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Liminal Protocol
A retro CRT survival horror game powered by a custom WebGL ASCII raycasting engine. Calibrate nodes, survive anomalies, and climb the leaderboards solo or with friends in Steam P2P co-op. Early Access: actively developing new maps, game modes, and entities. Keep eye contact.

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Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔
Content
Includes Interactive Elements

Online interactivity

Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“I am a solo developer working on my second game project, using Early Access to help bridge the gap between design theory and real-world play. Liminal Protocol features a unique, custom 3D ASCII ray casting engine and complex game behaviors that require extensive testing. Bringing players in early allows me to squash bugs, test compatibility on a wider range of hardware, and fine-tune game balance based on actual playstyles. I'm learning a massive amount during this process, and your feedback is the most critical part of that journey.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“I plan to keep Liminal Protocol in Early Access for approximately 6 to 12 months. Since I am a solo developer, the exact timeline will depend on the community's feedback, bug reports, and any requested features that make sense to integrate before the full release. I want to make sure the final game is as polished and complete as possible before launching it out of Early Access.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“I plan to expand the game on multiple fronts for the full release. Key areas of planned development include:

Expanded Content: More maps, environment layouts, and anomalous entity types with unique AI behaviors.
Upgrades & Mechanics: Deeper suit modification systems and terminal hacking options.
Polished Multiplayer: Further optimization and stability improvements for the co-op hide-and-seek mode.
Engine Optimizations: Enhanced rendering performance and hardware compatibility for the custom ASCII raycaster.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The core gameplay loop of Liminal Protocol is fully playable and stable. In the current build, you can:

Experience first-person navigation within the 3D ASCII terminal environment.
Calibrate transmit nodes, run diagnostic sweeps on wall CRT terminals, and manage your suit's resources (flashlight battery, psychic shields, and sanity).
Encounter two distinct anomaly types: the gaze-sensitive Seeker and the patrolling Stalker Drone.
Play through the escape loop to successfully open the bulkhead hatch.
Join or host multiplayer sessions to test the foundation of our peer-to-peer co-op mode.
While the game is fully playable, you may encounter minor bugs, balance issues, or performance drops on some hardware configurations, which I plan to address throughout Early Access.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The core loop of Liminal Protocol is stable and fully playable. The current build features:

  • First-Person ASCII Grid Navigation: Explore real-time rendering of a monospaced terminal environment.
  • Two Main Protocols: Play Solo Protocol (hacking clue terminals and unlocking permanent upgrades) or Infinitum Protocol (endless layout generation under structural decay and environmental hazards).
  • Persistent Containment Suit Upgrades: Upgrade battery life, sanity dampening, movement speed, decryption hacking speed, decoy capacity, and shield strength.
  • Three Anomalous Entities: Survive encounters with the gaze-sensitive Seeker (Anomaly-01), the patrolling Stalker Drone (S-DRN), and the biological humanoid SCP-096 ("The Shy Guy").
  • Matchmaking & Leaderboards: Host private lobbies or join public games using native SteamWorks P2P matchmaking, and upload survival scores to global Steam leaderboards.

You may encounter minor bugs, balancing adjustments, or performance fluctuations on some hardware setups as we refine the experience during Early Access.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“As a solo developer working on my second game, community involvement is absolutely essential. I am still learning a ton, and I want to shape the game's mechanics, balance, and features based on what players actually enjoy.

I will be actively monitoring the Steam Discussion boards and Discord to gather feedback, read bug reports, and discuss ideas. I plan to share regular developer logs showing exactly what I'm working on and how community suggestions are being implemented.”
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About This Game

RESTRICTED SIGNAL DETECTED: PROJECTING INTO SECTOR 7

STATUS BRIEFING (LP-MAN-1993-S7):

On January 12, 1993, the carrier-wave quantum reactor inside Sector 7 went critical. The physical facility, its steel superstructures, and the onsite staff didn't explode—they experienced a spatial phase-shift, melting down and compressing into a monospaced digital grid. The steel, concrete, and the very air itself now exist only as ASCII coordinates.

The criticality ruptured the dimensional boundary, opening a direct corridor to the Backrooms—a liminal, endless labyrinth existing behind the fabric of consensus reality. Anomalies are bleeding through these tears, migrating directly into our monospace coordinate grid.

Project your consciousness via the T-Link Neural Bridge from a cryogenic isolation tank into this glitched, collapsing spatial lattice. Calibrate the terminals, lock onto carrier frequencies, and escape before your synaptic link collapses.

OPERATIONAL PROTOCOLS (GAME MODES)

Solo Protocol (Single-Player Hacking & Survival)

Deploy on sequential runs into the grid to salvage logs and acquire persistent upgrades.

  • The Decryption Loop: The Escape Bulkhead Hatch is locked by an alphabetical passcode. Locate Clue Terminals and hack the consoles (or use Bypass Keys) to reveal the password letters. Enter the password at the hatch to escape.

  • Persistent Upgrades: Spend XP between runs to upgrade your digitized containment suit across 8 categories, including battery capacity, sanity dampening, movement speed, decryption hacking speed, and cognitive shield capacity.

  • Emergency Credit Shop: Collect Data Cores and logs for credits, then spend them at Wall CRT Terminals for emergency consumables: battery refills, sanity pills, decoys, bypass keys, and shield boosters.

Infinitum Protocol (Endless Compression)

Survive in a recursively generated, endless layout under active structural decay.

  • Core Quota: Collect the required amount of Data Cores on each floor to unlock the escape hatch.

  • Cascade Failure: Floor stability decays continuously (0.3% * floor per second). At 0% stability, a cascade failure triggers: anomalies accelerate to high speed and sanity drains continuously.

  • Environmental Hazards: Navigate Pitch Black Zones (no radar scans, 2.5x sanity decay) and Radar Jamming Fields (blocks the HUD schematic map).

Multiplayer Sync Protocol (Steam P2P Co-op)

  • Matchmaking: Host private lobbies or join public matches using SteamWorks P2P matchmaking.

  • Cooperate to Survive: Team up with up to 4 players. Coordinate calibrations—one player can gaze-lock entities while others secure the nodes.

  • Leaderboards: Upload survival times and endless mode scores directly to Steam.

T-LINK CONTAINMENT SUIT BIOMETRICS

  • Flashlight Power: Toggle your flashlight (F) to see, but keep in mind it drains battery and hostiles can track the light beam footprint.

  • Psychic Aegis: A cognitive shield absorbs 90% of incoming sanity damage. It regenerates up to 50% near safe light sources (beacons, tube lights). If depleted to 0%, you take full sanity damage.

  • Sub-Space Decoys: Deploy decoys (Q) to distract nearby anomalies within a 12-cell radius.

  • Synaptic Collapse: Proximity to anomalies and total darkness drains sanity. If sanity hits 0%, the link snaps, resulting in immediate brain death.

THE ANOMALIES

  • Anomaly-01: The Seeker (Red Static Waveform): Freezes in place when looked at directly. Turn your back or look away, and it closes the distance at hyper-speed. Back away slowly while keeping eye contact.

  • Stalker Drone (S-DRN): Corrupted security sentinels immune to gaze. They patrol corridors with radar sweeps. If spotted, toggle your flashlight off to lower your footprint, break line-of-sight, and run.

  • Entity-03: SCP-096 ("The Shy Guy"): Humanoid anomaly that wanders slowly. Looking at its face triggers a 3.5-second scream (causing screen distortion), followed by a 15-second rage where it chases you at high speed.

CUSTOM RETRO TECH

  • Custom WebGL ASCII Raycaster: Renders the entire game world as a real-time grid of monospaced ASCII characters. Lighting, shadows, and depth shading are calculated on the GPU for high performance and authentic CRT style.

EARLY ACCESS ROADMAP

Future updates will include:

  • Deep-Grid Sectors: New maps representing the digitized remnants of the reactor core.

  • More Anomalies: Additional entities escaping from the Backrooms with unique AI behaviors.

  • Breach Modifiers: Unstable reality settings that alter physics, visibility, and entity speed.

  • Steam Achievements: Unlockable achievements for progression milestones and co-op extraction.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Generative AI was used during the development of this game to assist with:
- Generating static illustrations for in-game achievement icons.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 (64-bit) or newer
    • Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz or equivalent
    • Memory: 4096 MB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 / AMD Radeon R9 280X or better (WebGL 2.0 compatible GPU)
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
    • Sound Card: Standard audio output device
    • Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit operating system and a WebGL 2.0 compatible graphics card
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
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