After Hours is a mini-metroidvania that tells the story of a young boy Max, who is lost in the woods on Halloween night. It was made as part of the Fall 2022 DeSales University ACM Chapter Game Jam over the course of one week. The theme for the jam was “Winter Cold” and “Halloweeeny Orange.”

One new feature present in this game is the ability to transition between several rooms within a single level, while also preserving the game state across these rooms. This allowed me to create one large, integrated map within GameMaker without needing to keep all elements loaded at the same time. This game also improves on the lighting system seen in “The Adventures of Sir Duckington,” presenting varying lighting depending on the player’s location and collected items.

To align with the game jam theme, I made a few key design decisions. A vibrant orange that is typically associated with Halloween is used to accent important game elements, such as Max’s costume, the candy corn collectibles, the rotting pumpkins, and all of the game’s dialogue/ui text. To connect to the theme “Winter Cold”, I included a snow particle effect and the ability for Max to get stuck in the snow decorating the ground, limiting his movement speed and jump height. The narrative of this game is also a bit more intense compared to my other, more lighthearted work, eliciting a cold feeling the comes with most Halloween narratives.