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

The easiest way to describe my entry would be "Visual Novel".

Although the game play will be quite different from what you'd expect from a VN ...
Hint: if you expect to advance the story by just keeping to bash enter you won't get anywhere. Literally.


For the event I resorted back to Ren'Py and had to slog through learning the screen language all over again. It was much pain but I managed to slap in a working combat system and some puzzle elements, aside from just messing around with GUI.

"101 Hideous secret society—widespread—horrible rites in caverns under familiar scenes—one’s own neighbour may belong."

My brain says psychological horror after getting the theme so that's what I go with. Here's a super short video for the mid-point showcase!

The video quality is trash, I can't edit videos lol I'm so sorry


I am going to make a short maze-runner/puzzle game.
It has a small map design and I am trying to make some HUD design.

I hope I can make the objective more obvious.
Puddor
if squallbutts was a misao category i'd win every damn year
5702


I'm not sure if I'll actually have something playable by the deadline, as my motivation is pretty low (my idea is cool, its just pretty hectic irl) I did creepy myself out the other day while thinking of ideas for it so there's that.

Game is called 'The Door' - my prompt is 'horrible boarding house - closed door never opened'. You play as a young woman finally heading back to her home country, but she decides to stay a few nights in a boarding house so she doesn't have a 3+ hr trip to the airport, and to investigate a rumour about a 'disappearing door' a friend told her about. The boarding house has been out of use for a few years, with only a single member of staff remaining, but she seems nice, even if the place is in a state of disrepair. Naturally, things do not go to plan, and she has to fight to escape the building and survive.

The vibe is meant to be similar to late 90s horror titles, though you won't have any defensive capabilities besides running. I've always felt that RM horror struggles with the fact you can see the whole map...so I decided that you won't be able to (and to use that to my advantage regarding the door itself).
esby said I had to make a game
Well, I'm working on it in my free time, going for that gb/nes look with my crappy art. Hopefully will finish.


I'm sorry the image is so massive I do not know how to make it smaller.
All I have so far is the opening cutscene where the characters walk up to the door. When will there be gameplay in my game? The world may never know (~0o0)~
Its working title rn is Siren Night and its about this boy who invites a classmate over to do schoolwork and in the night, the classmate goes missing from the guest room while an eerie music echoes through the house.
KrimsonKatt
Gamedev by sunlight, magical girl by moonlight
3326
Here s my entry:

Entry #21: A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert. Face gone—no man hath seen it.

The plot takes place in the Zutara Multiverse between the games Elvengard Chronicles and GASPAR, right after the crimson meteor lands and nearly destroys the world. You play as Treck, a wandering hero and Koros' (From Meteo Chronicles) forgotten ancestor, who must defeat an ancient colossus named Karakal who's gaze can turn others into faceless statues. On this quest, Treck learns of Karakal's origins and a plot of forces higher than his own to disrupt the timestream and send all of reality spiraling into chaos.

Here is the title screen



Here are some of the enemies, one being the final boss Karakal and the other being a joke enemy found in a secret area.

Karakal


Neconef


Here are some other assets

Treck




Other various NPCS



Some Maps (No Events)








I picked up the basics a few new tools (fmod, blender, depth post-processing), so, a success there, but I also spent way too much time on grass physics and there isn't much to do but wander around and get stuck in a swamp. Not really sure I'll continue as I'm currently dumping all my time into another jam, and this thing still needs a lot of work before it actually looks Good instead of like just another shitty unity3d game.


So far i have finished 3 maps, this is one of them. im sure yall are hyped for the end product. (If i actually manage to finish it)
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347



Just a little snippet of conversation.


Busts slide off the screen while vanishing when the character's statement is finished.


8-frame diagonal movement.


Well, aren't you lovely. And wait. How do ruins seek you out? Aren't they, like, buildings, and all?
Current progress. Thinking of including a "out of the box" level of thinking in order to get the "true ending" or something.

Done systems stuff but I still gotta start with my writing. I usually don't make writting-heavy things, so... yeah. This one is not heavy in terms of amounts of dialogue, but about being the main point of the game.



Horo os o vodoo. It includes all the nothing I currently have.
I am feeling massively uninspired. Maybe usual seasonal despresso stuff, maybe I'm just too creatively tired from work to be able to invest heavily in making something actually scary...But I don't know if I'll be able to finish a full game for the event.

And given my stupidly high standards for what I want to give a gamepage to...I may drop out. We'll see.

For now though, I'm actually gonna make a video of what I have so far for the midpoint checkup. Because I Think what I have is pretty goood. :P

My Prompt was:
187 Dream of awaking in vast hall of strange architecture, with sheet-covered forms on slabs—in positions similar to one’s own. Suggestions of disturbingly non-human outlines under sheets. One of the objects moves and throws off sheet—non-terrestrial being revealed.


And here's what I have of the game so far.

JustAShyDoge
Still a dumb and shy doggo
9731
author=Illy
esby said I had to make a game


More like free 10ms. Esby's a genius

Anyway here's my not already posted in discord update


Nothing much because anything more will only result in more disappointment. Just your plain old first RTP horror project.

First I wanted to make some kind of small card game, closer to the solo board game, where the player should have managed resources and made decisions according to the random proposals offered by the game. The scenario was inspired by the situation in Asia in 1920 (Russian civil war, japanese invasion of Manchuria, western colonies etc), with a strong focus on characters. Then I realized that the gameplay I had planned was too complicated to do in time on Rpg Maker. Too many conditions and variables.

At this stage i'm back at the beginning. At least i've got a script :')
Checkpoint? I only started today. I'm still recovering from covid.

79. Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castle—discovered by dweller.

Ok so I mapped the required crypt.


I have also designed the game systems, I'm making a job system for the game but rather than changing your main job your main job is fixed, you change your secondary job. I'm not planning on having levels, instead your skill with weapons and err skills will improve as you use them. I'm also going to change the gameplay to resemble the traditional dice rpgs, stat wise I'm doing something similar to SPECIAL, but BRAVES (brawn, reasoning, agility, vigor, endurance, spirit) and there will be a lot of d10s. Wish me luck!
I've started really late, but I can gladly say that I've got pretty much the whole story done. In two days I've managed to make the full intro for the game, and I don't want it to last much more than an hour, even if it's just for my sanity.

Although I have no experience in making horror games, I'm really motivated to try this, so why not.
I'm trying to focus on a really dark relationship between the protagonist and his girlfriend while following the prompt that I got. You know, a pretty classic-style horror RPG Maker game with really basic puzzles and a bit of atmosphere.

I have no real idea where I'm going with this, exactly, but this is part of what I have so far.
Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300
Hi guys, just letting everyone know,

LAST DAY TO SUBMIT YOUR CHECKPOINT STUFF!