I’m cowriting a wholesome game about a helpful ghost that’s looking like it will be ready in time! But I’ve also been thinking it would be fun to do a spooky sequel to my previous game, Closure, and maybe it could be done in four hours by reusing code…
5 Likes
I’m writing a La Petite Mort game that I suspect is going to be the weird goth kid standing in the corner of the spooky fun ECTOCOMP party.
6 Likes
So I’ve only just now decided to follow through on this at the last minute, so knowing full well that this isn’t enough warning and that time zones are bad, I will technically fulfil my obligation to let y’all know by saying now that I’m starting in about 40 minutes (2pm BST) and I’ll be streaming on my twitch.
4 Likes
I was gonna do a Petit Mort game about a ship captain who’s being yelled at to throw somebody overboard by a disembodied voice but I had a framing device where you’re at a fancy party and everybody speaks in a formal register, which I decided to represent by having people speak in rhyme and that is apparently 832 words long and also I lost track of time and spent nearly an hour and twenty minutes on it so uuuuuuuh I guess the meat of this game is gonna be real short then.
edit: writing rhyming dialog is not fast even if you’re not trying to make it particularly good rhyming dialog
11 Likes
1:48:43 into implementation, I’m realizing nine rooms may have been a bit too ambitious. I know how to implement everything, but writing all these room and thing descriptions is taking a while…
7 Likes
I wasn’t going to torture myself with a Petit Mort game this year, but then I got an idea, so damnit, I’m doing it again.
I’m keeping mine to one room, and it’s still making me urpy trying to get it done in time. And now 2 hours are gone.
10 Likes
I’ve decided sort of last minute to make a Petit Mort game about worshipers for a fake cult trying to find their God on radio lengths, totally not inspired by the Queens of the Stone Age song. It takes place on Halloween night and has all sorts of fun little costumes and cannibalism! I’ll see where I actually get with it by the time my four hours of writing are up.
4 Likes
I’m 02:57:46 in, and I’m almost ready to start testing. I just need to finish writing the “set dressing” (the story when play begins, the description of the player, and so on: the things that explain what story is actually happening) and a notebook that explains what you’re trying to do.
I’d really hoped I could be ready for testing by the three-hour mark, but I don’t think that’s happening. On the plus side, writing is what consumes the most time; bug fixes will hopefully be quick little touches.
3 Likes
I’m writing a nightmare-within-a-nightmare game: you’re in a nightmare, then it ends and you wake up, but you’re in another nightmare, and so on.
I’m using this as a way to teach myself Ink, which seems to work really well for this kind of thing.
I think it’ll be a Petit Mort game. I’m nearly three hours into writing.
5 Likes
I have a light hearted Halloween game ready for beta testing. Based on the time I spent in the last six week it is Grande Large. But the game itself is probably an hour long at most.
1 Like
I’m at 3:32:23, and I think I’m ready for testing. I’m just running through my game to make sure it’s actually winnable before I start asking people to play it.
It’s also got a tentative name: The Enigma of the Old Manor House. Which is my attempt to balance between sounding like a teen paperback mystery title and not getting lost in the sea of haunted house adventures from the 70s and 80s.
3 Likes
OMG, you have 9 rooms AND time left for testers. You are a magic person. I’ll check it out tomorrow after I finish testing fos1’s game-- send it over.
2 Likes
I just submitted a game called You Are a Zombie Yelp Reviewer. It’s a short choice-based game where you eat and review the brains of a terrified man.
Looking forward to reading everyone’s spookifying IF!
8 Likes
Whew, wow, ok, it’s done. That sure flew by. There’s one more Petite Mort entry. Mine is very slight; most of the time and writing went into its supplemental material. 
8 Likes
I mentioned this in the lounge, but I figured I’d drop word in here too: I ended up having to put the idea I had in mind for Ectocomp back onto the shelf for the time being (the life of a hemophiliac, is, as ever, a perpetual train of spontaneous injuries at the worst possible times… but at least I have something simmering for Spring Thing this year!) and while I had completed two stabs at a Petite Mort entry: I’m not really feeling either of them. Rather than submit something I’m unhappy with- I just doubled the painkillers and made myself a hot coffee, so fingers crossed the third time’s the charm.
7 Likes
I know, right? Four hours is like four minutes. Mine is slight, too. Most of them are, unless you’re @Draconis .
5 Likes
My game A Pumpkin? is complete and entered. Thanks to AmandaB, DrkStar and Aschultz for all of the beta testing.
PS. I didn’t think I was going to make. I had one of those medical issues I have periodically and spent time dancing with docs Sunday and Monday. It took a few days out of finishing and improving the game. Whew!
10 Likes
Submitted a Petite Mort with almost every minute utilised! Thanks to my last-minute testers today. It’s been a mad week with barely any spare time and so my two-thirds-finished Grand Guignol will have to wait for another time.
Looking forward to playing some spooky games tomorrow
10 Likes
And mine is in! I can’t figure out how to make Itch crop my cover art right, so I’m just posting it here instead. The clock stopped at 3:57:30!
Spooky spooky!
10 Likes
I submitted my game ‘Buggy’, which is an incredibly stupid game. 30 minutes of the 4 hours was spent looking up how to make Inform do the end of the turn rules after a parser error; I could have not counted it but I was ready to be done.
11 Likes