Horror / Backrooms

Backrooms game genre

Horror games revolve around a tense, creepy, and/or horrifying atmosphere. Prepare for jump scares!

Backrooms games are a type of horror game that come from the creepypasta story which consists of an infinite maze of a windowless office painted in yellow in which unseen creatures can be found.

Characteristics

Escape!

Find a way to get out... if you can survive.

HIGH ALERT TENSION

🎨 Immersive art & light

✨ Camera, VFX & sound

EXPLORE & SURVIVE

🥪 Find simple resources

• health

• hunger Rules preset

🛡️ Evade enemies hunting

PROBLEM SOLVE

🔍 Find clues to unfold a mysterious narrative

🧩 Solve puzzles to escape

Keys of Success

• Everyone Can Play - Explore the space, solve puzzles

• Immersive - Revolves around generating fear and tension

• Play for Long - Endless replay value through random mazes, monster AI, cooperative play, etc.

NEED TO HAVE

• Mood: sound, light, VFX, scenery, and enemies to put players on edge

• Narrative mystery/puzzle to unfold

• Survival equipment & consumables

NICE TO HAVE

• Jump scares timed when players feel relatively safe or distracted

• Finding physical evidence that unravels the narrative (audio, documents, etc)

Game Loops

Below is a general game loop diagram for this genre. Your game's loops may vary.

Horror/Backrooms

Variations of Horror

Survival Horror: Emphasis on survival, limited resources, and atmospheric tension.

Psychological Horror: Focuses on psychological fear and mind-bending scenarios (e.g, Backrooms)

Action Horror: Blends horror elements with fast-paced action and combat.

Learn to Create It

GAME MAKER TEMPLATE

LOGIC TO EXPLORE

• Hunger

• Consumables/effects

• Life meter on HUD

• Object interactions

Make it More Interesting

Consider ways to add to or change the core structure of this game type to challenge and motivate players differently.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

⚰️ Kill count

🐣 Find easter eggs

RAMP OF DIFFICULTY

🧠 Sanity metric

⏳ Time limited actions 🍏 Resource scarcity

CORE DECISIONS

🚫 Using a resource may block branching options

🧩 Simple ciphers, codes

PRACTICE: Modify The Backrooms template to increase the fun:

• Intuitive health (e.g., camera changes instead of a life meter)

• Enemy sound: proximity

• Dynamic audio

• Random events

Useful Logic

• Weather Switcher

• Visual FX

• Post Process Camera Effects and Camera perspective settings

• Play Sound

• Ambient music

Template & Tutorial Videos

Open the Game Maker Backrooms Template for logic included in the tutorials below.

View Backrooms Game Jam entries in the Game Maker Gallery for examples of this genre.

How to Make Walls Appear & Disappear

Light Up Areas with a Torch

Roaming Entity Mechanic

Slowly Die in Toxic Cloud

Pick Up and Read Documents

Combination Lock

Custom Death Scene