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

Mirak
Stand back. Artist at work. I paint with enthusiasm if not with talent.
9300
author=Miremira
Does that disqualify me?
Nah don't worry. You can't resubmit it here but I saw you did submit the first version in time.

Also quoting this bit of Marrend's post which is a good suggestion to do next time:
author=Marrend
In my humble opinion, the best course of action in regards to fixing bugs post-event is to create a separate download, and direct potential players (and the event host) to that download.
There was a missing file in the game folder, so I had to create a new download !
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
https://rpgmaker.net/games/12262/

new upload with the minor fix <3
OzzyTheOne
Future Ruler of Gam Mak
4676
Had to upload a new version that fixes an easy to make softlock.

https://rpgmaker.net/games/12273/downloads/
KrimsonKatt
Gamedev by sunlight, magical girl by moonlight
3326
Entry #222: "Brian Futz’s information was quite valuable. After all, it’s a beautiful day to just sit on ether. 6 Symmetry was a success, and the ecstasy receptors responded well. Now, activate the fear receptors. The experiment continues."

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The livestream starts in a little less than an hour! The second should be on Monday (Sunday for some of you folks) 12pm AEDT.
I watched Liberty's livestream, it was great! I'll make time for Monday as well. Since my game hasn't been played yet it might be better to play the latest version which is probably 99.9% free of bugs. I've just now uploaded it, link here:

https://rpgmaker.net/games/12244/downloads/12311/

This is probably too late for Mirak's big review video but I'll still look forward to that!
Where can I watch the livestream?
author=s4urr
Where can I watch the livestream?


It's on Liberty's Twitch ( https://www.twitch.tv/silversatyr ), she hasn't done your game yet. There'll be another stream on Monday I think.
Thank you a lot! I was confused because I thought it was on YouTube.
My game has also been updated with several bug fixes and some hints in one infamous puzzle, so it may be worth to update.
Version 1.0.5
It will be on youtube. I usually upload event streams to youtube a few days after and then put them here. If you want to catch them in real time, I usually post the link in the RMN discord at the time, too. >.<)b
Here's the video of the first stream:


There are timestamps for each game.

The next stream will be tomorrow at about 11am AEDT. That's about 18 hours from now.
Next stream is in 50 mins!
Depends on how long the games are but there's likely two more to go! Tomorrow I'll be streaming same time, same place.

But for now, here's today's stream:

Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Achievements! Yaaaaaaay!
OzzyTheOne
Future Ruler of Gam Mak
4676
Achievement get, woo!

Darn it, I shouldn't have asked for a re-roll! >:(
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
I forgot I did enough to get a couple of badges! Thank you!