It Hides in the Dark

by honeyhop

co-authored: @killerdbat, @rosabellew1254, @jakesullivan22

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.17

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.08

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.20

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.20

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.95

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.50

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.77

You find yourself locked in a library after hours, but something doesn't seem right. You feel like someone or something is watching your every move. The candles lighting the building keep mysteriously extinguishing every 10 seconds, you feel like something bad will happen if you let them all go out. Can you keep the candles lit while solving the puzzle to escape the library? Or will you fall victim to the thing that lives in the dark?

How to Play:

•Every 10 seconds a candle in the library goes out. If all the flames go out, the monster will kill you.

•Use WASD to move and LMB to interact with the books, candles, and puzzle.

|| Credits ||

Design

##### Kylar Black (KillerDbat)
Level Designer and Programmer

##### Rose Wang (RosebelleW1254)
Programmer

##### Jake Sullivan (JakeSullivan22)
UI Designer and Programmer

Art

##### Rylie Parker (HoneyHop)
2D, 3D, and lighting artist

Gameplay Trailer

Puzzle Walkthrough

Tags: #3d, #creepy, #exploration, #first-person, #horror, #spooky, #unity

Genres: puzzle

Comments18

Federico Delgado4 Oct 2022, 01:02

I liked it. But it was kind of difficult to know what to do at first. Once i got it it was fun, but i wasn't sure if i was putting the books in the right place. The monster is really scary, i shouted when i saw it for the first time. Well done!

Matt Swieboda4 Oct 2022, 01:53

i guess in retrospect, solving the puzzles helps keep the candles on? regardless the game looks really polished, smooth controls, and excellent gfx, sfx, music, well done

nardandas4 Oct 2022, 06:23

I get the game, I get the candles, but OH MY GOD IS THAT SPOOKY. Half-leaving this here as a place-holder to try again when it's light. Great work on the mood!

HoneyHopauthor4 Oct 2022, 07:36

@nardandas thank you so much for streaming our game!! It was super fun watching you play it!! I'm glad to hear the game turned out so spooky!

Yurain334 Oct 2022, 19:15

Interesting idea

LDJam user 2989874 Oct 2022, 21:28

Great game, although confusing at first. Pretty scary (although that was probably the point), but I liked it that way. Great job!

tinykidtoo4 Oct 2022, 22:31

I didn't understand the puzzle very well. I know I need to put the books back in their categories, but I am not sure which books always respond to which category. Some clarification or notification would be helpful for the player. Especially one that is scared searching for the candle that just went out.

Which by the way you did a great job with the art and animation for dying.

Slothzilla Games6 Oct 2022, 00:48

Sweet atmosphere, graphics, and sfx! I almost cried when I spent so much time running up and down the rows, only to find there was a stairwell and a WHOLE other second floor.

I also got up to get dinner at some point, and left it running. I got back just in time to be jump scared!

Good job!

Iamsodarncool6 Oct 2022, 01:11

Outstanding mood. The environment art, and especially the lighting, are incredibly spooky. And holy shit the monster!!

Like others I found the game confusing, and I couldn't figure out how to solve the puzzle. I also had severe performance problems: I have a very powerful system, but I was only getting 20-30FPS on this game, and that really negatively impacted the experience for me. The obtuseness of the gameplay combined with the headache-inducing low framerate made me decide not to finish *It Hides in the Dark*, which is a shame, because I really want to see the ending.

DGSpitzer6 Oct 2022, 12:29

Holy cow that looks scary!! Is there any walkthrough video..

HoneyHopauthor7 Oct 2022, 00:46

@iamsodarncool Thank you for the feedback! We definitely need to go back and optimize the game, especially the fog we added in.

@dgspitzer We never thought about adding a walkthrough video, I'll go and make one soon!! Thank you for the idea!!

@federico-delgado @matt-swieboda @slothzilla-games @tinykidtoo Thank you so much for the feedback! We'll hopefully update the game in the future and make the puzzle more clear/make the layout of the library more clear!

(bonus thank you to everyone who commented on the art, I'm the artist on this game so it made me happy to hear everyone is liking the art!)

HoneyHopauthor7 Oct 2022, 01:35

@dgspitzer a walkthrough video has been added!

Rdawg77 Oct 2022, 20:50

aw man I love how creepy this game is! So COOL! Love the nightmarish vibe. The monster is so scary! Great stuff guys!

Fedir8 Oct 2022, 13:55

Very cool graphics. But at the beginning it was a little slow. The puzzles are also good and the monster is scary