Soulfused is a re-imagination of the classic text adventure genre with modern conveniences. It is also my first solo game development project which I intend to release for sale. (It is currently scheduled for a 2026 release, though that might change since I recently became a dad)
About the game
The game itself is set in a dystopian future where the player takes the role of a half human/half machine super soldier in service to the Empire. The story takes the player on a journey through questions about identity, loyalty and humanity as they complete the missions assigned to them.
A keyboard first approach
All interactions in the game are done through text commands, though with many QoL additions such as input history, shortcuts and auto-complete. The game is completely mouse‑free, which was a deliberate challenge which affected most of the design through the game. This constraint made me rethink conventional patterns, especially around UI navigation and feedback.
Take the main menu, for example. It shows a list of actions as if they were buttons to be pressed. I considered making it less like a standard menu, but in the end I decided to go with something the user might feel familiar with. This was also a great place for me to introduce the user to how they should interact with the game. Trying to use the muse on this screen will result in a popup informing the user how to use the command system.
Another challenge was the Settings screen. How to maintain a clear overview of the different settings and their options, while still making it easy for the user to interact with? Again, just like the main menu, I went for a more standard look while preserving the text-only input.
From hobby to release
The game started out as a hobby project exploring the generation of grid based 2D maps, but quickly evolved into an adventure game based on text input. It wasn't until about 18 months into development I realized that this could actually be a viable game to release commercially.
