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

i had zero idea on what to do for the jam for so long, then yesterday I came up with some kind of rail shooter where you go along a road and things get messed up. this is like 2 hours of work lol
Some maps in the game so far:



(This one is supposed to be super dark)

To be honest the story is still so vague I'm not sure how it's going to be like in the end. Right now I'm focusing on mapping and on events. I'm working on the story as well but I'm not quite there yet. We will see how it will turn out.
I'm going to pretend this is an actual map

(the screenshot took the window borders of the game some reason)
(edit: same image, but changed link into locker)
Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300
Here's my checkpoint stuff:



I'm using twine 2 this time.
I hope you guys like CYOA digital books!
Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300

Checkpoint Period Is Over
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
LOL RIP i've been so busy i had no idea we were doing a checkpoint. oh well i had little done during the first half cuz... so busy.

things are proceeding well enough now though.
I feel that the whole thing is okay, but maybe the part of Halloween may not be able to be made.
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
DAMMIT! I didn't realize I had to post my proof of progress here! I thought just the Discord was fine. :x


Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300
REMINDER

Hi guys, we have 10 days to go until this event is finished, so it's time to remind everyone that you need to upload your game to a gamepage (a game submission on the site) before being able to select that game download on this event page, sometimes gamepage approval can take a couple of days, so I reccomend taking care of that now while you have a cushion of days to go.

Looking forward to playing all your gams! :D
:( I gave up. I was severely lacking in creative energy this month. Apologies.

Best of luck to the rest of y'all! :)
AtiyaTheSeeker
In all fairness, bird shrapnel isn't as deadly as wood shrapnel
5424
Against all odds, I think I've got the playtesting done. Gamepage needed to be re-approved, as I didn't have enough game lore to convey. But as far as I can tell, as janky as this experiment feels, I think it's as ready as it can be.

We've got another seven days to go, gang. Finish strong if you can. Cut corners if you have to. And no shame if you can't make the deadline. Hang in tight.

EDIT: Oh yeah, here's an Itchio release in the meantime.
OzzyTheOne
Future Ruler of Gam Mak
4676
7 more days to go! Let's goooo people!
So, as you might already know I've been procrastinating a lot this time as well. Seven days left and the story I had in mind is way too long and complicated, I will never finish on time. I've been thinking for another story, but for some reason these days I can't seem to come up with anything creative. So my last choice is to ask you guys for help. Can anyone please give me some story ideas??
My entry is this: 93 A place one has been—a beautiful view of a village or farm-dotted valley in the sunset—which one cannot find again or locate in memory.
I'll try and do something in 7 days, otherwise I might as well give up idk.
I'm choosing to withrdaw from this event. Sorry about that.

I kind of knew getting into this I probably wouldn't be able to finish, but hey, it's been fun brainstorming and so forth.
KrimsonKatt
Gamedev by sunlight, magical girl by moonlight
3326
I finally finished playtesting my game. It's ready for release right now, though I'm still waiting for my page to go up to post it. Posted my game page 2 days ago, hopefully it gets accepted by the deadline! But yeah, finished up everything. There were a lot of issues throughout development, but I pushed through and got it done.

@NoBody13. I have an idea! How about a young adult with amnesia and can't remember his childhood finds a relic that recovers they lost memories, revealing a village that was erased from history because they knew a hidden truth about the world. In fact, this forgotten village was the village they came from, but when it was erased from history and everyone's memories wiped they were sent to live with a fake family as a cover up. Now they must journey across the country finding their old friends from their childhood in order to recover their memories and reveal the "truth that was erased" to the world. Though I doubt you can accomplish a story on this scale, playtest, and post a game page within 7 days lol. If you haven't started anything and are not nearly done you're pretty much doomed at this point.
I am also going to drop out since I've been too busy lately ftr
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
I'm going to try to finish my entry, but I can't make any promises. I just haven't had any motivation for this project, at all. I've got other projects I want to be doing, I don't want to do this one, but I'm trying to do this one and the result is that I'm barely getting anything done. I might be able to force something.
Puddor
if squallbutts was a misao category i'd win every damn year
5702
Yeah unfortunately I won't have anything to submit. The stars are not aligned. I may continue the project eventually, or at least implement some of the ideas into other stuff I'm working on.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I was going to hold off a bit before officially submitting my entry, but, what the hell! Even if my game doesn't hit the 10-mintue mark, I would still at least get the participation and check-in achievements!

Besides, there's still a little time left to update, if inspiration strikes, or bugs come up.