Backroom Watch

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 first-person, fixed-view 3D liminal night-shift survival game titled “Backroom Watch.” The player is seated in a security office at the end of a long, yellowed backroom arcade corridor, looking out through an office opening. Use a dark, oppressive atmosphere: sickly beige/yellow walls, patterned brown carpet, tiled ceiling, weak warm fluorescent bulbs with slight flicker, deep shadows, fog, and a mostly black background. Model a security desk and old monitor in the foreground, with arcade cabinets along the left side, a claw/prize machine in the back, and a ticket machine on the right. Include left and right security-door openings at the office entrance; when closed, show large physical metal-style door props in those openings. Use simple low-poly arcade props and an animated, generic employee/mascot-like humanoid enemy, with no copyrighted characters.

The objective is to survive a 6-minute shift, represented as 12:00 AM progressing to 6:00 AM, without running out of power and without allowing the wandering mascot into the office. The HUD should be a full-screen overlay with three top status boxes labeled TIME, POWER, and THREAT. Start at TIME 12:00 AM, POWER 100%, and THREAT QUIET. Show a centered status/message strip below them with warnings and narrative updates. At the bottom, provide three large controls: LEFT DOOR, CAMERAS, and RIGHT DOOR. Door buttons toggle between LEFT DOOR/LEFT SEALED and RIGHT DOOR/RIGHT SEALED, with sealed buttons turning dark red. The CAMERAS button changes to LOWER CAM when the monitor is raised and uses a cool blue active style.

The core loop is camera surveillance and power management. The mascot begins in the Prize Room, then periodically advances through this route: Prize Room (threat QUIET), Yellow Corridor (DISTANT), Carpeted Crossing (MOVING), then randomly approaches either the Left Door or Right Door (AT LEFT/AT RIGHT). Its movement is animated and it should only be clearly visible on the currently relevant camera feed while distant, though it can briefly pulse into view after moving; at a door it is visible near the office entrance. The player can raise/lower the camera monitor with the Cameras button, keyboard C or Space, and select four feeds with mouse/touch or number keys 1–4: CAM A — Yellow Corridor, CAM B — Carpeted Crossing, CAM C — Prize Room, and OFFICE — Security Desk. When the monitor is open, display a large dark camera-panel overlay with a thin border, camera title, four camera-selection buttons, and animated scanline/static interference. The 3D viewpoint should switch between the selected camera positions in the corridor/rooms and the office view. Camera buttons should report whether the mascot is in the selected location through the message strip.

Let the player toggle the left door with mouse/touch or A, and the right door with mouse/touch or D. Closing a door consumes power, and leaving doors and the monitor active should be discouraged. Drain power continuously at a base rate, with additional drain while the monitor is raised and for each closed door. If the mascot reaches a door and that corresponding door is closed, make metallic knocking/warning feedback, send it back to an earlier corridor position, and continue the game. If the corresponding door is open, immediately lose: stop the shift, hide the camera panel, play a digital scare sound, move the mascot rapidly into the office for a brief jumpscare, and show an end overlay titled “TOO CLOSE” with the message that the costume breathing was heard before the camera could turn on, plus a Try Again button. If power reaches zero, automatically open both doors and lower the monitor, display a warning that the lights die while the arcade keeps humming, and leave the player vulnerable. If the timer reaches 6:00 AM first, win: stop the shift and show an end overlay titled “6:00 AM” with text that the ceiling lights snap on, the mascot freezes between the halls, and the player made it through the shift. Include click/interface sound effects for controls and a digital sound effect for the scare.

Provide a start overlay titled “Backroom Watch” with a description explaining the camera/door/power survival premise and a Start Shift button. On restart, reset to 12 AM, 100% power, monitor lowered, both doors open, mascot back in the Prize Room, and the initial message “12 AM. The room is too familiar. Use cameras, doors, and power carefully.” Make the game mobile-friendly with touch/pointer buttons and keyboard shortcuts, while using a 3D Three.js-like perspective, smooth camera transitions, shadowed lighting, and a muted yellow-brown horror arcade visual style.