This game adopts a linear story structure; this means that when the player talks to Harley, they are given a main objective (hints where the next incantation piece is). Players must get the previous object in order to progress to get the next one; more than one object cannot be found in a single day. However, once the players have the main objective, they are free to wonder around the world and complete tasks non-linearly, this means that when a player has accepted a task, this can be carried over to the next day.
I want the player to be given some sort of freedom when they play this game.
Types of worlds
There are two types of worlds, the day and night. These two vary in difficulty, the day time is more colourful and there is little psychological horror aspects, whereas during the night, the player encounters enemies; lost souls. Night time also has a different colour palette in comparison to the day.
World Progression
As the player progresses with the game, the game will sort of break the 4th wall. This can be done by having another NPC be aware that they have a task to be done. 4th wall breaks become more and more obvious as the game goes on. This is shown through the environment by having “unloaded textures” or images. By adding this, it will contribute to the psychological horror aspects of the game.
Incantation pieces
Incantation pieces are scattered across the map. The main goal of the game is to retrieve all these pieces and the player can only retrieve one piece per day
Once all of the pieces have been found, the player will encounter a cutscene with the Ring Master and a boss fight will commence.
Side quests
The player can choose to interact with the main circus crew and do a side quest for them. In return, the player gets a special ability. There are 5 in total.
Map concept
This is roughly what the map could look like, as long as the main points you see are here, other environments can be added as well to make the area feel more lively.
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.
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…
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:Â Â
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:Â
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.
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.
Win conditions: Nola gets to the end of the tight rope
Lose conditions: If the arrow hits the red part of the bar, she falls and end up in the first aid tent
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.
Win conditions: Nola successfully gives bozo all 7 items he needs to juggle
Lose conditions: Nola fails to give Bozo 2 of the items, resulting him dropping all the items on top of his head
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.
Win conditions: Nola completes 7 rounds of memorising Finch’s fire routine
Lose conditions: Nola is given 5 chances, if they use up those chances by not memorising the routine correctly, it results in a game over.
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.
Win conditions: Nola has to complete 1 minute of being on the trapeze.
Lose conditions: The player fails to press the right button / button on time.
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.
Win conditions: Agnes can manage to throw knives around Nola’s body.
Lose conditions: Player can’t manage to stay still, resulting them to get lightly grazed.
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:
Overview of art direction: 2D art, quite cartoonish. The style is visually appealing and explores “child-like wonder” as it’s set in a circus
Mood/Theme: *Varies from setting to setting*
During daytime: When player explores the circus site, it’s vibrant, joyous and full of energy. There are decorations and crowds of people everywhere.
During night time: The mood shifts completely, it feels gloomy, eerie and sinister. It almost feels as if the player is going to get jump scared at any moment.
References:
Character sprites: No obvious line art for the characters, big heads so the player recognises their features and pastel colours. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Night in the Woods, helped define the character sprite visual direction.
Environment / environment: Utilises thick line art and simplistic shapes; not too much detail in the background. Almost like a child’s colouring book and takes inspiration after the Coffin of Andy and Leyley.
Nola is the protagonist of the game, she grew up on the streets and because of her unconventional upbringings she learned how to be quick on her feet and be quiet when needed. She is quite awkward and bashful around other people as she doesn’t know how to act “normally” in front of them. Despite this, she tries to be helpful and is an all-round pleasant person to be around. Nola is also a curious individual, interacting with as much of her surrounding environment as possible. Now that she’s settled in the circus and now knows what it’s like to have a family and people that she cares about, she would risk anything for them.
Harley is an aerial ballerina and considered the crew’s sweetheart due to her kind and outgoing demeanour. On stage, she looks elegant and moves with grace on the tightrope. She is full of energy and will go out of her way to make new friends and make them feel special. She has been in the circus since she was a young girl and has come to love all of the circus performers.
However, her reasoning for bringing Nola into the circus is anything but pure. She intends to make Nola retrieve these incantation pieces; in return Nola gets sacrificed instead of the entire circus crew.
Considered “morally grey”
Motivation throughout game:
Get Nola to retrieve the incantation pieces so she sacrifices herself instead of the circus crew
Bozo is a clown, although his job consists of making other people laugh, he can’t seem to love what he does. He finds it humiliating having a huge crowd of people laughing at whatever you do, even if it isn’t part of his act. As soon as his shift ends, he makes himself a cup of coffee and goes straight to his trailer to watch his favourite show consisting of colourful ponies navigating their friendship- this side of him is meant to be kept a secret.
Bozo is quite a pessimistic character and dislikes most of the circus crew but puts up with the main members.
Finch is a fire performer and one of the oldest in the crew. That being said, he is also a husband and a father, but because of his line of work, he can’t see them often, but he writes regularly to them. As he’s a father he projects his fatherly instincts onto his crew mates without realising. This can be done in the form of cooking meals for his crew mates.
Finch is a very caring and friendly co-worker and will do his best to up lift the player’s mood.
Clara is a trapezist but up until recently, she has been taken out of the circus routine completely due to an unseen circumstance with her duo. Due to their disappearance, Clara has been spending most of her time in her trailer and helping out with the equipment.
Due to her having more free time, she usually goes back to her trailer to sketch out costume ideas; as her act requires her to do tricks in the air, she isn’t allowed to have thick or long skirts as a health and safety precaution. She sketches out a costume concept and proceeds to make the costumes herself. She doesn’t mind spending the majority of time by herself as she is quite a reserved individual that doesn’t like to speak much at all.
Edith is a knife thrower and gives off a cold aura and impression. She is also diligent and excellent at what she does as her act requires her to handle knives and occasionally have another crew member assist her with her act. Despite her expressionless gaze and unwelcoming vibe around her, she cares deeply for her friends and often gifts them luck charms. She is also a very spiritual person, believing in the occult.
Edith is also suspicious of the Ring Master and Harley for the disappearance of Clara’s duo, her avoiding the circus’ “sweetheart” has earned her judgemental stares from some of the circus performers.
The Ring Master is the main antagonist of the game, he portrays himself to be extroverted and attentive to his crew’s needs. Although this holds some truth to an extent, he meddles around with dark magic to interact with another realm. This realm’s residents are hungry creatures and feed on the souls of the deceased.
In some parts of the game, the Ring Master breaks the fourth wall through his dialogue and mannerisms, but not in a way that it is obvious to the player.
Motivations throughout game:
Sacrifice the crew’s souls to the lost souls and gain more power from it
Impede Nola’s progression in the game
Lost soul concept
*These concepts can be changed as long as the lost soul maintains a mask design
These are lost souls in their harmless state, which is the majority of them. Lost souls are residents of another realm and feed on human souls, but their hunger never ceases. The sad lost soul indicates that the player can do a side quest for them in exchange for currency.
A corrupted lost soul is a lost soul that has gotten too greedy and went out of their way to kill a human and eat their soul all to themselves. These are the entities that will show themselves at night, at random. If the player fails to sneak past them, the corrupted lost soul will lunge towards them and take a bit of their sanity away.
Outstanding features:
A broken mask, half happy half sad
A crooked silhouette
Animation Style
All characters (except enemies): No hand drawn animation needed. When characters move, they bounce slightly. For reference, look at The Coffin of Andy and Leyley character sprite movements.
Animation when player moves down
Animation when player moves up
Animation when player moves left
Animation when player moves right
Corrupted lost soul: Stays stagnant, at most, the entity will need to be animated like it’s inky
Environment: Small objects can be animated to make the area feel lively E.G bubbles floating in one spot, grass swaying in the wind.
Character Sprites
*The first row shows Nola in all her outfits; her normal outfit, street outfit and the last one can only be obtained after completing Clara’s side quest.
Characters at night
Characters have a slight blue tint
Environment
Market / Alley way:
Dark, dingy and damp. Almost like an alleyway in New York, but be mindful that this is set in the 60s. Broken bottles and litter, mainly in the alleyway.
Circus tent exterior:
Decorations everywhere, stalls of food, bubble machines, and performers about.
Circus tent interior:
Big interior, shaped in a circle as to showcase the main stage. Equipment can be seen lying about and bits of confetti.
Carnival:
More lively, rides and arcade games are at every corner. Even more food stalls and bigger crowds of people
Trailer village
Surrounded by the forest trees, bits of confetti everywhere and trailers are spaces randomly. Some are close together, some are further away.
Circus at night:
Environment changes completely, some of the plants glow in the dark, feels barren and eerie. There is fog everywhere and a slight blue tint.
Night market
Feels magical and mysterious, crowds of lost souls. Firefly lamps and fire flies luminate the area. Stalls selling human flesh.
Circus maze (only accessed at night):
Completely dark, shrubs are sparsely spaced out. Trails of blood can be seen at certain points
Examples of environment art
*These concepts can be changed as long as the overall “vibe” stays relatively the same.
Alley way
Circus entrance – Day
Circus entrance – Night
In each environment of the game, the player will be able to save their progress by interacting with a popcorn stand:
Although this is in greyscale it shows the concept of what it could look like, sometimes the popcorn stand has a popcorn man behind it, serving you and on coming people!
Ever since she was young, stealing and pickpocketing is all came to know. Raised by the coldness and apathy of oncoming crowds of people, Nola learned from a young age that no one will save you, no matter how loud you scream. Growing up on the streets teaches you a few things, one of those things is to thief without getting caught. But everyone’s luck eventually runs out- which is what happened to Nola. One busy afternoon, she steals from the wrong girl and despite her sweet looking face, she has the senses of a fox. Instead of striking Nola, the girl forgives her and offers her a position in the circus that has come to town for a few weeks. Although a bit sceptical at the offer, who was she to be picky? She lived in an alley way, sleeping on damp cardboard and a tattered potato sack. Reluctantly, she agreed to come with her- but only to see what it’s like.
When they got to the destination, it was like something out of a colouring book. Everywhere they looked, laughter and smiles were abundant. The circus was flourishing, buzzing with life, brightly dressed performers practiced their acts in the open, musicians filled the atmosphere with catchy tunes, and the smell of sweets and freshly roasted meats infiltrated Nola’s nostrils. The bright fairy lights intertwined with the posts and all the new sense felt a foreign world
She couldn’t help but be mesmerised. Everything that was right in front of her was the polar opposite from the damp, cold streets she spent her life inhabiting. This world felt too surreal- and she wanted to be part of it.
For the next couple days, Nola did her best to learn some of the routines as she would be performing them soon. Over these past few days, she had come to learn a few of her crew mates’ names; Bozo the clown, Finch the fire performer, Clara the trapezist, Edith the knife thrower and the girl that she met at the market is Harley, who is an aerial ballerina. Nola loved the people here and couldn’t imagine not being part of something greater.
However, there was this feeling Nola couldn’t shake off. There was just one rule placed that all circus performers must follow set by the Ring Master, “don’t wonder around after midnight”. She didn’t think much of it at the time but her curiosity grew by the hour until one night, she decided to sneak out and explore the circus past working hours. It was almost ghostly looking at the place, the fog had set in and the wind whistled in the distance. When she had reached the tent, she peered through a rip to see that the circus was still going on… but the audience looked like they didn’t belong here. Another thing she noticed was the acts, they looked more dangerous without safety nets in sight. As the show continued one of the funambulists were struggling on the tight rope, they were blindfolded and shackled. Suddenly they tripped and fell, plummeting onto the hard floor. Nola couldn’t help but vomit at the sight of cherry red spilling from the body, but what shocked her the most was the lack of reaction from the audience. She stumbled backwards and scrambled legs trying to balance herself once again.
In that moment, Nola realised that the circus that she had come to love was not what it seemed. She had entered into something more sinister than she could have ever imagined- but she couldn’t leave now.
Conflict
After Nola witnesses one of their crew mates die in a horrific way and finds out they were sacrificed to demonic beings from another realm, they are now tasked with finding these mysterious incantation page pieces to save the residents of the circus.
Journey
Harley becomes aware that Nola was there on the night of their crewmate’s death and gives Nola the task on finding 5 incantation pieces. Harley elaborates that the circus is under a curse that the Ring Master has placed and uses the circus residents to feed the audience members (lost souls). Nola being here for a short time, will be least likely to be suspected of finding these pieces.
EndingsÂ
This game has multiple endings, depending on how many friends you make, your ending changes. Friendships can be made once you do a side quest for a character which can be found in the world flow.Â
Ending 1- Nola has made no friends. All of the circus residents need to find other ways to make money. This leaves Nola to go back to her alley way, but Harley visits you often.Â
Occurs when the player has made 0 friends
Ending 2- Nola has managed to make a few friends! However, some of the others want to return back to their lives before the circus and Harley is no where to be seen. With the friends that you have, you travel the world.Â
Occurs when the player has made 1-2 friends
Ending 3– Nola has managed to befriend most of the circus! As a result, you guys revamp the circus and recruit more people to join.Â
Occurs when the player has made 3 friends
Ending 4– Nola has made friends with everyone! However, due to the events that have taken place at the circus, they have decided to start a small restaurant, serving Finch’s food elsewhere. Harley is forgiven and she is a waitress at this restaurant.Â
Primary goals: The main objective in the game is to wonder across the circus site and help find the missing incantation page pieces; This isn’t an easy task as players will be faced with puzzles, minigames and an extensive amount of exploration and interaction.
Secondary goals: Befriend your crew mates! By reaching certain narrative events, you can choose to accept a quest from your crewmates, in turn you receive a new ability that can help you in the long run.
Player progression
Player progression in a narrative based top down RPG is tied deeply to it’s unique characters, storytelling and mechanics. Unlike traditional RPG action games, the progression is primarily focused on personal growth, narrative development and slowly unveiling the game’s truth, instead of stats and abilities.
Game progression
Early game:
Tutorials and introduction
Simple challenges
Story set up
Exploration and world building
Mid game:
Increased complexity
Character growth and abilities
Deeper story and side quests
Introduced new mechanic
Late game
Boss fight
Player has in-depth understanding of the world
Power maxxed
Rewards
At the end of an in game day, the player must complete a minigame. Depending on their performance, they can earn coins which can then be used for the arcade. Depending on their relationships with the NPCs, they can receive a new ability that will help them navigate the game with more efficiency.
Essential Experience
I want my player to feel a sense of close bonds but I also want them to experience a sense of anxiety; Especially during the second part of the game.
The core of the game revolves around exploration and unveiling the secrets of the circus. The player must explore the environment, complete minigames as well as puzzles and avoid wondering audience members.
Target Market
15+, all genders, gaming experience: casual to mediocre gamers
NEAM is a game for players who love, top down RPGs and drawn to psychological horror story elements, they enjoy the thrill of suspense and secrets. This game is also for players that are attracted to cute RPG visuals and rich plot alongside with exploring the backstory of the circus and characters. Due to the game’s themes with the occult, death and language used, it’s best suited for players aged 15 and over.
Unique Selling point
NEAM offers the player story book like visuals that boosts the experience and charming characters that the player is free to befriend.
