Void and how to achieve them.

I figured I had to start looking for ways to be self-sustaining pretty soon, and I looked forward to the game community getting there. So probably my best shot at going forward was to start making games solo, put them out, and build up from there with the support of the audience.

As this would be my debut title as a Solo Developer, my main goal was to see if the project would be released and that I would not fall into scope creep or spend years on this title. Knowing what I know from my experience, I had to build a game that fit well within a scope that I was capable of delivering with the skills and talents in presentation that I had developed over the years. Horror seemed like a choice that fit all the categories above. The only question was the content.

Inspiration

The Mist is an all-time favorite movie of mine. Some people are stuck in a supermarket when the entire town is covered in the mist, and dangers lurk inside it; creatures that will take you away. I've always wanted to do something around this subject, and I figured this might be an opportunity for it.

My initial idea was to have something very simple, like Devil Daggers, where you are stuck in an arena that is surrounded by the mist, and enemies come at you from all directions, and you have to defend yourself. It was simple and nothing complex, and fit very well in a scope that I could pull off in fairly decent time without having to rely on external help.

During early tests, the game started to feel a bit more on the action horror side and less disturbing, less uncomfortable. And the points from where the enemies came, I felt needed a bit more structured design, like pathways. So the empty arena became the swamp, and the mist changed into the void. There is something eerily creepy about being stuck in a swamp that is surrounded by darkness, and this fit very well with what I was going for. Also, all these creatures appearing from the dark felt quite cool and scary.

Later on during the tests, I felt a more survival horror approach to the game would fit everything well rather than going with a bullet-hell action approach. The mood and atmosphere that I created, where darkness takes center stage, also fit the vibes more for a survival horror game. So I tackled this by giving the player just one weapon, some ammo, some explosives, a shield that can be used anytime, and by using a life system instead of health.

You start with one life. So anytime an enemy gets you, you die. There are no ammo spawns anywhere in the level, so you have to use wisely what you have. To me, all this fit together perfectly. I had this scope set in mind beforehand and decided I would not go beyond this limit. But if I wanted to, I could scale them down if required. A lot of development teams fall into the trap of scope creep, where they start small and think "this might not be enough" and start adding features that eventually bloat the project.

To avoid this, I set a limit initially as to what the game should have: a few abilities in shooting, explosives, a shield, and maybe a flashlight, and I decided not to, at any cost, go beyond that. Making the game fun with as little as possible was the motto.

The Void

The game takes place in a swamp-like place that is surrounded by darkness and The Void. You approach the void; you die. That is mostly where the Mist plays as an inspiration for the game. The rest of the things present in the game, in terms of art and design, are a huge serpent skeleton in the swamp and a church uphill. The game begins by giving you the following objective: Survive The Void, Find Absolution.

So you seek absolution for your sins, and the serpent is a symbol for sin as per Christian theology. So the entire swamp is, in a way, a metaphor for where you've arrived in life after committing those sins. This is where the spiritual theology aspect comes in. I could say it has more to do with Christian theology of redemption, as in Dante's Inferno, the video game, but I chose to take some liberties with its concept, which is why I call it more of "spiritual" theology.

We've seen psychological horror games tackle such subjects in the past, the best example being Silent Hill 2. The environment and lighting are made moody with thick fog and total pitch black in the backdrop, to make it very unsettling for the player. The actual scare or fear of the game doesn't necessarily come from the creatures themselves, but from the fact that you aren't given direct information about how to fight them, or enough ammunition to feel prepared.

You have to make every bullet count. Adding to that is the life system. One hit and you die. The game does provide you with things that, if used carefully, can help you beat it, and it is not unfair or cheap at all. In fact, there are a lot of things in the game's design that are there to help the player succeed at beating the game; however, these are hidden in plain sight. So some exploration work could end up where you could find hints that could help you succeed. Also, you can expect some things to dynamically change in the game now and then, which will give you moments of peace, moments of intense tension, etc.

I did not have any plans to make complex designs with multiple weapons, upgrades, skills, or anything like that, as the motto was "Make the game fun with as little as possible". I also wanted it to be that sort of simple game you sometimes want to get into, spend maybe a quick 20-30 minutes, and enjoy without having to think about anything. I find that unwanted complexity in games, especially in a lot of games these days, serves literally no purpose and does not add to the engagement of the game in any meaningful way. It also adds unwanted scope to the game.

The gameplay in The Void is very simple. Shoot at enemies with the weapons you have while making sure you do not waste the ammunition. You start the game with one weapon and some ammo, a few explosives, a shield, and one life. Additionally, you have a directional dash ability and a slow-motion ability that can be very useful.

There will be resources that spawn at certain intervals during the game at the church, such as ammo, life, shield, and explosives. These spawns are decided by the game. Depending on your playstyle, the game will decide what resources you are in need of for the upcoming wave of enemies, and it will spawn that resource for you. Half-Life 2 uses a similar mechanic for the crates that give you resources such as health, ammo, or armor. It’s a similar philosophy here. So the game does most of the balancing itself depending on how the player approaches the game.

Enemies may seem quite big from the start. The key is to find their weak spots and hit them right there; that will kill them in one shot. There are clues scattered throughout the environment that, if found, tell you what to do against each enemy type. There are quite a few enemies to face that do different things to you. Some have weak spots that are hard to hit when you're moving at pace in the level. The slow-motion ability is very useful in these situations.

It is not just enemies rushing towards you or shooting you; some of them freeze you, some blind you, and some pull you towards them. What the enemies are designed to do is to displace you to positions in the arena that might be risky for you. And what you do in return is to hold your position on the map that can serve you the best. Everything else that happens in The Void is meant to break this for the player, and this is where some psychological pressures can be felt. Things become more interesting when different kinds of enemies come at you at once.

Enemy spawns and spawn locations are randomized so you cannot pre-learn them. There is no indication of when waves start or end for the player either. All these combined with the randomization of spawns create an environment of unpredictability for the player. You won't know which enemy is coming from which pathway. Some might lunge at you, some might sneak up on you, some might fire at you from afar, etc. This uncertainty will keep the player on their toes from the beginning. And I believe that such mechanics fit very well with the survival experience I am looking to create.

The game is also highly deceptive and misleading in its design. It might present itself as more of an action, run-and-gun game. You have fast-paced movements with dash abilities mimicking modern games like Doom. Yet, as you progress a bit deeper into the game, you soon come to realize all of that was a facade to get you killed. I find that an interesting trick The Void might play on you. These mechanics are meant for quick escape from sticky situations that you will find yourself in later in the game and not as a means of offense.

So while the main experience of the game is survival-focused, there is a bit of mastery to be had in combat as well. Granted, it is very simple combat, but you have to hit these monsters in their weak spots, and some of them have weak spots that are either small or hidden away from you or in areas that you cannot easily approach. And you have to come up with clever ways to find solutions when you are presented with these situations in-game.

The enemies will get bigger as you progress deeper in the game, and no amount of ammo would seem like enough if you do not figure these out. Weak spots of enemies are shown in environments in and outside the swamp if you go in search of them. So all this combined is the fight the player faces on their journey to finding absolution.

Production

I started working on The Void around Christmas 2025. Unreal Engine 5.6 was what I chose to work with. The first-person rendering system was just getting into beta, MegaLights had just launched in experimental mode, a few plugins were working well for the version (like fog scatter, async loading, etc.), and a few improvements to the control rig made it feel like the right choice then.

Visually, the game uses all UE5 features, like Nanite, Lumen, and VSM shadows. The game was then optimized to run smoothly without any stutters or hitches (which would otherwise ruin the FPS experience). This was no easy task, and I had to manually fine-tune every setting to give what I thought was a really good gaming experience for the player.

Conclusion

The single most important thing — and I can't stress this enough — is scope. Decide what you can actually finish, then build that. Most first projects die not because the idea was bad but because it grew until it became impossible to ship. Your first game is the one that teaches you how to actually finish a game, and finishing is a skill in itself, separate from making. I've seen far more talented people than me never ship a single thing because they couldn't let go of scope.

So before anything else, learn to define a boundary and respect it. Pick something you can realistically complete, and make it fun. The Void itself was a deliberate exercise in this. I built something I knew I could deliver with the skills I had.

The last thing I'll say is that you don't need permission and you don't need a publisher to begin. That's the whole reason The Void exists. The tools are free, the knowledge is out there, and the audience is reachable. What's actually stopping most people isn't skill or resources; it's the fear of just starting and finishing something. This is the most important lesson I can pass on.

Jeffy Zachariah, Game Developer

Interview conducted by Stephanie Almogabar