Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 750: Analysis [3]

I lowered the bottle from my lips and stared at what little water remained inside.

“…..”

There was still plenty more in the fridge, so it wasn’t as if I needed to start rationing just yet. Food wasn’t much of a problem either. Whoever had stocked the place had done a surprisingly decent job, and assuming I didn’t suddenly develop the appetite of three people, I could probably last for a while.

That wasn’t the problem.

My eyes drifted towards the door.

It was still locked.

I turned my wrist, checking the time.

‘Three days.’

It had already been three days since I’d realized that the key was most likely with the Voidwalker, and despite constantly checking my nodes, absolutely nothing had changed.

I still couldn’t feel them.

“…This is getting ridiculous.”

I placed the bottle down and rubbed my forehead.

The pills were gone too.

I’d taken the last one earlier that morning, and while the dull ache behind my eyes was still manageable, I knew from experience that it wouldn’t remain that way forever. Normally, I could’ve simply bought more from the system shop.

Unfortunately…

[SP: 173]

“…Yeah.”

Not happening.

I leaned back in the chair and stared towards the ceiling.

For the first couple of days, I’d been fairly confident someone would figure something out. Kyle and Zoey weren’t idiots, and once they realized what had happened, they would’ve started looking for another way inside.

But three days without so much as a knock?

‘Well, they probably did… I just probably didn’t hear it.’

That wasn’t particularly reassuring.

‘Maybe there really isn’t another way.’

My fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the desk.

For the first time since I’d gotten trapped, a small sense of worry started creeping in. I wasn’t panicking yet, but enough time had passed that I couldn’t simply shrug everything off anymore.

There was food.

There was water.

But those would eventually run out.

My nodes were still unusable, meaning that I couldn’t get out myself, and if I stayed here for much longer, then…

“…Am I seriously going to die inside my own office?”

That would’ve been incredibly embarrassing.

I covered my face with both hands and remained like that for several seconds, listening to the quiet hum of the computers around me.

“Come on.”

There had to be something.

Some way out that I hadn’t thought of.

I lowered my hands and stared at the nearest monitor.

“…Or at least something to do.”

Sitting around worrying clearly wasn’t helping.

I pushed myself closer to the desk and woke the computer from sleep. Several windows were already open across the monitors, most of them belonging to the Gate Development System and the notes I’d accumulated over the last few days.

At first, it had simply been something to keep myself occupied between nighttime cycles. Either way, I did have a quest to fulfill.

Then…

Well.

I started getting ideas.

“Hm.”

My fingers moved across the keyboard as I opened one of the unfinished project files.

A rough layout appeared on the main monitor.

There wasn’t much there yet. A few disconnected areas, several environmental notes, and a collection of mechanics I’d been testing here and there.

I stared at it for a while before opening another window.

——

[Gate Development]

[Current Draft]

Environmental Structure: Incomplete

Primary Threat: Pending

Secondary Threats: Pending

Core Mechanic: ███████

——

My eyes lingered on the final line.

“…Maybe.”

I leaned forward slightly.

There were things about VILE-303 that I disliked immensely.

The infinite corridors.

The way the teachers changed their behaviour depending on where you stood.

The fact that simply knowing the rules didn’t necessarily make you safe.

And then there was the classroom itself.

I opened another document.

A list of observations filled the screen, most of them things I’d written down after surviving each night.

Assigned seating.

Routine-based behaviour.

Observation.

Punishment.

Attendance.

My fingers stopped above the keyboard.

“…No, that’s too obvious.”

I deleted a line, followed shortly by another.

‘I can’t just copy the structure of this anomaly. That’d be boring.’

What mattered wasn’t the classroom itself.

It was understanding why it worked.

The tension didn’t come from the teacher being particularly strong. There were plenty of monsters stronger than it, and if strength alone was enough to make something frightening, then creating horror would’ve been ridiculously easy.

No.

What made VILE-303 work was everything surrounding the teacher.

The rules.

The uncertainty.

The feeling that there was something happening underneath everything that the player didn’t understand yet.

Even knowing the rules wouldn’t completely remove someone from danger because, if they were designed properly, those very same rules could eventually be used against the person following them.

“…That’s actually pretty good.”

I opened a fresh page.

For the next several minutes, the office remained quiet aside from the sound of typing.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

I moved several concepts around, deleted most of them, then brought a few back after deciding they weren’t as bad as I’d originally thought. Before I knew it, I became completely absorbed in what I was doing, the minutes disappearing as my fingers moved across the keyboard.

One idea led into another.

A mechanic that hadn’t worked by itself suddenly made sense when placed beside something else. An area I’d almost deleted started serving a completely different purpose once I changed one detail, and after moving several sections around, I slowly stopped seeing disconnected notes.

There was a structure forming underneath them.

“…Wait.”

I leaned closer.

My eyes moved rapidly across the screen.

‘If this happens here… then the person playing would assume that. Which means when this happens later…’

I stopped.

Then slowly leaned back.

“…Oh.”

A grin started to form.

That was cruel.

Actually…

That was really cruel.

I immediately leaned forward again and changed several lines.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

The idea wasn’t finished, but I could already imagine how someone would react to it. They’d learn one thing, become comfortable with it, start believing they understood what sort of Gate they were dealing with…

And then—

“…Hehehe.”

I stopped typing.

“Wait, why am I laughing like that?”

I cleared my throat and looked around the empty office.

Thankfully, nobody had heard that.

Probably.

My attention returned to the monitor.

The more I stared, however, the more excited I became.

This was different from merely copying VILE-303.

I was taking what made the anomaly uncomfortable and twisting it into something else entirely.

Something that could start simple.

Almost understandable.

And then gradually make every decision the player had made beforehand come back to haunt them.

‘No, no… What if I move this even earlier?’

My fingers resumed moving.

That made it worse.

Much worse.

“…Oh, that’s disgusting.”

I loved it.

Another document opened on the second monitor, followed by another on the third. Soon, the rough layout I’d started with barely resembled what had been there several minutes earlier.

The environmental structure changed.

I removed one of the threats completely.

Then I stared at the empty space beside Primary Threat for a long while before typing something.

I paused.

Deleted it.

Typed something else.

“…No.”

Deleted that too.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that just yet. Maybe Twisted Man? Teacher? There were quite a few options, but it needed to be memorable.

My gaze drifted towards the window overlooking the corridor.

For the first time, I looked at VILE-303 differently.

Not as the anomaly keeping me trapped.

As reference material.

“…You’re actually pretty useful.”

The corridor obviously didn’t answer.

I turned back towards the monitor.

Eventually, something started taking shape. It wasn’t much yet, but it was enough for me to see where it could go.

‘If I combine this with that… no, wait.’

My fingers moved faster.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

There was still a lot missing, but for the first time since getting trapped, my thoughts weren’t focused entirely on the door.

Instead, I found myself staring at the half-finished design with growing interest.

It wasn’t ready.

Not even close.

And if I was being honest, I wasn’t entirely sure whether the final result would work the way I imagined.

But if it did…

“…This might actually be fun.”

The more I played around with it, the more the ideas piled up. After a certain point, I felt something burn inside my chest as a faint tingling ran along my spine.

It had been a while since I’d gotten this absorbed in an idea.

‘Wait, wait, wait. What if I do this?’

I stopped typing and imagined the scenario properly.

How it would begin.

What someone would think was happening.

The sheer scale of it.

The moment they realized they were wrong.

The screams.

The cries.

The sheer confusion once everything they’d learned stopped helping them.

My smile widened.

“A-ah, I really want to do it.”

The tingling wouldn’t stop. The moment the idea settled inside my head, it suddenly became the only thing I could think about.

I cracked my fingers.

There was one thing missing.

One piece that would tie everything together.

If I could figure that out—

Tak! Tak! Tak!

My eyes widened slightly.

“…Wait.”

There.

Maybe…

Just maybe—

Flick! Flick!

The lights above me suddenly flickered.

My fingers froze above the keyboard.

“…”

I slowly looked up.

“Already?”

For once, I actually felt annoyed that midnight had arrived.

The familiar hum changed around me as I glanced at the clock before reluctantly saving the project and closing the window.

“Seriously? Right when I was getting somewhere…”

The air around the room slowly grew colder as the office began to shift, the familiar pressure settling against my skin while the nighttime cycle started once more.

After three days, even that was becoming familiar.

I sighed and stood, stretching my arms above my head before looking towards the corridor.

The lights flickered again.

For a moment, the familiar office disappeared beneath the outline of something older.

Faded walls.

Long corridors.

Doors stretching into the distance.

“…”

I looked back at the computer.

Then towards the corridor.

A small smile returned.

Actually…

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad interruption.

I still needed inspiration.

“Maybe I should thank this place when I leave.”

Probably not.

I stepped away from the desk and headed towards the main door.

“Well…”

Another flicker passed through the room.

“…At least I’m not bored.”

I skipped towards the entrance, already knowing where I needed to go before the footsteps started.

“Better hurry before the teacher gets mad~”

My hand reached for the handle.

Then I stopped.

“…”

Ah.

Maybe I really was starting to lose it again.