My team and I are big fans of games like Phasmophobia or Demonologist, and we've been wanting to make our own sort of 'ghost hunting' game for a bit. I grew up with a very superstitious family from old Ireland, and was raised being taught about pestering spirits called fae (not the sort you're probably thinking, but more traditional old irish lore). We thought it'd be cool to create a game with various bite-sized stories per map, and you have to find the evidence and guess which fae is haunting the area (this is totally RNG) before it kills you. You also must do certain tasks for each map that are associated with the story in order to complete it. Different maps unlock new potential fae, as well as tools and items you can bring with you to various locations that can help you out. 

Here's the first video of it, showing a bit of a sneak peek. You can get the general vibe hopefully. I will keep updating as it progresses!

Primary Mechanics

The player can walk around, interact with specified objects to collect or do tasks, and sprinkle Persuride (an ongoing theme in our games) over fae-touched items to get rid of/cleanse them. Camera system is true first person.

• LMB - Pick up or interact with an object
• RMB - Drop an object
• E - Use item
• Middle Mouse: Cycle inventory
• WASD - Basic movement

Journal: When interacting with certain objects, the symbol of a journal will show in the corner, along with the sound of a pencil writing, signalling that the player should check their journal. 

Completing Tasks:

Each map has unique tasks associated with the story of that map, and these tasks must be completed before the player can guess the name of the fae.

Risk Mechanic: The player’s risk level is directly correlated to their mental wellness. The lower it is, the higher chance of being hunted by a fae. Being in rooms with poor light or salting items that are not fae-touched will decrease player mental wellness.

Lose Mechanic:

Over time the player’s mental wellness decreases, thus increasing the chance that the player will be attacked by fae and die. Guessing the wrong fae will also result in instant death.

Win Mechanic:

The player must complete all tasks associated with their current map, as well as guess the name of the fae present. Each location has a PC or some other device allowing the player to send in their guess, always using the ‘Persuride.exe’ app.

Computer:

Most stats, tips and a library of the different fae type can be found on the computer. The PC is also used to finish a game, allowing the player to choose a fae name in hopes it is correct. For this reason, every map MUST have some sort of computer to access in order to use these resources.

The Fae

Each fae has it's own set of evidence, though all evidence overlaps in some way. For this reason you'll need all three pieces of evidence to truly know which fae you're dealing with. That said, each fae has a rare chance of doing it's unique ability, which can out it if you can figure that out (the game lore makes this fairly easy to figure out if you come across said ability). All fae species have little elements about them that if spotted by a keen eye, will give away that fae. Also, among each species, fae can differ further in behavior. One Cold Rider might be more or less aggressive than another.  Our goal is to have at least 10 fae by release, though twice as many would be a potential future goal.

So as not to give too much away publicly, I'm only going to list the names of the current fae here:
The Boogey Man (In the game currently)
Spring Heeled Jack (In the game currently)
The Cold Rider (In the game currently)
The Crone (In the game currently)
The Judge (In the game currently)
Madder 
The Veiled 

Items

Each map is able to unlock unique items associated with it. For example, running the Chapel allows you to find copper coins, and these can ONLY be found at the Chapel, but they can be used at any map. The items below are what we're currently aiming for, but a lot of it will need testing and probably tweaking. Crossed out items are ones already implemented. 

Persuride Shaker: A salt shaker that can be filled by interacting with a barrel of Persuride, found on each map. Shaking it over fae-touched objects will cleanse them and restore some mental wellbeing, while shaking it on objects that are normal can reduce mental wellbeing.

Flashlight: A typical flashlight. Found in the cottage, you can have up to 4 in your storage.

Copper Coin: Found at the Chapel. When a fae comes within bounds of an active coin (placed by the player) it will stun the fae for 10 seconds. It has a 50 second cooldown after being stunned in which the fae cannot be stunned again.

Camera: A basic digital camera used for taking pictures of fae. Only manifested fae will count. This is used to complete the final object (‘Get Proof’) in the Chapel story (though can be used elsewhere). Taking a picture of a fae will immediately stop it from hunting, but will dramatically lower your mental wellbeing. 

White Sage: Found in the Park. Burning white sage will temporarily protect the room it was burned in, reducing the amount of wellbeing loss over time by the player while they’re in that room. However, it may reduce the chance of evidence showing up nearby.

I added in the camera system as well as the journal system, which has made quite an impact on QA. Trying to take a photo of the fae as proof while avoiding dying has definitely amped up gameplay. You can go through your photos and delete any if you want from the journal, as well as checking any notes written down and a few other things. 

Park map is nearly done, and so far it's probably my favorite! I'd post a ton of screenshots but it'd get cluttered fast, lol.