House of Light
ROLE
Independent creator
ENGINE
GameMaker Studios 2
DESCRIPTION
Explore a lighthouse in the form of a candle and use your fire and wax abilities to solve environmental puzzles and unravel the story behind a devastated town.
YEAR
2022 -
GENRE
2.5D Platformer, Puzzle game
PLAYER MODES
Single-player
PUBLISHED ON
Unpublished
SUMMARY
House of Light was my entrance test to Futuregames, a Game Design school in Stockholm. The goal was to create a game with a thought provoking narrative and interesting gameplay.
CONCEPT
“His breathing had started to slow down and sounded heavier than before. His hand, cold and stiff on the red stained, wet sheets. The wounds on his stumps had reopened and his body smelled of a familiar foul smell. I knew what was coming but I wasn’t ready to accept it. He had asked me to devour what was left once the light had left his eyes but it was a request I could not agree to. I guess I wasn’t naive enough to believe that he would live on in my body if I ate him. I’ve already taken so much from you, dad. So let’s rest together now. Sweet dreams”
The game is set during an historical event known as Holodomor; The great famine of Ukraine (1932-1933). During this time the citizens of Ukraine were so deprived of food that most of the population was eventually driven to cannibalism.
With the event as inspiration, I based the narrative around the aftermath of a lighthouse keeper and his daughters' attempt at survival.
Because of the sensitive nature of this topic, the story is told through environmental clues, leaving room for theories to be made.
Some examples of such environmental clues are old, Ukrainian inspired assets, photos of the lighthouse keeper and his daughter, and partially visible human remains.
GAMEPLAY
Puzzles can be solved by using candle wax and fire to either move, build or burn objects.
The wax can be shot in any direction and will harden with time or soften with heat.
Hot wax can be used as lubricant to move heavy objects or help the player glide and gain momentum in big jumps.
Hardened wax can be used as stoppers for moving objects and building blocks.
Fire can be used as a static light and a destructive tool to clear a path.
The player also has access to oil which can increase the size of a fire.
DEVELOPMENT
Paper prototypes.
For this test level, I included different types of puzzles I imagined would exist in this game.
Visuals
I wanted the visuals to look a bit old, dusty and glitchy for this game to really invoke an eerie vibe, so I used a frame by frame animation style, drawing each frame by hand, with each animation using only 4 frames.
More animations here.
Reflection
House of Light is a simple game with room for improvement so I do not consider this to be its final form. However, I am very content with the direction the game is heading and I believe many creative puzzles and challenges can be built on its foundation.
Further down the line I would love to create puzzles that are more complex and creative by making it possible to combine already existing abilities into a brand new solution. I want to make the player feel like a magician without making the game too difficult.
I would also like to give the game a more immersive experience by changing it into 2.5D so that the game can properly utilise the environment and have something to explore in every corner.