# Dev Diary: sci-fi shooter and roguelike AEROCUBE | Unreal Fellowship: Games | SoloDev

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/dev-diary-sci-fi-shooter-and-roguelike-aerocube-unreal-fellowship-games-solodev/2533190>\
**Category:** Showcase\
**Tags:** UE-5, Blender, shootergame, shooter-game, epic-indies, ue, unreal-engine, UE5, dev-diaries, unreal, indies, shooter, Showcase, epic-for-indies\
**Created:** [May 29, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/dev-diary-sci-fi-shooter-and-roguelike-aerocube-unreal-fellowship-games-solodev/2533190 "2025-05-29T19:32:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CubeOfSkill](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/cubeofskill/32/1218131_2.png) [@CubeOfSkill](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/CubeOfSkill)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/dev-diary-sci-fi-shooter-and-roguelike-aerocube-unreal-fellowship-games-solodev/2533190/1 "2025-05-29T19:32:25Z")

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> **[AEROCUBE on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3762130/AEROCUBE/)**
>
> AEROCUBE is a Ski-Fi Roguelike + First-Person Boomer Shooter in a huge mysterious cube that always rotates randomly. Each room of AEROCUBE is different, but one thing stays the same: something’s always behind you, ready to kill.

```auto
Genres: Arcade, FPS, Roguelike, Sci-Fi, Space, Action, Dystopian.

```

My name is **Alexander Mukhitdinov** , I’m a solo developer who has worked with game engines like Unity, RPG Maker, and GMS2, but in my opinion Unreal Engine is the best fit for the choices I make in game development. I was incredibly lucky to be selected as one of only 50 participants out of 500 applicants worldwide for the **Unreal Fellowship: Games**.

Fellowship lead **Edward Bennett** said on Youtube in [Everything about Unreal Fellowship](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axIt0Az5owo&t=919s&ab_channel=UnrealEngine) that Unreal Fellowship can be considered as “_ **an intense game jam** _” and I think it really fits the definition of Unreal Fellowship.

It was the first game jam I’ve ever participated in, and I used all my knowledge to make the best game I could in such a short time. Since I’m a solo developer who sells games on Steam, I’ve gotten used to making my own assets and **AEROCUBE** wasn’t an exception. **Assets that have been used are created by me.**

Fellowship gameplay trailer (2 min):

[![](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/1/4/4/14436a57931bfd2f32a0f1c319652dc40b65e9c0.jpeg "AEROCUBE: game made solo with my own assets (Early version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ljlP7weIc)

I was working on the game as a fellowship project in May 6th - May 27th (22 days), although I wasted some days because l was making stylized assets which I had to leave behind.

| Fellowship Week | Date | Stage | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week 1 | May 6 - May 11 | Idea stage | It’s really important to decide on the genre and style early on. Especially if you’re creating your own assets like I do. At first, I was working on a stylized shooter called **Cubie shooter** , but I ended up completely changing the concept to a more serious sci-fi game called **AEROCUBE**. Below is a completely finished robot I spent 2–3 days creating, but I had to scrap it once I decided to switch to a realistic style |

 ![stylized robot](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/3/4/234c9ce2f101bebfdaf3a03cbca363c65d6ec00c.png)

| Fellowship Week | Date | Stage | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week 2 | May 12 - May 18 | Creating systems | 1)Created shooting system; 2)Created realistic lighting; 3)VFX; 4)Created all materials; 5)UI; 6)Added some 3D models. |

 ![If player won't see it then don't finish the model =)](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/b/d/e/bde4de342023f68ae75e692d9b593b79773a353d.png)

| Fellowship Week | Date | Stage | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week 3 | May 19 - May 25 | More systems and polisihing | 1)Chaos destruction; 2)System of movement; 3)Sounds; 4)Fixes |

 ![Bullet holes, cool](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/5/1/1/511f336d4cdc048391fe1f6b07a0261cdaa75817.jpeg)

| Fellowship Week | Date | Stage | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week 4 (2 days only) | May 26 - May 27 | Packaging, fixes then rest | In May 27th for first time in my life in one day I made 5 builds in one day to fix bugs as fast as possible for testers. I’ll never forget this the most intense day of fellowship. |

Even though the Unreal Fellowship has ended, I’ll continue updating the game. (See the next message for updates.)

### **Advice for Unreal Engine developers** :

1. **If you make game on a slow PC it’s actually great, because your game will turn out to be optimized since you’ll be always careful** 😉
2. **The earlier you decide what game you’re going to make the better**
3. **Publish the page on Steam or Epic Games Store as soon as possible and keep working on your game**
4. **If you make all assets on your own like me please decide in the beginning what kind of game it will be and be sure its the best option for you**
5. **If you live in a hot country like me - be prepared and good luck! I had 33-40°C almost each day, it slowed my work with the game a lot, but if you start something great like a fellowship game you should never stop.**

I hope you like what I did. Let me know what you think.

Also don’t forget to wishlist and follow **AEROCUBE** on Steam:

> **[AEROCUBE on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3762130/AEROCUBE/)**
>
> AEROCUBE is a Ski-Fi Roguelike + First-Person Boomer Shooter in a huge mysterious cube that always rotates randomly. Each room of AEROCUBE is different, but one thing stays the same: something’s always behind you, ready to kill.

EDIT:  
Systems that were used in this project:  
-Lumen;  
-UMG (Widget animations, rich textes);  
-Chaos destruction;  
-Physics and gravitation;  
-Materials;  
-Niagra (VFX);  
-Blueprints;  
-AI;  
-Post-process.

Cheers,  
Alexander

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**Author:** ![PresumptivePanda](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/presumptivepanda/32/1194593_2.png) [@PresumptivePanda](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/PresumptivePanda)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/dev-diary-sci-fi-shooter-and-roguelike-aerocube-unreal-fellowship-games-solodev/2533190/4 "2025-06-04T22:26:34Z")

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Hey there @CubeOfSkill,

Hope you’re well and having a great week so far 🙂

Love the sci-fi theme and floaty-jetpack style flying. Such a rad concept you’ve created here. Do you plan on sharing more gameplay trailers? 😃

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**Author:** ![CubeOfSkill](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/cubeofskill/32/1218131_2.png) [@CubeOfSkill](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/CubeOfSkill)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/dev-diary-sci-fi-shooter-and-roguelike-aerocube-unreal-fellowship-games-solodev/2533190/5 "2025-06-21T19:00:26Z")

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Week 4:  
Made early version of main menu. Yes, it didnt exist before

[![](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/0/9/9/0992c7d2d152e71c6893f32a1a5606f63adb2a73.jpeg "Dev Diary Week #4: Main Menu in AEROCUBE") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKjxkZHl6-0)

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**Author:** ![CubeOfSkill](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/cubeofskill/32/1218131_2.png) [@CubeOfSkill](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/CubeOfSkill)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/dev-diary-sci-fi-shooter-and-roguelike-aerocube-unreal-fellowship-games-solodev/2533190/6 "2025-06-21T19:02:55Z")

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Thank you so much for you interest!  
Yes, I plan to do it every week - AEROCUBE and [HitTube](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/solodev-dev-diary-hittube-rpg-game-where-you-play-as-a-v-logger/2478631).  
But for now I have to focus on HitTube