Description


The old clock on the wall turned to 3:33am. Punctual as ever, the noises started once more.

Every night of the last week had been the same. As soon as the time came, strange sounds could be heard somewhere in the depths of the cellar below your house. Every night you would gather your courage and burst through the cellar's entrance armed with whatever you could find only to discover nothing amiss or any signs of disarray in the insides of the chamber.

Tonight things were different. This time, the noises could be heard even closer and louder than ever. In a surge of exhausted agression you took the rifle by your nightstand and rushed to the basement entrance, kicking the door down while roaring madly hoping to frighten whatever had decided to nest inside.

As your eyes adjusted to the darkness in the pitch black room and darted around trying to look for any proof that your senses were still those of a sane person, you find nothing. The fine layer of dust on every surface told of the state of neglect the objects had been in before your intrusion.

But then, you heard the sound of flipping pages and a soft 'thud', you spun around with your weapon at the ready, and then you saw it, all of your hairs standing on end; A book, completely out of place given it's clean appearance, placed neatly in the middle of a small table at the back. The sound you heard had been that of the book opening. There were no footsteps on the dust below the table however, and there were no marks or fingerprints anywhere near the book.

Despite your instincts screaming and begging you to turn back, you could not help but to approach the book. You begin reading the words on the page, and you feel an unseen force pulling you inside! Before you can do anything, you get sucked inside the book!


This year's halloween event is to make a game using an entry from H.P. Lovecraft's "Commonplace Book"!

"This book consists of ideas, images, & quotations hastily jotted down for possible future use in weird fiction. Very few are actually developed plots—for the most part they are merely suggestions or random impressions designed to set the memory or imagination working. Their sources are various—dreams, things read, casual incidents, idle conceptions, & so on."H. P. Lovecraft

Basically, it's Lovecraft's notepad of ideas, most of which he never got to use in one of his horror books. Each participant will receive a random entry from the book, and you have to make a game inspired by it, either literally or metaphorically. Given that it's a halloween event making a horror game is encouraged but not an obligation. You can very well use the prompt to make a dark love story perhaps? Or a comedy horror kind of thing, it's up to you.

Example: Entry #23 reads:

"#23 - The man who would not sleep--dares not sleep--takes drugs to keep himself awake. Finally falls asleep--& something happens."

If you get this, then maybe you can make a game about insomnia and the person going insane to the point where the dream world and the real world have fused together, or maybe the story is about how a person is already in their desired world that they found while sleeping, and if they "fall asleep" in the dream, the dream residents will die a horrible fate, so the protagonist needs to find methods to keep themselves "awake" in the dream world.

I have personally taken out entries in the book that are too vague, cryptic or hard to understand, so that most of the prompts people get will be easy to think something for, but if for any reason you feel yours is too hard, you can reroll your theme, but only once.

◄ How To Participate ►

- Join the event.
- When event starts you'll receive a random entry via PM.
- You have a month to make a game based or inspired by your entry.

DATE EVENT STARTS: October 1st, 2021 00:01am (GMT)
DATE EVENT ENDS: October 31st, 2021 00:01am (GMT)
(Don't forget to change your timezone in your RMN settings so the site reflects your time correctly! Go to 'Edit Profile' under your name in the top bar, then click on 'Settings' under 'Profile Sections'!)


• This is a Single Player event.
• Any engine allowed as long as the game can be played in a Windows computer!
• Minimum of 10 minutes of gameplay to qualify for a Cool Badge.
• Make a gamepage! Upload your game there, then in the event page click on the 'Submit' button in the top right corner and choose that gamepage download.
• Using RTP is allowed, but game must be able to run without it installed (Guide for 2k3 click here).
• A single re-roll is allowed per participant in case you're unhappy with your entry.


You can earn one of these badges!

• "Do Not Stare Into The Abyss"
10Ms Badge - Participated in event.

• "Witness Of The Veil"
15Ms Badge - Posted something during the midpoint checkup.

• "The Abyss Stares Back"
50Ms Badge - Finished a game for the event.

• "From Beyond The Stars"
70Ms Badge - Finished a game for the event without asking/using a reroll.

Details

  • 10/01/2021 12:00 AM
  • 11/01/2021 01:00 AM

Achievements

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Commonplace Book.

Posts

Aw yeah. Let's get it!
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Interesting! And a midpoint checkup, also neat. Never knew that Lovecraft had a notebook of unused ideas. Let's see what we can do, shall we? >;3
OzzyTheOne
Future Ruler of Gam Mak
4676
Alright, lets give this a try! Good luck everyone!
I love the concept! I hope that I'll have time to participate...
Fuck it, let's go. :jojothonk:
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
While I don't generally consider myself particularly good at making horror, I might try this anyway.

*Edit: Besides, how can I say no to possibly punching Cthulhu?
> Sees Lovecraft

welp, time to join
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Super cool theme, and the logo and background (and just everything about this page really) are amazing! :DDDDDD Huge props to whoever made it!
Credits for the awesome goes to Mirak, who is running the event this year!
i hope someone gets entry 209, halifax NS is indeed a fucked up place
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Liberty
Credits for the awesome goes to Mirak, who is running the event this year!


Well done, Mirak! :DDDDD

I look forward to seeing the entries!
I'm gonna do it this time, I swear to god on my life I will Succeed.
A lovecraftian event?!

GIMME! DAT! SHIT! :D I love the Mythos!

(In fact, I'm sad that my lovecraftian dungeon crawler from last year's theme roulette wound up being...Something I wasn't super sure how to turn into a game worth making a gamepage for)

I can't guarantee that I'll be able to complete a full game so soon after the last event (that I'm still tired from and thinking of tweaking/improving)...

But Imma damn well try. I can't let down Mirak's BEAUTIFUL animated Pixel Tentacles and Comic Sans font. :D
KrimsonKatt
Gamedev by sunlight, magical girl by moonlight
3326
Hey, uh, will you guys be including the racist ones? Because there are definitely racist ones in that book.
Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300
author=KrimsonKatt
Hey, uh, will you guys be including the racist ones? Because there are definitely racist ones in that book.
As mentioned in the event page, I've gone over the book and filtered out the ones that cannot be used, this includes potentially problematic entries.
Is there enough stories in the book so that everyone in the event will get a different one, or will there be repeats of prompts? Neither is bad btw, it's always neat to see how two different people decide to handle the same prompt in their own unique ways, I'm just curious how many there are.
Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300
There's over a hundred so I think the probability of everyone getting a different one is high! I'm using a randomizer to assign entries though, so repeats are possible.
ironically i tried making a lovecraft inspired kind of game for the theme roulette event we just had, but failed. Hope i get lucky here
author=Mirak
There's over a hundred so I think the probability of everyone getting a different one is high! I'm using a randomizer to assign entries though, so repeats are possible.

If there's around 100 possible themes and dozens of people partitipating, a certain amount of repeats is highly likely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem