BioLume

A raytraced underwater adventure

The Game

This game is the result of 2025's Epic MegaJam.

This year, I was interested in expoloring NVIDIA's branch of Unreal Engine so this was a great opportunity to do so. When the theme was announced, and it included the extra theme modifier:

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light

It only felt right that I did something with RTXDI and attempt to push the limits of what could be achieved with multiple dynamic lights, no clever tricks, just pure raytraced glory!

I decided to make a game based under water then. Where bioluminescent plankton and coral would illuminate the scenes (and a few critters that get in the way!)

You play a goldfish. Why a goldfish in deep sea you ask? The answer is pretty simple... Considering the time constraints, I didn't have much time to do a lot of modelling so I resorted to assets that I could use for this project, and this fish was the best looking one. Thank you @somitsu!

I also acquired a bunch of other assets to make up for the rest of the environment. Many of them were modified in one way or another, but I didn't do these assets from scratch - including music and sfx. Every other aspect of the game was done by me.

Your goal is simply to get out of each area, and you do so by picking up some glowing plankton and dropping them one some flower-like corals that open up some gates when you do. As it happens in real life.

Each level has a different feel to it, but the mechanics are the same. I only really had time to do 3 levels, one was very close but I was cutting it too close for the deadline. I may push it soon after!

And be careful not to hit any danger! If you do, you will have to restart the level.

Graphics Settings - MUST READ

This game relies heavily on RTXDI, meaning raytracing had to be enabled in all fronts and makes the game look great. However, performance will likely be a blocker for some. The following options are available to change to make the experience as smooth as possible:

• RTX On/Off -- This option exists purely for comparison. However, I do not recommend most players to change this as disabling RTXDI makes all dynamic lights throw a fit and quite likely crash the application... But if you have a beefy System, please do see how much of a difference it makes!
• Full Screen -- Pretty self explanatory. The game starts full screen, but if you're not quite having the smoothest of experience, pressing this button will make the game windowed and run better for sure.
• DLSS Off/Balanced/Quality/Performance -- We know the drill by now. Pick the one you like the most and lets you have the best experience. I find that even at Peerformance level the game looks pretty geat!
  
  A comparison of the RTX features can be seen here:
  

Gameplay Tips

• When you drop Plankton off a coral, you can pick it up again for a different purpose. However the previous gate will close again. Think about how to achiee the goal you intend!
• The game is a keyboard only game. I wanted to add controller functionality (it's nearly fully implemented!) but I didn't have time before the end of the game jam... Maybe I'll do an update soon to include it, I bet it will be a nicer experience with the controller.
• You can easily sprint throughout the whole game, though at that speed you slide more easily so it's best to control when you can. But sprinting guarantees you are never caught!

Controls

	Keyboard
Movement	W A S D
Sprint	Spacebar / Shift
Aim	Mouse
Pause	Enter

Hope you have as much fun playing as I did developing this.

Thank you Epic for coming up with this fun theme.
Just like the last one... I can't wait to sleep for 48 hours straight.