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How does your game interpret and use the Theme / Halloween?
The whole game is one night vigil. The planted dead, the Speaking Root, and what Harrow left unnamed only come out at night. Dawn ends the game. Stated on the title card and in the first minutes of play.
Game Engine?
Graphics & Audio: What did you create or use?
Have you participated in a game jam before this one?
Roughly how much time did you spend developing? (in hours)
20
Anything else you'd like to share about your game or development process?
Built with AI assistance across code, graphics, text and dialog, and sound, matching the project page disclosure exactly. Made in the jam window: Yes. Design brief only before Oct 30. All game content created Oct 30 to Nov 3, 2026. Assets: Single-file HTML5 build, procedural canvas art, synthesized WebAudio sound. No third-party asset packs. No audio files. Horror, atmospheric, no gore, no NSFW.
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Comments
The art is gorgeous, it looks like pages from an old storybook. The writing fits it really well too, and the whole thing has a quiet, ritual-like feeling that I really enjoyed. A really unique take on the theme. Congrats!
i really like how the art and the sound from this game fits really well!
the gameplay itself is pretty easy to do, overall a good game
i liked the idea of a point and click game with puzzles, and you did a good job presenting a final project. The art is good and the feeling of the game also, but the dialogues are a little off to me.
Thank you, victorlucke. Glad the art and the feeling of the vigil came through for you, and noted on the dialogue feeling a little off. That kind of honest note is really helpful as we review the game after the jam.
The moonlit oak and flickering fires create such an eerie atmosphere! I lit all three braziers and read the shrine stone—the warning to “wake no king” made me curious about what’s coming.
I was a little lost after lighting the first fire. A subtle highlight on the other braziers and the stone would help make the next step clearer. It took me a moment to realise I needed to click the ground to walk over to them. Glad I gave this a try! 😊
Thank you, Magnudious Studio. Being lost after the first fire is useful feedback, and a subtle highlight for the braziers and shrine plus clearer click to walk guidance would make the next step easier to find. Glad the warning about waking no king left you curious, since that quiet dread was the point of the grove.
No worries! 😊 Looking forward to seeing how your game develops! Btw, if you get a chance to play ours, we'd really appreciate a rating too! Would love to hear what you think. No pressure though haha 😄https://magnudiousstudio.itch.io/a-borrowed-shadow
The game looks very good! But there are some bugs, like the right sided lantern has its fire a little offseted from the center. The player character blends in so well in the environment that it's hard to spot. I'd recommend making him a bit brighter. Plus he can also climb on the tree for some reason. The audio is so soft that I had to increase my device's volume to the full with headphones to listen the sounds. Otherwise the game is wonderful and the art is very beautiful.
Thank you, HuzaifaAtItch, for catching the offset lantern fire, the player blending into the grove, and the tree climb. We will fix the fire placement, make the player brighter, and block that climb. The audio is synthesized live and headphones carry it best, and we will also raise the base level so it is less faint.
It show that it's made with AI, dont know how much there is own code, but game idea is very cozy and great. no rush to do things.
Fair questions, and the disclosure on the page is there so nobody has to guess: the game was built with AI assistance across code, art, and sound, and we ticked Yes on all four itch boxes. The design, the rules of the night, the writing decisions, and what got cut were ours; the typing had help. Glad the idea reads cozy. That is the register the vigil was aiming for.
I played the opening only, so this is about the first minutes. The vigils grove is the best painted thing in this jam. The watercolour oak, the moths, the cold braziers sitting unlit: I knew what the night was before a single line of text. The instruction 'walk to each brazier and light it, then read the shrine stone' is the right kind of task line: it names the verb and the order, and it trusts me with the rest. One thing I would change. The opening runs three clicks of narration before I am allowed to touch anything, and the first of those three could be one sentence. In a jam where a stranger gives you ninety seconds, the door should open on the second click. Audio I could not judge fairly in the browser.
Thank you for playing, and for reading the opening that closely. The grove took the longest of anything in the game, so hearing 'best painted thing in this jam' from a stranger means a lot. You are right about the door as well. Three clicks before you can touch anything is one too many, and the first beat can say its piece in one sentence. The jam build is locked while rating runs, but the trim is already prepped for the post-jam version: the door opens on the second click. On the audio, taken fairly; the browser is not where it sounds its best.