After Hours

Cinevva's analyzer read this game's design doc and its source, then wrote the brief below. "Make your own" hands it to the game creator as your opening message, so you start from a real spec rather than a one-line idea.

Create a short, replayable first-person 3D horror exploration game titled “After Hours,” set in an abandoned indoor children’s play place called Sunny Smiles Play Place after closing. Use a compact 40-by-40-unit maze-like floor plan with dark blue-black fog, a dark floor and ceiling, gray-blue partition walls, party-room corridors, colorful play-place props, and a strong vignette that becomes heavier and reddish as danger increases. The camera is eye-level first person with a small white crosshair. Start the player near the southwest/lobby side at approximately (-14, 1.7, 14), with free mouse-look and collision against the walls and room bounds.

The environment should visibly include friendly shapes made eerie: four colored glowing birthday-token pickups distributed around the four corners/rooms; three glowing battery packs; bright blue-and-yellow cylindrical crawl/play tunnels that can be hidden inside; several small round colorful tables that can be hidden under; two three-door gray locker banks that can be hidden inside; a pink-walled ball pit filled with small multicolored balls in the southeast; hanging yellow star decorations; floor stripes; colorful party lights (pink, cyan, yellow, green, and purple) that flicker; and three raised metal security shutters that can slam down and back up. Place a large exit door at the north edge of the building. The exit door initially blocks the player and has a faint cyan glow; after all tokens are collected it opens by lowering into the floor and changes to an urgent red/pink glow.

The main objective is to explore the maze, collect all 4 glowing birthday tokens, and then reach the glowing EXIT gate before being caught. Each token spins/levitates, increments the token counter, restores 18 flashlight battery points, raises the mascot’s alert, pulls/warps the mascot closer, and triggers a brief blackout. The final token causes a longer blackout, unlocks the exit, starts a final chase, makes the mascot faster and fully alert, increases flashlight drain, and causes shutters to slam periodically. Batteries spin/float and restore 38 battery points when collected; there are only three of them. The flashlight starts at 100%, can be toggled, drains at about 2.8% per second normally and 4.2% per second during the final chase, and turns off at zero. During blackouts all ambient lights and the flashlight are almost completely dark for a short duration. The player can conserve the light to reduce danger, but darkness makes navigation and the mascot more threatening.

Add one roaming enemy mascot: a simple unsettling party mascot with a pale capsule-shaped body, large pale round head, pink/red snout and bow, dark round ears, and bright glowing red eyes. It starts near the northwest area and follows a patrol route through waypoints around the building. When it detects the player within a sight range, its alert rises and it pursues the player; alert gradually decays when the player is not detected. Its sight range is longer when the flashlight is on, shorter when it is off, and very short while the player is hiding. It moves faster as more tokens are collected, as alert rises, during blackouts, and especially during the final chase. Touching it causes an immediate loss. Show its red eyes clearly in the darkness and make them intensify as it approaches.

Provide hiding as a central survival mechanic. When near a table, tunnel, or locker, pressing the hide control locks the player in place, lowers the camera view, turns the flashlight off, clears movement, and slightly reduces enemy alert. The HUD should show “Hidden” or “Holding breath” while hiding. Moving exits the hiding spot and restores the previous flashlight state if there is battery. If the mascot reaches a hiding player, force them out and end the game. If the player is not near a hiding place, show a brief message such as “Find a table or tunnel to hide.”

Use event-driven horror: token pickups can make the party lights cut out, pull the mascot closer, trigger red-tinted screen flashes, and sometimes spawn a brief fake apparition in a nearby hall or slam a nearby shutter. The fake sighting is a translucent black humanoid/shrouded figure with glowing red eyes, faces the player, lasts roughly 1–1.5 seconds, and can cause a jump scare if approached. Nearby enemy encounters should produce danger messages such as “Its eyes are on you,” heartbeat audio, whispers, static flashes, and brief jump-scare overlays showing a large distorted pale/red mascot face with glowing eyes. Use procedural/reactive horror audio: low pink-noise whispers during high fear or blackouts, sharp synth stings on scares and shutters, and a membrane-synth heartbeat that speeds up as fear rises. Fear should depend on mascot proximity, low battery, blackouts, apparitions, and the final chase; hiding provides some relief. Apply camera shake/subtle head motion, thicker fog, darker background, and a stronger red-black vignette at high fear.

Implement desktop controls: WASD or arrow keys to move, mouse to look (pointer lock), Shift to run, F to toggle the flashlight, and E to enter/leave hiding. Running is faster than normal movement and is unavailable while hiding. Implement touch controls matching the visual HUD: a large translucent circular movement joystick at bottom left, drag anywhere else on the screen to look, and three stacked circular buttons at bottom right labeled LIGHT, RUN, and HIDE. RUN toggles running; LIGHT toggles the flashlight; HIDE enters or leaves a nearby hiding place. Make the interface dark translucent glass panels with rounded corners and subtle borders.

The always-visible top HUD should have three panels: “TOKENS” with “0 / 4” initially, “FLASHLIGHT” with “100%” initially, and “STATUS” with a context-sensitive value such as “Sneaking,” “Running,” “Lights off,” “Can hide,” “Hunted,” “Hidden,” “Holding breath,” “Final chase,” “Escaped,” or “Caught.” Show short centered message pills near the bottom for events such as “Find the four tokens and get out,” token discoveries, blackouts, hiding, shutter slams, and “EXIT OPEN — RUN NOW!” Include a start modal explaining the premise and controls, plus win and loss screens. Winning should say “You Escaped” and explain that the player got out with all four birthday tokens; losing should say “Caught After Closing” and show the relevant reason. Keep the visual style low-light, colorful-but-eerie, atmospheric, and arcade-horror rather than photorealistic.