Mechanics

Core Mechanics

These are the mechanics that stay consistent throughout the entire game:

Exploration and Interaction 

The player can walk around the world freely, as long as it’s in the confines of the map. This game offers unique and stunning visuals, made to oddly comfort the player and trapping them in the lie. As the player explores the circus site, they will uncover new areas which aren’t immediately accessible. Some areas unlock when the player has a certain item in their inventory or experiences a story event. Although the game is structured with linear progression, exploration is non-linear, this allows players to explore areas that they have already been to. 

There are multiple places to explore, this means that the player can interact with multiple objects. Some of them are for decorative purposes but some objects are important to the game’s storyline. Some objects can only be granted to the player once they have completed a task.  

Puzzles and Problem Solving 

Puzzles in No Entry After Midnight vary in difficulty and length. And some puzzles are required to be completed in order to receive an incantation piece. Problem solving requires the player to pick up certain objects and give them to NPCs. 

1. Sliding Boxes 

Mechanic: Players move boxes around a room in order to get to the other side. However, the wrong box movement could mean the player having to restart their progress. 

Example: 

Additionally…

2. Maze (Only one of these) 

Mechanic: Requires the player to explore the maze, however they aren’t alone. They are in a maze with a ravenous lost soul. In this maze, the player is surrounded by complete darkness, with only a dim light to help them see. If the entity is close to the player, they must find a hiding space in time before the lost soul consumes them. 

Example:  

3. Problem Solving 

Mechanic: The player will need to investigate the area for clues in order to progress. This includes picking up objects and combining them to make the solution. Problem solving puzzles can be long winded, or relatively short. Shorter puzzles include the player giving them an object, but the player has to figure out what object it is by given context clues from the NPC. 

Example: 

Minigames 

These circus acts are an essential part of No Entry After Midnight. It’s the way the player can receive in-game currency to spend in the carnival arcade and purchase items from the first aid tent. At the end of a day, the player can talk to the Ring Master to commence their performance shift. Depending on the player’s performance, they receive greater rewards, however, if their performance is poor, it will be reflected by how much currency they get. Not only that, but it turns stealth into a minigame. 

1. Harley – Tight rope 

Mechanic: Nola is going to walk a tight rope, to do this the player must keep the arrow in the centre of the of bar, if the arrow reaches out of bounds, the player gets an immediate game over. This results Nola in the first aid tent with their pay greatly reduced. 

2. Bozo – Juggling 

Mechanic: Nola has to help Bozo with his act by giving him the correct items to juggle, which can be found in a big pile. She must find the item in 15 seconds. There are 7 items that you need to help him juggle. If the player runs out of time more than 2 times or if they hand Bozo the incorrect item more than 2 times, then they’re out, resulting in a game over. Nola doesn’t result in the first aid, but Bozo the clown will not like her much. 

3. Finch – Fire tricks 

Mechanic: Nola has to copy Finch’s fire tricks in a sequence. It starts off with 3 tricks, she has to remember to 7 tricks. If she gets it wrong more than 5 times, it leads them to having a small accident, they set themselves on fire but Finch manages to save them before the flames does any serious damage. The player will end up in the first aid tent. 

4. Julie – Trapeze 

Mechanic: Nola is paired with Julie to be her temporary partner as her previous partner ended up in an “accident”. The player must press buttons at the right time to catch Julie and to grab onto the trapeze bars. They only have 2 strikes for this minigame. If they fail to do so, they can end up in the first aid alongside with Julie, which makes her not like you as much. 

5.  Agnes – Knife Thrower 

Mechanic: Nola has to help Agnes complete her act by standing completely still against a cork board. For this minigame, Nola’s body will tremble and her knees become weak. For this minigame, the player must spam the spacebar when a knife is heading her way , but must stop immediately when the knife has landed.  

The mechanic is introduced in the middle of the game to refresh the gameplay and keep the player interested.

Stealth and Sanity 

In terms of the psychological aspects of the game, the element gets emphasized in the middle of the game. Asides from the story event that gives the player a clear goal (finding out that the circus has a much sinister truth), the player is granted the ability to wonder the circus site at night. At this point of the game, the aesthetics change slightly. Not only does this change the game’s day time aesthetics, but the player is now introduced to “lost souls” which are unfriendly NPCs that will try to harm the player if they do not sneak past them.  

Sneaking will refresh the player’s experience by establishing a new sense of horror, feeling like they have to be more careful of their surroundings. If the player fails to sneak past a lost soul, it will lunge at the player with immense speed and will deduct 10% of the player’s sanity. However, that isn’t the only way that the player can lose sanity. If the Ring Master is walking around at night, the player will have to hide from him. Failure will result in an instant game over. Once the player has found a hiding spot, the Ring Master will linger around the area for a bit. The player is then pulled into a minigame which requires them to press the spacebar and right click button in a sequence, at the right times. The player will keep slowly deplete sanity until the Ring Master leaves the area. It’s important to know that the player cannot die from this event, only reach a 1% sanity stat. 

Table below shows what player can lose sanity from

Table below shows how player can regain sanity

Fatigue: Occurs after the player finds 2 of the incantation pieces and unlocks exploration at night time; what this does is makes the player’s tired. This affects the difficulty of the minigames completed at the end of the day.

Player Death: Although death isn’t a big part of the game, Nola can succumb to her dark thoughts. Once her sanity reaches 0%, she will reach a state of losing all hope, resulting in her committing suicide. Another way a player dies is when the Ring master finds you wondering at night, it results in an immediate death. When a player dies, they will go back to a newer save.  

Save Files: Save files are a big part of the game. The player must manually save their progress or they lose everything they’ve built from their previous save. Save points are scattered across the map in the form an ice cream stand. 

Boss fight 

For the boss fight, the player is put against the Ring Master. The Ring Master will attack the player by throwing circus equipment at them. The player must avoid the Ring Master’s attacks and when the Ring Master is down, the player must attack him. Throughout the fight, the graphics will glitch from time to time to break the 4th wall. This is done by replaying back time so that the player glitches from one side of the screen to the other.

By looking at Helltaker’s boss fight we can get a grasp of the vision I’m trying to imply.

Similarly, Paper Lily uses the same mechanic of the player dodging attacks: