⟢Rekindle⟢

Game Synopsis

Rekindle is a 2D Horror/Puzzle game made in Unity. Locked inside of a mansion haunted by a seemingly friendly wisp, the player must solve puzzles to find keys and escape. The wisp follows the player and helps with puzzles, but will eventually be fed up with your shortcomings and enrage into a fiery monster. During its transformation the player must hide somewhere and risk being found, or evade the monster and solve a special puzzle to appease the wisp. Keys are randomly hidden among different puzzles.

Floor One

The player begins in the entry hall of the mansion at the bottom center. The floor consists of a dining room, living room, bathroom, theater, boiler, library, laundry, incinerator, kitchen, three storage rooms, and stairs to the second floor. My team held back many important changes to the map, so any glaring issues with the map aren't representitive of my work.

There are five standard puzzles and one appeasement puzzle for the wisp on floor one.
In the kitchen, interact with the refrigerator and spell a word using fridge magnets. In the dining room, interact with the table to view the chandelier above it. A note shows the order the chandelier must be lit in. In the living room, interact with the piranha tank. Open up a drawer to find a stovetop under the piranha tank and light it. In the library, pull books in an order shown in clues provided. Logs are spread throughout the floor, bringing them to the incinerator is also a puzzle. For wisp appeasement, the player has to find a candle in a random room, and bring it to a randomly placed glowing rune.

Floor Two

Accessed by going up the stairs on the first floor. The floor has a study, observatory, spare and master bedrooms, storage room, gym, band room, bathroom, and a few empty rooms. One empty room is an easter egg and true safe location if found.

There are five standard puzzles and one appeasement puzzle for the wisp on floor two.
In the study is a computer with a creepy survey on it, some answers enrage the wisp. In the observatory, interact with the telescope. Look around and point out anomalies in the garden. In the spare bedroom, interact with the wall by buckets of paint. Select paints and colour in the numbered spaces. In the bathroom is a 3x3 sliding tile puzzle, the face of original home owner is on the tiles. In the master bedroom, interact with the mirror and spot the differences. The wisp appeasement puzzle is to find a bellows and use it on a small flame that spawns randomly.

Attic

Accessed by using the Attic Key found in puzzles. At the entrance, a mannequin points to the hint for the puzzle; mannequins all point in wrong directions.
The attic is a maze filled with mannequins. Remembering to go the path nothing is pointing at will prove more difficult than it sounds. Taking a wrong path in the maze sends the player back to the beginning of the attic. Finishing the maze gives half of the exit key.

Basement

Accessed by using the Basement Key found in puzzles, the door is on floor one. The basement is a maze of boxes with a puzzle and easter egg at the end. The ominous skull door at the end of the maze doesnt do anything. Grab different coloured bottles and hold them up to runes carved on the wall to find 4 different numbers. The numbers are the code for a safe next to the player. Inside the safe is half of the exit key.

Hiding

There are 6 hiding spots on each of the two main floors. When the wisp is enraged, the two ways to progress are either doing the respective appeasement puzzle for that floor, or hiding. When hiding, the wisp will check a random hiding spot and incinerate it which kills the player if they're in that spot. Whichever spot the wisp checks will be destroyed, lowering the odds for the next time the player hides until there isnt anywhere left to hide.

Wisp

The wisp forces the player to pause progression and enter a horror phase until dealt with. Initially presented as an ally helping you with puzzles, the wisp quickly loses it's temper, wandering the mansion hunting the player.
When enraged, the player is trapped on whatever floor they are on, the lights go out, puzzles are temporarily disabled, hiding spots appear, and the wisp appeasing puzzle appears. My group made several death animations for dying to the wisp.

Experience

Rekindle was my first Unity project, and a 2 month long project I worked on with the same group I made my Lua/Love2D projects with. I made it clear that I didn't want to get stuck into the trap of making all the sprites and not learning about code or how to use Unity, so I instead focused on coding and directing the game's direction.

We made Rekindle in the hopes of putting it on steam, but it did not reach that point. I learned a lot about how I fit into teams, and will further my understanding in more group work in the future. The main thing I didnt get a good grasp of in this project was how to handle the implementing of assets, which I figured out in my following college projects.