MÆRE
CONTENT WARNING: Horror Theme, Off-screen Violence, Mild Nudity.
Music and Sound by FreeSound.org, Ovani Sound, GameDev Market and Chris Gray
MÆRE is an experimental horror game I made for Halloween this year about trying to fall asleep in a haunted room.
The game takes around 7 minutes to complete. The game is best experienced with headphones. The game is a little dark as I was trying to reproduce the feeling of being in a dark room and staring out trying to make out different shapes. But I've tried it on 4 different monitors and I think its possible to see whats happening.
HOLD SPACE to close your eyes.
RELEASE SPACE to open them.
Use ARROW KEYS to look around.
Keep your EYES CLOSED and FEAR METER low to fall asleep.
If you hear something in the dark it will raise your FEAR METER, as will seeing an entity.
It is difficult to fall asleep if you are afraid. So make sure you keep your FEAR METER low.
You can reduce your FEAR METER by looking around the area where ou heard the noise coming from, this will reassure you that the area is safe.
Ghosts thrive on attention. So if you do see something that should not be there. Don't pay attention to it and eventually it will leave you alone.
When asleep you may dream.
Nothing can hurt you in a dream.
But you may still feel the sensation of pain.
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
The difficulty of the game is not high, but it is indeed very interesting.
One of the few games i actually played through. Well done.
THEY WON'T ALLOW ME TO SLEEP..
Was so simple, yet very terrifying and super well done! The creatures were scary as heck and it was challenging and fun! Great game you made!
How do you lose?
Good game but very easy and not incredibly scary after the first scare (although the bed ghost caught me very off guard)
every time one of them popped up i was allways like hey girl its my best fren
surprisingly easy lol
Dear developer, check out a video about your game that has been included into Scream Jam 2023 Highlights video! Hope, you will like it.
Every time I saw a ghost why did my brain literally think "Wassup homie how u been" Like what. And when I saw the ghost in the bed next to me I was scared for a min but then I just said "Okay bestie you do u"
absolutely adored this game, the art was so cool and it spooked the hell out of me!!!
Creepy game, loved it!
I just want to tell you something: you have gold in your hands, Chris! Explore more of this amazing mechanics in a longer game and you'll have an instant success! PLEASE DO IT!
Greeting from Brazil!
Thanks so much. A sequel is going to follow but I'm going to probably do a couple of other things first. I want to really spend some time getting Maere 2 right. I made this in a week so imagine what I could do with longer.
I also have to be very careful not to sacrifice the scariness whilst trying to make the game bigger. I think if I'm making another it needs to be even scarier than this one. I've got a lot to think about.
wow, great news! It's kind of crazy to think that you managed to create this atmosphere in just one week. May you have many free weeks from now on then!
Can I make suggestions? You could add a clock, starting at midnight until morning. The tension and paranormal activity could increase (peaking at 3am, maybe?) and make the fear bar fill up faster. The player would have to manage the game mechanics (perhaps with some elements such as praying, covering the head etc.). You could also add temporary sleep paralysis, causing the player unable to move or perform any actions for a while. And, of course, think about a game over if the bar breaks. Something like "you will never sleep again" hahaha
But, yeah, you have a lot to think about. And I'll be waiting for it!
Thanks for the suggestions!
I'm working on figuring out what a "lose" state might look like in this game as one of the biggest criticisms of this game is that there isn't really any way to lose. Its interesting you bring up sleep paralysis because I considered putting that into this game but due to the limited development time on the game jam I ended up leaving it out.
I just want to add that I really enjoyed your video and thought you analysis was really interesting. One other thing that will help me to improve on this game for the next one is watching how people play the game. Understanding the way players approach situations in this one will help me to craft a better experience next time around.
Like I say theres a couple of different things I want to make first whilst I think about exactly how Maere 2 is going to play out. But when I finally do get around to Maere 2 I hope it'll achieve a similar level of success. One of my biggest problems is I'm bad at communicating what I'm up to when I'm working, so perhaps I will try to keep a dev log for this next game to keep people informed of progress.
THIS IS SO GOOD AHHHHH!!! This format has so much potential. I appreciated the fact that there were no jumpscares lol. the art and atmosphere is very unique and i am living for it. please make more games like this they are so good!!! i like the fact that is is free and can be played in browser. as a broke chromebook user, i appreciate it.
I’m going to make a sequel but it won’t necessarily be my next project. That said I make games quite quick so it won’t be forever away
yesss thank you!! love the game so much<33333 im always looking for some more cool horror games
Nice game, I really enjoyed the creative loop definitely brings me back to my childhood and dealing with sleep paralysis and falling asleep haha. Definitely has a few good scares in there! The art details were also very creepy, great work!
Awesome game, despite its simple gameplay everything is done exceptionally well, from the sound design to the surreal dreams between sections
I wonder if you're going to make a sequel that explores the deepest roots of this concept and similar games, and I hope to see a solid story as well
I’m making a sequel at some point in the future. This one I only spent a week on due the jam rules and I’d like to put a lot more time into the next one. The sequel will be a longer game and involve the entire house.
This game was fun! I'm not that great at games that rely on you maintaining fear levels but honestly, I'm not that bothered by the "easiness" that a lot of people are saying was a downside. my interpretation of the point of this game was to freak you out, which it did for me. Some games are just an experience that the devs want to convey, and MÆVE did make me jump :)
Could be wrong, but the large shadow was the hat man?? Love the cutscenes, it felt like poetry lmao
*SPOILERS*
It says the ghosts thrive on attention, so if you don't pay attention they will leave you alone. In reality, they will eventually leave you alone no matter what, and there is a limited number of ghosts per day. This means that no matter what you do, you will eventually be in an empty room and able to fall asleep.
On first playthrough the game can still be pretty spooky, and fun. Not to mention the gameplay is very unique. However, on repeated playthroughs it is painfully obvious that nothing that you do affects anything but how long it takes you to complete each level, there is no way to fail even if you max out your fear meter.
I've completed the game by entering a staring-contest with each ghost, never letting my fear drain and trying to fail, but eventually the ghosts decide I've won and let me sleep.
Also the art is cool.
TLDR The gameplay is an illusion, but at least it's an effective one on the first playthrough.
It's fun but way too easy
Interesting game, but a little too easy.
Not scray enough.
Fantastic.
Nice!
this game was fire as hell
this is literally what falling asleep with shitzophrenia feels like ong
Bro the ghost with the penis 💀
Thank you kind sir
Excellent work. I was waiting for one last scare at dawn but it never came.
Really great atmosphere. Wonderfully executed.
haha wow, ur game was super scary. amazing job! I honestly could not play for 7 minutes. I was too scared there would be a jump scare lmao. Super creepy art. I loved it.
The game mechanic is unique
MÆRE Walkthrough
This was really fun, gave me a few scares too!
great jobs
Thanks! I watched your playthrough. Its great watching a real user play the game and seeing how they interact with it.
I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THIS IS THE BEST HORROR GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED! I GIVE IT 11/10!! I LOVE THE MECHANICS OF THE GAME!
And I would like to translate this game into Turkish so that my friends can play this great game. Where can I contact you for this?