Midnight Mansion , my bite-sized mouse-only survival horror, is out! Explore an old mansion turned into an escape room, evade shapeshifting enemies, manage your resources, and solve devious puzzles.

Midnight Mansion is a game I made in only two weeks for the semi-finals of GDKO Jam 2025. I made three other games for previous rounds: Mathleticus, Bio Tank, and Chrono Crisis.

One of the requirements for this round of GDKO was mouse-only controls. I did include an optional keyboard shortcut for people who don’t have a right button on their mouse, but otherwise, mouse purists should be ecstatic.

What went right

The visuals are definitely the standout. This is my first time trying a mix of 2D, pseudo-3D, and full-on 3D and, to my surprise, it looks really good. Turns out, Construct 3 has a pretty neat, if simple, 3D plugin.

I knew from the start that I didn’t want your standard 2D sprite for my character. I feel that sharp turns don’t mix well with a survival horror in which you have to inspect every corner.

So instead, I opted for stacking dozens of sprites on top of each other, to create this pseudo-3D effect. I’ve tried this method before, but only on something far simpler, like a tank in my previously-mentioned game Bio Tank. It took a bit of work, but man was it worth it!

I also had so much fun designing the puzzles! I had to cut a couple due to time constraints, but I’m really proud of what I could pull of in just two weeks.

Fun fact: the solution to the slide puzzle is exactly the solution to the slide puzzle in Ashley’s section in the OG Resident Evil 4.

What went wrong

I already mentioned the time constraints, but that’s kind of an inevitable part of any game jam. I had tons of ideas I wanted to implement, but I decided that doing a few things well was better than doing a lot of things poorly.

Because of this, the game ends with a whimper. I planned for a final boss and one extra weapon (a sniper rifle with a cool zoom-in effect), but alas. Also, there are some minor bugs involving the inventory.

What I do have with Midnight Mansion, though, is a great foundation for a future survival horror. There are a couple of projects I need to complete first (follow my Patreon if you’re interested in a Zelda-like with Castlevania elements!), but after that, I think I might go back to horror.

In any case, I hope you guys like it! Let me know what you loved about the game and what I could have done better. Do keep in mind that this is a game jam project, so I wouldn’t be able to fix stuff until the voting period is over.

Cheers,
FeatureKreep