The Abyss: From the First Zones to the Beta

Introduction

The Abyss: from the first zones to the beta

The Abyss was the first playable space designed to show players how to enter the world of Caos Entre Reinos. Its route was not built as a simple sequence of rooms: it had to guide the player, introduce systems, place dialogue and give every zone a readable identity.

This devlog focuses on the playable Abyss tutorial map that served as the first experience in the demo. It should not be confused with the future Abyss Hub, which is a separate production area planned as a floating island between worlds.

01 · The complete route

The complete route

The documented flow begins with the player waking up. From there, the route moves through a portal, reaches the blue crystal, crosses a broken bridge with a jump and arrives at a purple crystal. It then introduces the aerial dash, lets the player choose a fighting style, explains Orialis, leads to a chest, presents Akuma’s appearance and ends at the portal to the Chaos Spire.

That order became the map’s backbone: each section had to prepare the next one, and each zone had to contribute to learning or context. The Abyss was not only a place to walk through; it was the first complete playable sequence.

02 · From the defined flow to the first zones

From the defined flow to the first zones

On June 17, the tutorial flow was defined and the initial maps were prepared. On June 18, three community beta testers were selected to try the experience when it was ready.

On June 19, dialogue was organised by zone and long text was split into comfortable blocks for the Next dialogue system. This decision allowed conversations to accompany the route without becoming one difficult-to-read block.

On June 20, zones 1, 2 and 3 were recorded as ready. The map already had background ambient sound and localized sounds in fire zones and around magical elements. Part of the map was also optimized, and layout adjustments were made to make the experience more intuitive.

03 · Closing zone 4 and reviewing the map

Closing zone 4 and reviewing the map

During the June 20 review, several concrete tasks remained: finish zone 4, add checkpoint sound, make two final review passes and confirm which map parameters still needed final adjustment.

On June 21, zone 4 was completed. The Spanish text for the tutorial panels was also completed, checkpoint sound was added and the two final map review passes were carried out. The only open question left in that sheet was which parameters still required final adjustment.

More map bugs were corrected during the process, although the notes did not identify every case individually. We are keeping that distinction so that a general correction record is not turned into an invented bug list.

04 · Dialogue, translation and the complete experience

Dialogue, translation and the complete experience

The narrative side also advanced in stages. Dialogue was first organised by zone and long blocks were split so the system could present them comfortably.

On June 23, the complete tutorial experience was polished and validated for the closed beta. On June 24, the English translation of the tutorial’s new dialogue was recorded as complete. The Abyss map was ready inside the demo that would be shared with testers.

05 · Preparing and closing beta 0.0.5.8

Preparing and closing beta 0.0.5.8

Build 0.0.5.8 was cooked, detected errors were corrected and it was cooked successfully again. The demo was played through several times, with no unusual bugs or boring experience detected in that pre-release review. The build was also tested on a low-end PC, with stable FPS in the cooking test and a later check on that machine.

The private beta opened early from June 25 to 28 for three selected testers. Issues and first impressions were collected during the test, and the private beta milestone was marked complete. The Abyss had reached a first version that could be played from beginning to end, rather than remaining a collection of isolated zones.

06 · Status after the beta

Status after the beta

The area sheet keeps the status ready for beta, but the general Playable Abyss Demo milestone remains active for later work. The optimized map is still listed as pending, the two planned minigames have not been created and the decision about which class to omit if the scope does not fit in a future demo is still open.

It is also still pending to confirm which map parameters need final adjustment and to record precisely which additional bugs were corrected during the process. In other words, the Abyss is documented as ready for the closed beta, not as a finished system for every future version.

The next beta-tester candidate is 0.0.5.9v, whose overall focus includes the first early DungeonBlueprintForge integration, fixes and performance improvements. This entry should preserve the difference between the historical 0.0.5.8 state and any later map revision.

07 · The real next step

The real next step

To update this entry with current material, we need to confirm the build to show, record a clean walkthrough and verify whether the four zones, checkpoint, audio and adjustments described still represent the selected version.

If the video comes from 0.0.5.8, the publication should label that beta snapshot clearly.

Closing

A first complete playable experience

Building the Abyss covered the entire path: we defined the flow, prepared the first zones, organised and translated the dialogue, added ambient and localized sound, finished zone 4, reviewed the map, cooked the build and tested it with real players.

The result was a first complete playable experience. Optimization and future work remain, but the Abyss proved that a space can explain systems, guide the player and build identity through its route and atmosphere.

Follow Caos Entre Reinos: Reborn as the Abyss continues to grow after its first beta.

The Abyss grew from a route that needed closing into a space that could teach, guide and create its own atmosphere.