I humbly present the announcement of “Amber Psychosis” - my free, open-source 2D horror. Q&A in thread. Thread

(Preemptive) FAQs:

Is it really completely free?
Yes. No micro-transactions, in-game purchases or paid downloaded content.
If you like the game, however, donations are always appreciated. I'm also considering a special edition for those who would like to support the work, but no promises yet.

So, what's the game all about?
It's an unconventional 2D psychological-horror game. It relies on darkness and suspense, not "jump scares" and cheap shocks.
It's designed in a minimalist manner, deliberately lacking in many traditional game elements. It focuses on the experience of playing more than challenge, but certainly can't be played without proper concentration - unless you want to die violently and horribly.
The narrative and game-play are intrinsically tied together and are designed to complement and inform each other. The game follows the story of a woman trapped inside her own mind in a deep coma, afflicted with an unknown ailment. She has been completely cut away from her life and family, with no recollections from the real world. The player picks up the narrative at the same pace and in the same way as the protagonist does, through messages carved into walls from the protagonist's separated subconscious and through the memories that the coma-induced world itself is made up of.

I've never heard of this "Liam Roddy" guy! Why the hell should I get his game!?
Everyone has to start out somewhere. This is my starting point as a developer.
And I can promise you, I've poured my heart and soul into this game.
Anyway, even if it is absolutely terrible, it's still entirely free. What do you have to lose?

What do you mean by “open-source” exactly?
I plan on freely distributing the source code and all in-game assets and allowing people to modify, adapt and general mess around with whatever the want. People can make modifications, translations, custom stories and really whatever they want and be able to freely release their modifications.
The game was created with Game Maker: Studio, which people will need to modify the game's source. You can learn more about the program at the official website, YoYo Games.

So, Windows, Mac and Ubuntu? Why not other Linux distros? What about other platforms?
Officially, Ubuntu is the only Linux distro supported.
This is because the game was designed to run on Ubuntu specifically. Compatibility on other versions of Linux isn't guaranteed, but it's free, so why not give it a shot and see?
"Amber Psychosis" was designed on and for Windows, and was debugged and tested on Windows. I have no real testing device for OSX (Mac) currently, but any Mac with OSX Lion 10.7 or better with an Intel processor should be able to run it.
As for iOS, Android, Windows Phone etc., this is a game that relies heavily on external atmosphere. Curtains closed, in pitch darkness, with good earphones is the only way to play. People tend not to play mobile games like this. However, if the game is well received, I might port it to mobile platforms eventually. The source code is very flexible, so it can be done.
3DS and Vita, (along with PS3, PS4, Xbox360, Xbox One etc.) are a whole other story however. Getting a game published on a big, single-company run platform is not so easy. As such, it's not really a concern of mine right now.

How and where can I download it?
The game will be made available across a wide variety of sites.
It'll be on my personal site, www.liamroddy.com, as well as plenty of other game download sites, (probably right here on Desura).
Steam isn't really a concern right now, but I'll worry about that later.
You'll be sure to see it plenty of torrent sites as well.

When will the game be released?
"Amber Psychosis" is scheduled for release at some point around mid-2014.
I can't really be more specific right now yet.

Is the entire game being developed by just one person?
Mostly.
The soundtrack is one of the few elements that others have been involved in. I've been working with a lot of great musicians, mostly for ambient soundscapes (made-up buzzword of the day), as well as some brilliant sound effects from various sources. Audio is a very important element to a great horror experience.

Want more details?
Stay subscribed to www.liamroddy.com for updates.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Feel free to ask any questions below.

Edited by: LiamRoddy

This might be interesting, but I would really like to see some gameplay or at the very least some screenshots to see if I like the artstyle (because even though gameplay obviously is the most important thing in a game, the artstyle also determines if I want to play a game).

Well, Metalspy, thanks for showing interest.

The game will have a very distinctive and fresh hand-drawn filtered-monochrome art-style. It's very hi-res and modern looking, no "old-school" 8bit or 16bit graphics (as much as I adore this style, it doesn't suit this particular game).
I do all the art myself. If you want to see a quick sample of my artwork, you can check out a few of my drawings. Here's a sketch I done a while back, for something entirely unrelated. Like I said, different project, and I'm going for a very different style in "Amber Psychosis", but just to show you I'm capable of quite a bit more than "programmer graphics" or generic assets.

As for game-play videos, I haven't any yet that truly show off the game in a way I am happy with, but as for screenshots I included an in-game screen capture in my original pre-announcement teaser. Bear in mind this is from a very early build and the protagonist as she appears there is in the process of being redesigned and the final, in-game graphics will be MUCH improved over that screenshot.

In the meantime, you can keep up with updates and developments through my personal website (with which you can use a feed reader to stay updated), on my Twitter (@TheLiamRoddy), or right here on IndieDB/Desura. Watch this space!

Edited by: LiamRoddy

Do you guys have a ModDB/IndieDB site? Sorry if I missed it, but I didn't see any link to it on the post.

Yldrania: No, I don't have an IndieDB page for the game yet. I only started properly on this site yesterday, so haven't got around to it yet. It seems very easy to do, though, so I probably will soon (possibly tonight).

Otherwise, there's always my site, RSS feed and Twitter. Cheers for the interest, friend!