Do you remember creeping the shelves of the Scholastic Book Fair for the new “Goosebumps” book? Or anxiously awaiting Saturday night, not because it was alright for fighting, but because that meant another meeting of the Midnight Society? If you’re a napkin-industry-killing millennial, these words are exciting the nostalgia neurons in your brain somethin’ fierce.
Terror High is a survival horror/puzzle-em-up currently in development inspired by the 90s YA horror craze. Set in the small town of Pike’s Landing, Oregon in the early 90s, the game follows the interweaving tales of four teenagers brought together by their town’s shocking secrets.
I’m hoping to strike the right balance between the nostalgic neon kitsch of the 90s and genuine scares. I love real world horror* games like Alan Wake and Oxenfree – stories where our mundane, everyday existence sits side-by-side the horror, blissfully ignorant until the darkness starts creeping in. Stories where our protagonists are everyday, unskilled schmucks like you and me, not space marines or members of an elite special forces unit.
I’m always craving more games in that vein, so rather than wait for the game I wanted to play, I thought: I should make it myself. I’ve been working on the project for a few months now, and decided it was finally time to start a development log to keep myself on track and share my progress with those who might be curious.
So hi there, and welcome, won’t you? Let’s get spooky.
* I know, I know. We’re alive in 2019. How much more real world horror do we need, right? But I mean, like, the fun kind, with scary, make-believe monsters – not climate change, anti-vaxxers, and literal Nazis.
Terror High 